Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1874-04-11
ONE MORE DRESS.
: BY OLIVER OPTIC.

ONE MORE DRESS
BY OLIVER OPTIC.
"To think of wearing the same dress
to church Sunday after Sunday T. ex-
claimed Mrs. Bradley, young married
lady, to Mrs. Green, her mother.
"Why not, Sarah p
"Folks will think it is the only one /
have which is fit to wear to meetings"
1t is, isn't it p
"I know it, but I don't care about all
the world knowing it."
"You would not make all the world
believe that which is not true, would
you?"
"I don't care mean to have new
silk Immediately"
But, Sarah, your husband cannot
afford it.
eyes, he can at least we can curtail
our expenses in something else"
What?"
swell, don't know we could make
our provision bill less"
Mrs. Green shook her head.
"I don't think there is any need of
our having beefsteaks and mutton-chops
every morning for breakfast We never
| had such things at home, you know. /
would not give straw to have SO much
meat
"But James depends upon it.
"I know it yet for the sake of let
ting me appear a little better on Sun
cay, he would willingly dispense with
it.
"Would you be willing to ask him
the question ?" said Mrs. Green.
"Yes why not?"
"You would ask him to go without
his breakfast in order that you may
have an extra silk dress p
"Go without his breakfast, mother
I never once thought of such thing"
said Mrs. Bradley, with a disturbed
look.
"But you know it amounts to the
in the country where he had meat for
breakfast, and he does not think he
could make meal without it. +"
"We will not say anything more
about that then," replied the young
wife, who, 1 beg the reader to believe,
would not willingly have deprived her
husband of any real comfort. "How
do you suppose Mrs. Farmer gets SO
many dresses ?"
"I don't know"
She seems to come out with new
one almost every Sunday. She must
have at least half a dozen silks and
berages"
"Ihope her husband can afford them, %
, replied Mrs. Green, shaking her head
, significantly.
"He is not any better off than James,
: They have the same salary, and in the
same concern"
ga Thousand dollars in these har..
: times will not go great way with a
man who has family to support, es-
E pecially if his wife has great many
silk dresses"
/ "But James saves two or three hun
dred of his salary every year."
Every young man ought to save
something"
i "Do you suppose John Farmer
! does ?"
e ''I think not. at the rate his wife
dresses"
"But it is too hard to wear the same
dress every Sunday. If had one more,
I could get along very well. !"
"You would want another still"
: "No, shouldn't, mother"
"There is no end to it when you un
I dertake to follow all these absurdities
!: When was girl, had only one dress
to wear to meeting, and that was only {
t: Calico"
"The times have changed"
Changed for the worse. I am sure
no such vanity as Haunting out in a diff
ferent dress every Sunday ever entered
g girls head, especially girls whose
s fathers were not Independently rich"
f Nobody thinks of wearing the same
e dress all the time. Only one more"
q "One is enough, Sarah. If you le
y such silly notions get into your head
!, you will never know where to stop. Yot
= could easily spend all your husbands
o salary in dress, and then not keep uT
n with the demands of the times"
e ST am sure James can afford me {
s new silk. It will not cost much"
t "Do not think of it, child. Be pru
e James is rich, you may do different"
= Mrs. Bradley was satisfied, after con
; siderable more demonstration on the
e part of her mother, that she could get
/, along without the new silk. But it wal
b hard to give up the idea OF competing
l. with Mrs. Farmer, whose husband wa,
g no better off than hers.
James Bradley and John Farmer wer,
Z clerks in large house in the city, ant
i beth resided in a neat little cottage il
the suburbs. Their fortunes had bee1
thus far very much the same ; and per
/ haps they might have continued tn,
8 same through life, but for the differen
s character of their wives.
Mrs. Bradley had been brought III
= ! to live within her means. A careful
n mother, who realized the responsibilit,
e of her position, had rigidly inculcatet
g the principles of sound economy, anG
e trained her up to habits of prudenc,
Is and thrift And all these practica
+ qualities she had brought with her int.
q her domestic relations, when she em
barked in new sphere of life.
n Mrs. Farmer, on the other hand
, though her parents were no better OF
e in the world, had brought her up to b.
y a lady-to wear fine dresses, and pla.
n the piano in the parlor. Her knowledg'
y and experience of householy duties wa,
{. very narrow and superficial, and he
u husbands thousand dollars year woult
q hardly support them. They wer
} obliged, in order to dress her as he
habits and wishes required, to "scrimp' I"
in many of the real comforts of life. Th
I. provision bill was kept at the loves
a possible figure. Mrs. Farmer though
beefsteaks were unhealthy in the morn
!. ing, and John found it necessary to b.
= Of her opinion. Six dollars season TO
Il ice would buy a new bonnet; hence ic
: was the cause of great many com
4 plants that prevailed in summer.
/, The comforts of living were sacrificed
. to the luxuries of dress. Beefsteak a
o twenty cents pound was unhealthy
3 but new bonnets at ten dollars piec'
4 were necessaries of life. Mutton-chop
% at fifteen cents pound caused the dys
4 pepsia, but silk dresses at a dollar ant
;, half yard, were not only healthy
j but indispensable to the happiness o