PAPERS FOR THOUGHTFUL BOYS. IX.- PRODUCTS OF SKILLED LABOUR.-SILK, No. I. Silk ILK, and the many textures wrought from this beautiful material, are so universally and familiarly known that its history and peculiar manner of production cannot fail to be a subject of interesting investigation. is worn or used by almost every one. It is woven into robes for the sovereign upon the throne; and there is scarcely a person in the civilised world who does not possess some article of silk. All that can be collected concerning several of the fine arts of life is, that they have flowed to us from the East, and that many among them have issued from China in a state of comparative perfectness. This is particularly the case with the subject of our present inquiry. Every attempt to trace the history of the use of silk as an article of clothing leads us to the north of China. To fix the date when its use was first discovered is impossible. There are reasons which render it probable that the inhabitants of China enjoyed the use of silk from a period greatly anterior to its introduction elsewhere. By the written records of that country we are told that the art of converting to their own advantage the labours of the silkworm was known and practised among them 2700 years before the commencement of the Christian era. Silk would reach Syria and Egypt, by way of India, both in its raw state and as woven into garments. In its progress from China to Western Asia it has been traced through India, Assyria, and Persia in its manufactured state, until it reached the land of the Pharaohs. Thence it found its way into Greece, and ultimately to the nations of Western Europe bordering on the great sea. It is clear that the fabric was known long before the nations of the West were acquainted with the source whence the thread was obtained. Some imagined that it was the entrails of a spider. Virgil speaks of the Seres, "Who draw the tender threads from leaves." The mode of producing and manufacturing this precious material was not known in Europe until long after the Christian era, being first learned, about the year 550, by two monks, who procured in India the eggs of the silkworm moth, with which, concealing them in hollow canes, they hastened to Constantinople, where the moths speedily multiplied, and were subsequently introduced into Italy, of which country silk was long a peculiar and staple commodity. According to Thuanus the first introduction of the silkworm into France was during the reign of Francis I. During a long period silk remained extremely costly. There was a time when it was of the same value as gold-weight for weight. During this time it could of course only be obtained by the very wealthy. In England, so recently as the sixteenth century, its general use was not only prevented by its costliness but by law. In the year 1554, during the reign of the arbitrary and tyrannical Mary, a law was made, the declared object of which was the encouragement of home manufactures, and to restrain the growing vanity of the lower classes of the people. This statute enacts, "That whoever shall wear silk in or upon his or her hat, bonnet, or girdle, scabbard, hose, shoes, or spur leather, shall be imprisoned during three months and forfeit ten pounds," excepting from this restraint magistrates of corporations and all other persons of still higher condition. In the first year of the reign of James I. this absurd statute was repealed. We gather from it that the manufacture of silk was then but of little importance in this country. It was developed, however, a few years after. In the year 1585 the city of Antwerp having been taken by the Duke of Parma, the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, it was consigned during three days to indiscriminate plunder and destruction. Its ruin was a deathblow to the commerce of the Low Countries, and the noble manufactures of Flanders and Brabant were dispersed into various countries. About one-third of the artisans and merchants who wrought and dealt in silk took refuge in England, where they finally settled and taught those arts by which they had long prospered in their native land. By these means the manufacture was very materially improved in England, and became one of national importance. Although the manufacture had now become fairly naturalised in England, it was restricted by our ignorance of the first process to which the silk was subjected. Up till 1718, the whole of the silk used in England, for whatever purpose, was imported "thrown "that is, formed into threads of various kinds and twists. A young Englishman named John Lombe, the youngest of three brothers, impressed with the idea that our dependence on other countries for a supply of thrown silk prevented us from reaping the full benefit of the manufacture, and from competing with foreign traders, conceived the project of visiting Italy to discover how the silks were made there. He accordingly went over to Piedmont in 1715, but found the difficulties greater than he had anticipated. He applied for admittance at several factories, but was told that an examination of the machinery was strictly prohibited. At last, it is to be lamented, the brothers resorted to deceit and falsehood by bribing a priest, and telling the Italians John Lombe was a poor lad in want of employment, and he was engaged to work at the mill. He slept there, and, providing himself with matches and a dark lantern, he took drawings during the night of every part of the machinery. He made a hole under his bed, and kept the drawings there all day, and every night when all was still be worked hard. At last his work was finished, and he escaped; first, however, sending his drawings home to his brothers. On his return home Lombe lost no time in practising the art of "throwing" silk. On a swampy island in the river Derwent, at Derby, he and his brothers built a magnificent mill, yet standing, called the "Old Silk Mill." Its erection occupied four years, being completed in 1725, at a cost of £30,000. It was five storeys in height, and an eighth of a mile in length. The grand machinery numbered no fewer than 13,384 wheels. It was said that it could produce 318,504,960 yards of organzine silk thread daily; but the estimate is no doubt exaggerated. While the mill was building, Lombe, in order to save time and earn money to carry on the works, opened a manufactory in the Town Hall of Derby. His machinery more than fulfilled his expectations, and enabled him to sell thrown silk at much lower prices than were charged by the Italians. A thriving trade was thus established, and England relieved from all dependence on other countries for "thrown" silk. Before Lombe had well got away from Italy, his plot was discovered, and the Italians conceived a bitter hatred against him for having broken in upon their monopoly and diminished their trade. In revenge, therefore, they determined his destruction. An Italian woman was sent over to England to carry out their wicked design. She obtained employment in the factory, and gained over to her side an Italian who was assisting Lombe. A slow poison was prepared by them and administered in small doses to him, from the effects of which he died at the early age of twenty-nine. Thus much upon the history of silk; in our next we shall treat upon its culture and manufacture. OUR SUNDAY-SCHOOL ALBUM. BY ENOCH GRATTON. (Continued from page 215.) XX.