I don't believe I have been into that room yet."

"Well, the cloth is gigged there on the big machines the first thing
after it leaves the fulling mills and washers."

"How long do they run it up there?"

"They run it quite a while in all the different processes it goes
through. After it is gigged the first time then it is cropped."

"Cropped, you say?" exclaimed Fred, laughing. "Well, you have me again,
for I am sure I don't know what that means."

"Why, it means sheared--cutting off the nap which the teasels dig
up--only they don't call it 'sheared' the first two times."

"How many times is it sheared, I wonder!"

"'Bout four or five times, I think; twice on the cropper, and twice or
three times on the finishing shears. As I said before, it is run on the
big gig first and then is cropped. After this process is completed, it
runs on another dry gig of the same shape as the wet ones, and is
cropped again. Then it is placed on to the wet gigs where you saw it."

"I should think it would be all worn out if it is run so long against
those sharp teasels, besides having the nap sheared off several times.
How long do they keep it on the gigs?"

"It does get spoiled sometimes; I have seen plenty of pieces with the
face of the cloth all gigged through. It tears the filling all out and
leaves the warp. The cloth runs on each gig till a good nap is worked
up."

"That would be a good many hours in all, I suppose, but I don't see the
use of gigging it so much as to spoil the cloth. It won't wear very
well, will it?"

"Yes, but they gig it so as to get an extra fine finish, and make it
smooth and handsome. And then there are what they call the steam gigs.
It is run on them, and besides this it is gigged several times on the
back, both on dry and wet gigs."

"What! Is there still another kind of gig?" asked Fred, beginning to get
incredulous.

"No, they are just the same as the ones you saw, only they run the cloth
through them after it is steamed, so the boys call them the 'steam
gigs.'"

XXIV.

"Are the steam gigs wet ones, too?" asked Fred.

"Yes, and they use the oldest handles of any, because this is the last
time the cloth is gigged, and it won't stand much scraping. After it
leaves these gigs it goes to the drier, and then goes back up stairs."

"When it goes back up there, I suppose it goes through a dozen or two
more processes, does it not?"

"Well, it goes through quite a number. I believe it