Joined by a Thread

    I was sorting through my mother’s sewing notions this afternoon and discovered some huge spools of thread in a box. Here they are compared to a regular sized spool.  My mind immediately returned to a visit I made to the Paisley Thread Mill Museum. It is all that is left of the mighty thread mills that used to operate in Paisley, Scotland in the 1800’s.

     My great grandmother Margaret was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. When she was about four years old, her father, a tailor with a shop on George Street, passed away. This left Margaret, her little brother James, age two, and their mother to fend for themselves. The family history suggests that their mother returned to work in those thread mills and when she was old enough, Margaret went to work in the mills, too.

    At the museum I learned that girls could start working at the mills at a young age. They were called half-timers because they worked half the day and went to school the other half. I am quite certain my great grandmother was a half-timer at one of the mills.

    Then I noticed that one of the spools of thread was waxed thread. In the same box was a leather sewing tool. I remember seeing it as a child. My great grandfather was a cobbler in England and this may have been one of the tools he brought with him when he immigrated to Canada during WW I. Another tool here is a leather trimming knife.

    These old artifacts were once just everyday objects with no special significance, but now they are treasured. They represent people I never met but who are connected to me. They represent a time that is gone.

    I wonder what things we’ll leave behind from our time that will interest and fascinate the generations to come? I must say, the idea of time travel has a powerful draw.