Chapter 2

It is scarcely necessary to dwell on the scenes which occurred between
the time I first sprang from the earth and that in which I was "pulled."
The latter was a melancholy day for me, however, arriving prematurely
as regarded my vegetable state, since it was early determined that I was
to be spun into threads of unusual fineness. I will only say, here, that my
youth was a period of innocent pleasures, during which my chief delight
was to exhibit my simple but beautiful flowers, in honor of the hand that
gave them birth.

At the proper season, the whole field was laid low, when a scene of
hurry and confusion succeeded, to which I find it exceedingly painful to
turn in memory. The "rotting" was the most humiliating part of the
process which followed, though, in our case, this was done in clear
running water, and the "crackling" the most uncomfortable. Happily, we
were spared the anguish which ordinarily accompanies breaking on the
wheel, though we could not be said to have entirely escaped from all its
parade. Innocence was our shield, and while we endured some of the
disgrace that attaches to mere forms, we had that consolation of which
no cruelty or device can deprive the unoffending. Our sorrows were not
heightened by the consciousness of undeserving.

{"rotting" was... = to prepare flax for weaving as linen it is softened
(technically, "retted") by soaking in water, separated from its woody
fibers by beating ("scutched"--this seems to be what Cooper means by
"crackling"), and finally combed ("hatcheled")}

There is a period, which occurred between the time of being "hatcheled"
and that of being "woven," that it exceeds my powers to delineate. All
around me seemed to be in a state of inextricable confusion, out of
which order finally appeared in the shape of a piece of cambric, of a
quality that brought the workmen far and near to visit it. We were a
single family of only twelve, in this rare fabric, among which I remember
that I occupied the seventh place in the order of arrangement, and of
course in the order of seniority also. When properly folded, and
bestowed in a comfortable covering, our time passed pleasantly enough,
being removed from all disagreeable sights and smells, and lodged in a
place of great security, and indeed of honor, men seldom failing to
bestow this attention on their valuables.

{cambric = a fine white linen, originally from Cambray in Flanders}

It is out of my power to say precisely how long we remained in this
passive state in the hands of the manufacturer. It was some weeks,
however, if not months; during which our chief communications were on
the chances of our future