Adversity teaches purity of soul

Page from a book (p. 100) with text and printer's device on the verso. In an oval cartouche, the harvest and processing of flax. In the foreground, a farmer is retting the flax in the field. By exposing the flax to water, the bast fibers separate from the woody core. In the background, the crop is being brought in. On the right, the flax is processed: first separated, then combed, and finally spun into linen. Above the cartouche, the title (motto) of the print and a biblical quote (Psalm 65:12, now Psalm 66:12). Below the print, an inscription: 'Through labor, water, and sunshine, the linen will always be whiter' and a description explaining the print. The processing of flax is comparable to the hardships of man on earth: they are necessary for a good final product, and that final product (for man, the purification of the soul) is the most important.