-MR. NABAL CROKER. Do not feel at liberty to decline any "cartes" which may be offered to me, or probably I should have refused to allow this one a place in our Sunday-School Album. The Sunday school is or ought be one of the sweetest and sunniest spots on earth, and, therefore, we wonder that Mr. Croker should either have wished or dared to enter there. If he had only rightly thought of the place, or the purpose for which the teachers met, or the presence of so many buoyant and happy children, he would have kept away altogether, or he would have left behind him his cross looks and cantankerous humours, and would have brought with him a cheerful face and a contented soul. Coming, however, in the mood he often did he might have fre. quently heard a voice saying to him in tones of surprise and sadnese, What dost thou HERE? Is Saul also among the prophets? Is Nabal also among the teachers ?" Mr. Croker was tolerably well known in other spheres. In business, he was one of those men who are very quiet about good trade and easy times, but who are loud in their complaints about bad trade and hard times. In social circles he was never more in earnest than when tearing to pieces a fair reputation and putting a wrong construction upon a good action. Only let him meet with his old cronies, Mr. Wryface, Mr. Moody, and Mr. Darkside, and he becomes almost eloquent in his complaints. "Ever complaining, nothing is right; Daylight is dreary, wearisome night; Ever rejecting, quick to destroy The little that is left for our life to enjoy." But it was in the Sunday school that the influence of Nabal was most disastrous. He was the dead fly in the pot of ointment. Either the rules were not rightly framed, or they were not rightly enforced. Now there was too much money required, then that which had been given was not being properly expended. At one time our friend complained that the minister took no interest in the school, indeed, was rarely seen in the school; then the complaint was that the minister was meddling with everything, and it would be just as well if he would mind his own business. To Mr. Croker everything and everybody seemed to be wrong because he himself was wrong. He was usually out of sorts and at loggerheads with himself. His appetite was bad, there was a bad taste in his mouth, so that the sweetest and healthiest food rarely tasted good to him. He had an affliction in his ears, and the finest music was harsh and discordant. In a grand old book we have read repeatedly an interesting story of one of our friend's remote ancestors, and have been struck with points of resemblance between the two men. In this story we are told of a brave and generous young man named David, who had gathered around him a band of devoted friends and followers. They were in a wilderness and in urgent want of food. Near to them was a man of princely wealth, "the man was very great, he had 3000 sheep and 1000 goats." This man had a noble lady for his wife, "a woman of good understanding and beautiful countenance; but the man himself was churlish and evil in his doings; and when David sent his young men to this churlish lord with the following respectful and graceful salutation: "Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be to all that thou hast," my lord Nabal "railed" on the young men, and said in scornful tones, "Who is David ?" and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master." Such men as Nabal do a lot of harm in the world. They throw E gloomy shadows over happy homes. They chill the ardour of sensitive and aspiring souls. They dishearten noble workers in the Sunday school and church. The best thing our friend Croker could do would be to take the 13th chapter of the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, and read it every day for ten years; not only read it, but feed upon it, absorb it into his veins, interweave it with all the fibres of his soul until he is full of the charity "which suffereth long and his kind, which thinketh no evil, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." XXI.-MR. JOHN WINSOME. Did you ever see two faces more unlike each other than these two? Just look at them. The one is sour, crabbed, gloomy. The other is beaming, open, winning. These clear kindly eyes see a soul of little good in most excellent deeds. like the east wind This a tracts, that repels. good in evil things; those see The influence of Mr. Croker is I am The influence of Mr. Winsome is like the warm, fostering breath of summer calling up beauty, joy, and abundance all around. pretty well acquainted with a Sunday school which was put under the superintendence of John when it had been almost wrecked by a member of the Croker family; in two months signs of life and fertility were seen, and in two years it was quite another place. It was no more like its former self than the poor haggard-looking bulb is like the bright beautiful flower which springs from it. The success of this Sunday school was not due to John's efforts alone. Others laboured very devotedly, but Mr. Winsome was the guide and centre. He was a real magnet, drawing around him in loving fellowship and zealous ardour young and old. This he did, not by his superior culture and social eminence, but by the force of pure goodness. If ever I met with a radiant, tender, generous soul, it was John. He was a sterling Christian, and though not brought up in our own community he was truly attached to us, and freely sacriticed time, money, and strength to promote the prosperity of our Sunday schools and churches. His special sphere seemed to be among the young. With them he was quite at home, whether in the Sabbath class, the home, the sanctuary, the class meeting, or in their seasons of pleasure and recreation. Though he could not be called a young man, his heart was fresh and tender. There still rested on him" the dews of youth," pure and glittering in the light of God's countenance. Some who look upon this likeness may ask if our friend was |