Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/167

 Rh and determined to singe this first piece as well as I could by hand. I had to call in the aid of my wife and her sister Jane Boursiquot, who laughed so much at my dilemma that I almost felt discouraged. I made the stuff damp all over so that I might not burn it as well as the hairs, and they held it, one on each side, while I passed the blazing wisp of straw over it. At last the work was finished, and then I had the right to laugh, for, when washed and pressed, it looked really beautiful. I sent it to a draper at Exeter, who allowed me two shillings and sixpence a yard for it. I found I could make it for just half the sum, so I gained an ample reward for all my expenditure of time, labor and money.

My workman improved rapidly, he made it better and better every day, and he gained such facility by practice that at last he was able to turn out ten or twelve yards in a day. I had hitherto merely supplied him with what was absolutely necessary for himself and his wife, but I now promised to pay him four pence half-penny for every yard he made in future. I also took into my employ again the first weaver who had labored so long unsuccessfully, and he too acquired the art after a while.

I now hired a shop for the sale of my Calimanco; I took from my old tradesmen all the articles I wanted, and paid them with my own goods. I employed more workmen, and I bound each one, under a penalty of £10, not to work for any one else, or to teach the art to other workmen. They were all willing to make such terms, because they could earn three times as much by working for me as by making serge.

When I had planned a machine to singe off the hairs, I employed a different mechanic to make each part, so that not one of them knew the use of that which he was making, and