Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1856-02-01
From the Boston Olive Branch.
MRS. REEDsS ECONOMY.

man, whose bluo eyes had not yet recovered
their natuuIl dimensions.
"Ah! and do YOU consider yourself in
the category Of extravagant females" con-
tinued her husband, looking fondly towards
her.
Hardly, my dear, for hear this. There
arc in New York and Brooklyn not less than
five thousand ladies whose dress bill could
average annually two thousand dollars each
or ten millions for all"
"Prodigious," muttered the merchant
"but doubtless true"
"There are five thousand more" eontin-
ued his wife, resuming her reading, 'whose
dress expenses will average one thousand
each, or five millions for the whole number;
and five millions of dollars more would not
cover the dress expenses of those whose bills
average every year from two hundred to
five hundred dollars. Thus at low esti-
mate, the annual cost of dressing and Jew
elling the ladies of New York and its vicini-
ty is from thirty to forty millions of dol
lars"
"What wonderr exclaimed the good, in
dignant little woman, ''that poverty and suf-
fering are so rife in that great city; only
think, George twenty millions of dollars,
to say the least, wasted in finery and extray-
aganee; worse than wasted"
"Yos," resumed her husband, "for the
bulk Of the money is exchanged for foreign
fabrics, and goes out of the country to pam
per the miserable toadies of the old world :;
that's what makes me angry to think Of
If the money was spent among our produc-
ers, manufacturers and mechanics, the
shame would not be burning; but no. it
must bear the stamp of imported goods or
our ladies will not look at the article. saw
to-day some silk which I'll be bound some
French aristocrat had manufactured for his
windows, but failing to give satisfaction it
was sent over to the "green Yankees. y
They wouldn't know-oh! of course not;
nor care-so long as the obsequious shop
man declared that it wasof "Paris manufac-
ture." And so we have walking curtains
with all the fixtures, likely as not, and bed
hangings, too; oh! to meet in our fashiona-
bic promenades, dresses with figures larger
than the whole pattern, so that it takes two
women to show off one gown to advantage
it is laughable; but wife,
"Well-how your eyes twinkle"
at has never occurred to me to ask how
much you spend in dress, say for one year?"
"Oh! | am not fashionable, and you are
not rich"
sNo matter for that; better dressed
woman than yourself doesn't walk the streets
of Boston. Now for the very reason that
l am not rich, l want to know how you do
it."
"That is easy enough told, on little re-
feetion," replied Mrs. Reed, blushing never
theless. "You praised my new hat, yester-
day, very highly"
''Never saw you look so sweetly in my
life; wanted to kiss you right on the spot.
Lee, the gentlemen who was with me, de-
clared that he hadn't met with so handsome
and well-dressed lady since he had been
in Boston. There's for you-and he's a
New Yorker; but come-what did you give
for the bonnet? pinch in bread and butter,
eh y and he pinched his wife's rosy check.
'No, indeedI" she merrily replied, "you
know last week l asked you forthree dollars;
we'll that was what the bonnet cost mer'
"Ah, Minnie-I'm not so green as that;
a lady's bonnet-three dollars bonnet
like that'
But I made it myself thus, having long
been confident that a milliuer's time is
worth to her a dollar minute, and that
We pay more for that than shape, materials
and all. So | have made my bonnets for
the past two seasons; this very frame wore
velvet last winter / was curious to get
milliner's Judgment upon it. and yesterday
asked Miss NJ to show me some ten dol
lar hats. She did so; and 1 would not
have exchanged mine for any of them
She supposed l paid about ten for mine; ha,
ha! Why my black silk that looks so fresh,
none of my friends know but 1 have bought
a new one. l turned and altered and
trimmed it handsomely; and yet the trim
mings cost only one dollar and fifty cents;
you see there's a good deal in taste" she
added, blushinly.
"Ol yes, Mrs. Self-Conceit; then we may
put the silk dress one dollar fifty. Ali
there's the new one! forgot that"
sit cost me twelve dollars; for l made it
a point to get rich and good silk, that it
may bear turning or change of pattern
But 1 made every stitch of it myself, with
only little help from sister Annie"
"But the seamstress saw here"
20! she was sewing up the cotton for the
family. I always make it a point to en-
ploy some one of my friends for that, and
pay literally. Shall l tell you what that
cost ("
"No, for we are upon dress-new gloves,
laces, &c. Come, all the secrets of your
marvellous extravaganza, madam" and Mr.
Reed fiourished his pencil pompously.
"Gloves, four dollars a year" said his wife
"put that at 81, for | get the very best,
from motives of economy; shoes, say So,
though | am not quite certain that it is as
much; laees perhaps S., having good as
sortment and taking care of them. My
dressing gowns are of French calico, that are
yet handsome after three years wear-but
to be more explicit, have kept an account
of everything in that line which have bot
for the last ten months and my outside