THE SPINSTER
One of the oldest of the ancient Greek stories is that of the Three Fates, spinning the thread of human destiny, and the spindle, distaff and spinning wheel have come down from the very beginning of things, when mankind first wore clothes of woven material. From the fact of their being continually engaged in spinning, women came to be called spinsters before they were married and Alfred the Great referred to them as the spindle side of his family. It was a regularly received axiom with our forefathers that no young woman was fit to be a wife till she had spun for herself and woven a set of body, table and bed linen. With the increased use of machinery, home spinning and weaving went out of fashion, and no longer does Priscilla’s lover sit watching her dextrous fingers as she sits at her wheel: “As if the thread she was spinning were that of his life and his fortune.”
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Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 23599, 8 September 1938, Page 19
Word Count
162THE SPINSTER Otago Daily Times, Issue 23599, 8 September 1938, Page 19
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