is sheared the first
thing, and then it has to be brushed and sheared again."

"What kind of a thing is a shear, any way, such as is used for shearing
the nap from cloth? I can't imagine how it works, though I have often
wished to see it in operation."

"I don't believe I can tell you so you will understand it. You had
better go up and see for yourself."

"You can give me an idea about it. I don't want to go up there now
without showing some better reason than curiosity. Mr. Farrington might
think it queer, and get an idea that I am neglecting my work, as he said
Tim Short did."

"All right, then; I'll tell you the best I can. I used to think myself,
when I heard father talking about the shears, that they must be
something like mother's shears, only with great long blades; but I found
I was mistaken. The shears up stairs are about seven feet long; you see
they have to be as long as the cloth is wide. They have iron frames, and
I guess are five feet high. There is a roller on the back side and
another on the front. On the top and front of the machine is a steel
plate which runs the whole length of the shear. This plate has a square
edge, and the cloth passes over it from one roller to the other. It is
drawn tight when it goes over the steel plate, and there is what I
believe they call a cylinder that has sharp knives upon it. They call
them knives, but they are like strips of sharp steel fastened on to the
cylinder. They are 'bout half an inch high, and run the whole length of
the cylinder in a spiral way, just the same as I would wind a string
round this stick from bottom to top, if every time the string went round
it was an inch from where it went round before.

"Well, you see--these strips of steel go round like that, only they are
a good deal straighter and are 'bout two inches apart. They call these
strips the knives and grind them just like any other shears. The way
they do this is by running the cylinder the wrong way and holding a
piece of stone against them. This gives them a sharp edge. This cylinder
is let down so close to the steel plate that there isn't room for the
cloth to pass between it and the cylinder without having the face or nap
sheared off by the sharp knives of the cylinder that is going round like
lightning. That's 'bout all there is to it. Do you get any idea how it
works?"

"Oh, yes; I think I see how it is. As the cloth passes over the plate
one way, the cylinder whirls the other and cl