196 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
with black walnut, then take the first shearing of 
lambs and weave it in white, then dye the cloth with 
walnut. The lamb's wool fulls up, it shrinks more 
than any other and makes a cloth he can't hardly 
wear out. You've got him harnessed up then to 
stay." 
The ' ' chain " or " harness, ' ' that is to say, the warp 
of these coverlets is made of cotton thread, usually 
white, and the "filling" of woolen yarn, generally 
blue, though it is sometimes red or green, or pink or 
black. Mrs. Levi Ward's "wheels of time" are 
black and white. 
Besides the coverlets themselves, Penelope takes 
pride in showing her "drafts," the patterns from 
which the designs are made, and which have been 
handed down from generation to generation dating 
back to those days when the women vied with one 
another in inventing original designs, designs which 
were handed down with the loom — a true "heir- 
loom" as one perceives. To this day each pattern 
keeps its name, and that of one, the "Missouri 
trouble," brings one suddenly close to a page of his- 
tory, when the women were patiently weaving 
through the formative periods of a nation, tingling 
with the charged condition of the atmosphere, and 
through their looms giving expression to the emotions 
thus powerfully aroused. Those days are gone now. 
Lethargy has stolen over the souls of the people and 
no new designs are being made, only some of the old 
ones are copied, and that with lessening frequency. 
The coverlets made to-day are not so beautiful as 
