CHURCH AND SCHOOL 227 
without spiritually hurting them was finally an- 
swered, we are told, by the gift from a well-to-do 
"neighbor woman" of a home-woven coverlet forty 
years old, slightly faded but still beautiful in its 
golden brown and cream hues. 
This worn old coverlet became as it were a palimp- 
sest whereon love deciphered the history of the past 
for the enlightenment of the present. Looms had 
almost disappeared, chemical dyes had replaced the 
old-time vegetable dyes in coloring the "linsey 
cloth," still sometimes made, and the yarn spun for 
stockings. But the spinning-wheels were there and 
gave a clue by which the settlement workers ingeni- 
ously found their way out of the labyrinth. Wool 
from a neighboring valley was obtained and given 
out to be carded and spun by hand, then, in the 
words of one of the workers : — 
"The coloring was the next business, and it was a 
matter of time to learn from the older women the 
secrets of the indigo pot and of the coloring with 
barks and leaves. We learned that for the best re- 
sults the indigo dye should be used before the wool 
was spun. Whence the old phrase ' dyed in the wool.' 
The formula for a blue-pot demanded, besides the 
indigo, bran, madder, and lye, the ingredient of 
patience, till the pot, set beside the hearth to keep 
it at the right temperature, saw fit to 'come.' Then 
the dipping of the wool began. For a deep blue this 
dipping must be repeated five or six times, and the 
pot 'renewed up' betweentimes, as the strength of 
the color was exhausted. The coloring with madder 
