Page:Gandhi - The Wheel of fortune.djvu/132

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
114
THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

construction and the innocent workers are at their wit's end. The chief thing undoubtedly, therefore, is for the worker, to make himself acquainted with the art and the handling of spinning wheels. I lay down some simple tests for testing them. No machine that fails to satisfy the tests should be accepted or distributed.

(1) The wheel must turn easily, freely, and noiselessly.

(2) The turning handle must be rigidly fixed to the axle.

(3) The post must be properly driven home and joints well-fixed.

(4) The spindle must turn noiselessly and without a throb in its holders. Jarring sound cannot be avoided unless the holders are made of knit straw as in the Punjab, or of tough leather.

(5) No machine is properly made unless it manufactures in the hands of a practised spinner at least 21/2 tolas of even and properly twisted yarn of six counts in an hour. I know a youngster, who has not had more than per-