Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1868-12-25
5hiseellany.
The Village Sewing Circle.
BY CHRISTINE H. CARPENTER.

A drowsy summer afternoon hung over
the dainty little village of MaysviIle,
nesting among the green Connecticut
hills. The leaves Of the clustering vines
framing the pretty white cottages Just
stirred in the sunshine, while even the
bees and the butterflies crept to shelter
in the hearts of the great red and white
roses, family nodding to some occasional
zephyr asit languished by. From the win
dow Of widow Mays /" best room hum
Of voices stole out upon the scented air,
and within, more than a score of busy
hands fashioned divers fabrics into fair
shapeliness. 1t was the weekly sewing
circle of the Maysville church, for which
fair was in prospect, fact that formed
the secret of this feminine conclave.
Who ever saw a sewing-circle without its
little titbits of gossip? This was no ex-
ception to the rule. Presently CHEEKY
face looked up from its owners glancing
needle:
Do you know" said she to neigh
Dor, 6 that have quite altered my opin-
ion of Mrs. Wells lately? Pray don't
start-she has not arrived yet"
How is that? You used to think her
the most extravagant woman in the vii
lage, and I'm not sure but you were
quite right. To my certain knowledge
she wears the most new dresses, new bon
nets, and so costly, to say nothing of the
style in which those children of hers are
primped up! You don't pretend to imag-
| inc that her husband can stand it so much
better than others might mention ?"
I Oh no Mr.. Wells is not rich-on-
ly comfortable"
6 can't afford two new dresses to my
neighbor's one"
/ Maybe you don't know how to econ
omize."
Economic! I'd like you to point
out another woman in Maysville who can
stretch out a dollar further'n | can!"
Yes, l can do it.
"Just tell me, and Eli take lesson
right off"
I "You might profit by it, too, as l
have" va
/ "Do tell 4"
It's Mrs. Wells"
"Mrs. Wells That does beat my time
Ito set her up as my model Now, /
dare say, if one really knew, she spends
just three times as much"
"No she doesn't, nor in fact any more
than you do
"Oh, nonsense! How do you get over
the four bonnets, and the dresses and the
fancy furbelows one always sees about
her?" The little matron shook her head
sagaciously. No, no, Mrs. Brown,
calculate the whole matter in plain fig.
ures. Now, for instance There were my
two bonnets last year. Ned thought as
how l should have something better than
the hideous things Miss Smith gets up in
the village, SO | went to New York
Well, there were two days lost just going
and coming at the very time | was mos
wanted. | tired myself almost to death
looking for something reasonable, ant
at last had to take the nearest to my
means. l thought it would do wei
enough till | got home, and Mrs. Well
called on me the very next day with tn,
very lovliest bonnet on her head eve
saw. 1t never cost less than twenty-five
dollars in the city. / mean that gra,
velvet she had last fall"
"I know all about it. 1t didn't cos
but six dollars, and it didn't come from
the city"
"Six dollars You must be dreaming
And where, in the name of creation
could any one get such bonnet in Mays
vile? Then, again, when l was in tn,
city | saw dress something like tha
blue merino of Susie Wells everybod,
liked so much. l thought I'd enough
left to buy it for Ada. knew the stuf
wasn't more than fourteen shillings I
yard, and it takes just four yards; bu
besides, there was the making and trim
ming. l went in and priced it. 1t wa
eighteen dollars"
"And Susie Wells cost her mothe
only about nine
"That beats me out and out Wher
does she go to get such bargains f"
Not very often out of Maysvilie.
"Why, l never see them. When g
to Miss Smith for anything new, mos
likely it's some notion she's borrowe
from the Wellses. / do believe they Sc
the fashions for this village for dress
: makers and all"
Well, Mrs. Wells can do it if sh