I don't know what a shoemaker would do without them.

Look, here's a little bunch of them." "That's a very clever use to put them to," said Willie.
"Do you go and pluck them out of the pigs ?" "No; we buy them at the shop.

We want a good many, for they wear out.
They get too soft, and though they don't break right off, they double up in places, so that they won't go through." "How do you fasten them to the thread ?" "Look here," said Hector.
He took several strands of thread together, and drew them through and through a piece of cobbler's wax, then took a bristle and put it in at the end cunningly, in a way Willie couldn't quite follow; and then rolled and rolled threads and all over and over between his hand and his leather apron, till it seemed like a single dark-coloured cord.
"There, you see, is my needle and thread all in one." "And what is the good of rubbing it so much with the cobbler's wax ?" "There are several good reasons for doing that.

In the first place, it makes all the threads into one by sticking them together.

Next it would be worn out before I had drawn it many times through but for the wax, which keeps the rubbing from wearing it.