In wearing them one presented and exceedingly awkward appearance.

The most trying ordeal that I was forced to endure as a slave boy, however, was the wearing of a flax shirt.

In the portion of Virginia where I lived it was common to use flax as part of the clothing for the slaves.

That part of the flax from which our clothing was made was largely the refuse, which of course was the cheapest and roughest part.

I can scarcely imagine any torture, except, perhaps, the pulling of a tooth, that is equal to that caused by putting on a new flax shirt for the first time.