Later we repeated the experiments, using hydrosulphite of soda, say two tablespoonfuls to the gallon of warm water, as a discharge, with much better success. The cloth was not injured, even when delicate materials like silk and light poplins were used. And the great majority of colors, including nearly all the best Salt, Sulphur, and Acid dyes, reduced rapidly and well. The Vat dyes will reduce, and, in the presence of caustic soda, will dissolve out of the exposed cloth almost entirely, but it is hard to reduce them to white in this way. In every case the color, after reduction, must be washed at once in warm soap and water, or else, on exposure to the air, the color may come back to some extent, owing to oxidation. A weak bath of hydrosulphite of soda, also, should always be on hand, in the former bleaching process; for, when bleaching powder (chloride of lime) or other chlorine compounds, such as Javelle water or Labarraque’s solution, are used for destroying the color, their further action can be stopped, and also the offensive smell removed, by dipping the bleached material into a so-called antichlor, like this hydrosulphite. This subject of discharge is dealt with more at length in a future chapter. [Illustration: (a) EXAMPLE OF TIED AND DYED WORK (b) EXAMPLE OF TIED AND DISCHARGED WORK PLATE IV.] CHAPTER XV STENCILS AND STENCILLING DIRECT APPLICATION OF COLORS =History.=—During the last few years a great deal of attention has been paid to the manufacture and use of stencils for decorating textiles, not only by craft workers of different kinds, but also by art teachers in private and public schools. The art is not a modern one, even in this country, for I have seen and worked with a series of very interesting stencils cut in brass, which were owned in Philadelphia by the famous old physician, Dr. Benjamin Rush, over a hundred years ago, and were used in his family for marking linen, as well as for decorating homespuns and paper. The real home of the art, however, is Japan, where, for over three hundred years, stencils have been in common use, largely replacing the wood blocks used in other countries, for decorating the common cotton goods, towels, head coverings, and the like of the lower classes, and also for ornamenting, where embroidery was not desired, the beautiful silks and satins of the wealthy.