He made many mistakes
and was obliged many times to undo what he had accomplished in order
to correct some error. And at last when he had woven the basket as
large as he thought was suitable for his purpose, he did not know how
to stop or finish the top so as to keep the basket from unraveling.
At last he hit upon the plan of fastening two stout rods, one outside,
the other inside, the basket. These he sewed firmly, over and over,
to the basket with a kind of fibre from a plant he had discovered that
looked almost to be what he had heard called the century plant in the
parks at home.
On attempting his next basket, he thought long how he might improve
and save time. He must hasten, or the now almost daily rains would
destroy his ripened wild corn and rice.
"If I could use coils of that long grass I saw growing in the marsh
beside the rice," he thought, "I could make twice the progress." He
gathered an armful, twisted it into cables about an inch thick and
wove it into his frame of upright rods instead of the horizontal layer
of willow canes. This answered his purpose just as well and rendered
the making of large baskets the work of a few hours. He found,
however, that the willow rods or osiers were not pliant enough to work
well in fastening his coils of grass cables together. He tried several
things and at last succeeded best when he used the long thread-like
fibre of the century-like plant.
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