Another household utensil which Hebrew women learned to use in Canaan
was the heavy loom. This consisted of a low horizontal frame, with a
device for separating the odd and even threads of the "warp" while a
shuttle was drawn through them, carrying the yarn for the "web," or
the cross threads. With this kind of a loom it was possible to weave
much more rapidly than when one had to insert each thread, plaiting it
over and under, by hand. There is, no doubt, one of these looms in the
house where we are visiting.

=Making linen out of flax.=--In the desert almost all garments were
made of wool, especially in the case of the poorer tribes, who could
not afford to buy linen. In those days the use of cotton was probably
unknown. Now everyone knows how it feels to wear a flannel shirt on a
hot summer day. And one of the things which drew the Hebrew shepherds
to Canaan was the hope of raising a little flax on each farm, and
spinning it into cool, soft linen garments for the hot summers. So it
may be that a part of the work in the house we are visiting to-day is
to soak some of the stalks of flax in water, or to beat out from them
the long fibers, or to spin and weave some of these fibers into
cloth.


PREPARING DINNER

Of course the main business of each day in the household then, as now,
is to get dinner ready. There is a light lunch about noon for the
women and children. To-day perhaps we have some bread and milk. But as
the sun begins to sink in the west we know that before long the men
folks will come home hungry. We must have dinner ready for them when