shoddy fever

Twenty or thirty years ago, it was a common practice for the weavers and spinners to be called from their proper occupations to assist in "blending," as the term is, and this without any remuneration, excepting a largess of beer to allay their thirst, and fortify them against the shoddy fever; thus these men had not such a direct interest in the work as to induce, or such an aptitude for it, as to enable them to do it well.