=What is meant by breaking flax?= Breaking means removing the dry wood portion which has been decomposed by the retting. This is sometimes done by means of a hand break. In the picture (Fig. 107) you will see a little girl of Pleasant Valley breaking flax by hand. Sometimes the woody part is broken away by passing the flax between rollers of a machine which is run by power. These power mills are called scutching mills; scutching means cleaning and breaking. After this process the flax lies in long bundles of parallel fibers, something like a girl's hair as it is ready to be braided. The flax varies in color; sometimes it is gray or of a greenish tint, and sometimes pale yellow. [Illustration: FIG. 108.--Flax fibers magnified.] If you have a microscope or a glass at school, examine the flax fiber. See how it looks, rough and woody. It also looks something like the silk fibers, straight. It has tiny markings or spots called nodes. Flax is principally cellulose. Do you know what cellulose means? Look it up in the dictionary. [Illustration: FIG. 109.--The mummies of Egypt are found wrapped in linen cloth made from flax long ago.] So you see that the long fibers are freed from the stem of the flax plant and are ready for the manufacturer to spin into yarn to be woven into cloth, or to make it into cord, rope, twine, lace, or thread for many useful purposes. Isn't this an interesting story? Flax cultivation is one of the most ancient industries. Think how very useful it is, both for fiber and for seed. It has been grown for at least 5000 years in Egypt and in Assyria. Do you remember reading about the ancient mummies which have been found wrapped in linen in the tombs of Egypt? In the Bible, chapter xlii of the book of Genesis, we are told that Pharaoh arrayed Joseph in vestures of fine linen. Do you know of any other Bible references which tell of the use of linen in ancient times? Have you ever heard of the Swiss lake dwellers? Perhaps your teacher will tell you about them, or you can look it up in the encyclopedia. They too used linen long ago, for pieces have been found and are in the museums in Switzerland. Next lesson we shall make a large chart for the schoolroom, which will tell the story of flax. You may bring anything which you think will help to illustrate that story. We shall also mount on the chart the most common linen materials which we use in our homes. EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 1. Examine a flax fiber with a microscope or a magnifying glass. What do you see? 2. Look up references which prove the age of flax culture. 3. Perhaps some one near your school has been in the linen business in Ireland. Perhaps he will come to the school and tell the boys and girls about it. Try to find some one. LESSON 6 COMMON LINEN MATERIALS ARE IDENTIFIED Can we learn to identify at least eight of the common linen materials?