_To the Editor._
Sir,--The custom of “hanging the shuttle” arose out of the introduction
of a “spring loom,” which an eminent clothier at Langley ventured, in
1794, to have erected in one of his cottages, built for the use of his
men.
One person performing nearly as much work in this loom as two persons,
the weavers in the neighbourhood met at the “Plough,” to consider the
best means of opposing the success of the one-shuttle stranger.
After sundry resolutions were passed, declarative that spring-looms
would prove hurtful to weavers of the old school, they suspended a
shuttle to a bacon rack by a skein of tangled yarn over the table round
which they sat. Meeting every Saturday-night at this inn, they pledged
their affiance to the “shuttle,” and continued the custom till their
meetings were fruitless.
The “hanging the shuttle” over them signified that no honest weaver
should work a spring-loom to the injury of his fellow-workman. This
prejudice having subsided and most of the weavers that assembled at the
“Plough” being dead, their sons agree to the prevailing and supposed
improvements.