red no
pains to bring them to the Card and Spread Board as perfect as possible.

To this end he established a Hemp Break, a Hemp Breaker and a Hemp
Softener. The first was a wooden press used to crush the stalks of
retted hemp straw, so that the harl came away and left the fibre clean.
The second shortened long hemp, that it might be more conveniently
hackled and drawn. The third served greatly to improve the spinning
quality of soft hemps by passing them through a system of callender
rollers. There were no hands available for the breakers and softeners,
so Raymond increased his staff. He also took over ten acres of the North
Hill House estate, ploughed up permanent grass, cleaned the ground with
a root crop, and then started to renew the vanishing industry of flax
growing. He visited Belgium for the purpose of mastering the modern
methods, found the soil of North Hill well suited to the crop, and was
soon deeply interested in the enterprise. He first hoped to ret his flax
in the Bride river, as he had seen it retted on the Lys, but was
dissuaded from making this trial and, instead, built a hot water
rettery. His experiments did not go unchallenged, and while the women
always applauded any change that took strain off their muscles and
improved the possibility of rest, the men were indifferent to this
advantage. Mr. Baggs even condemned it.

He came to see the working of the Hemp Breaker, and perceived without
difficulty that its operations must directly tend to diminish his own
labour.

"You'll pull tons less of solid weight in a day, Levi," said Best, "when
this gets going."

"And why should I be asked to pull tons less of solid weight? What's the
matter with this?"

He thrust out his right arm with hypertrophied muscles hard as steel.

"It seems to me that a time's coming when the people won't want muscles
any more," he said. "Steam has lowered our strength standards as it is,
and presently labour will be called to do no more than press buttons in
the midst of a roaring hell of machines. The people won't want no more
strength than a daddy-long-legs; they that do the work will shrink away
till they're gristle and bones, like grasshoppers. And the next thing
will be that they'll not be wanted either, but all will be done by just
a handful of skilled creatures, that can work the machines from their
desks, as easy as the organist plays the organ in church. God help the
human frame then!"

"We shall never arrive a