Story of Silk

Excerpt: 'Father once told me he had known of a lot of silkworms that stopped eating and died because a sudden noise frightened them,' observed Pierre. 'Such a calamity is not at all unusual, Pierre,' returned his mother. 'And more than that, if anything alarms them after they have begun to spin they will frequently snap the thread of their cocoon and refuse to spin any more; if they do[24] continue the interruption causes a lump, or rough place, in the filament so that it is imperfect and has to be broken and tied. In consequence the silk is poorer and brings a lower price. So you see how really important it is not to jar their sensitive nerves.'