ladies point with pride to the old relic placed in a position of honour
on an oak chest of drawers, or, perhaps, standing on a coffer in the
hall. An exceptionally fine wheel is shown in Fig. 72; it is one of many
secured by Mr. Phillips, of the Manor House, Hitchin. Another
illustration is taken from a sketch of a spinning wheel in the Hull
Museum (see Fig. 73). It appears that early in the nineteenth century
Hull encouraged the training of domestic spinners, and at that time
supported a spinning school. _Apropos_ of that institution reference may
appropriately be made to Hadley's "History of Hull," in which the
historian, in reference to Sunday Schools, which had then quite recently
been founded, says: "From the Sunday School reports for this year [1788]
it seems they did not take. To whatever cause this may be attributed, it
by no means warrants the aspersions thrown upon the town on that
account, which has with equal ardour and wisdom espoused that useful
establishment of Spinning Schools, in preference to a preposterous
institution replete with folly, intolerance, fanaticism, and mischief."
In explanation it has been remarked that, "Evidently wheels were
plentiful in Hull and Sunday Schools a novelty." To-day we can reverse
the statement, for schools are plentiful but spinning wheels are rare!

Collectors eagerly secure anything in the way of a genuine antique
wheel, although the fastidious have the choice of two distinct
types--those worked by hand and those operated by a treadle. Sometimes a
spinning wheel made for the foot could be worked independently by the
hand, just in the same way as modern sewing machines are made for hand
or treadle, and sometimes a combination of both methods. The very
general use of the spinning wheel is accounted for by the fact that this
useful machine was met with in every cottage in the days when homespun
yarns and wools were prepared by hand, and they were also found in the
mansion and the palace, where they served to amuse the ladies of the
household.

There are many varieties of spinning wheels, among them the old oak
spinning wheels used in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, and the more decorative used until quite late in the
eighteenth century, from their ornament and lightness, apparently used
more for preparing the material for fancy work rather than for really
utilitarian purposes. Some highly decorative spinning wheels inlaid with
mother-o'-pearl and ivor