Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-04-30

|you ~ said she.
Cant you wear some of your sill
frocks ~
1--WE vet my heart on white gros
grain,o said Mrs. Peveril, plaintively.
Mr.. Peveril took up the paper again,
and his wife had the good sense to say
no more.
He'll get it for me-" thought she and
she chuckled to herself in a secret sort OF
way, as she thought of the ten-dollar
bill she had made out of the old dress,
Mr.. Peveril stopped at dry goods
palace the next day, and priced white
gros grain. 1t was four dollars a yard.
"And how many yards does it toke to
make dress ?" asked he.
The polite clerk really could not saw.
1t depended SO much on the height aud
proportions of the lady. From twenty
five to thirty yards was, however
"And the dressmaker's bill on top of
that" almost shouted Mr.. Peveril. "No,
I won't take it to-day.n
And he strobe away, muttering dire
anathemas on the extravaganza Of the
age.
How he came to select Blessington
street as the especial downtown route
for that particular day he never knew,
but select it he did. And in front of an
establishment which was half concealed
by grove of dresses swinging from a.
bove, as if half dozen ladies had COM
mitted suicide by wholesale, he espied the
following placard:
BARGAINS IN BALL DREsSEs-INQUIRE
WITHIN.n
"By Jove!n said Mr.. Peveril, staring
at the Tapping founces and the empty
sleeves, which seemed to beckon at ey-
cry gust Of wind, "I never thought of
that !'
The next instant he found himself |
taken insinuatingly by the arm and hur-
rled into the store, with persuasive |
voice In his ear, begging to know in |
what way they could possibly serve
him.
"Got any white silk ball dresses ?' de-
manded Mr.. Peveril.
How fortunate 1t was, protested Miss
Naomi Isaacs (whO was exactly like her
mother, only size smaller that they
had just received an invoice of that yery
article from Paris,
"They must be gres grain!p added
Mr.. Peveril, remembering his instruc-
tions.
'Gros grain is the exact material ="
cried Miss Naomi, with clasped hands
and uplifted eyes.
And she brought out white dress,
trimmed with cheap Spanish blonde,
and smelling rather strong of benzine.
"That's the article" said Mr.. Peveril,
his face glowing with satisfaction. CAL
most exactly like the last one she had.
What Is the price of that dress ?"
Miss Naomi, after referring to the
books of the establishment, answered
that the dress was dirt cheap at seventy
five dollars.
Seventy-five dolIars," repeated Mr..
Feverii. Isn't that rather steep, now,
for secondhand dress?"
"But look at the material,n smiled
Miss Naomi lsaacs. "And then, YOU
know, sir. the dress is all made and
trimmed SO exquisitely, You have no
bill of thirty to forty dol
lars to pay!"
'That's,very true," said Mr.. PeveriI.
"In these times one must eeonomize.U
So he paid down the seventy five dol
lars and walked out of the store with the
bargain" neatly folded in a monster
pastebaard box under his arm.
And all the day long he smiled mys-
teriousiy to himselfwhenever be thought
OF the agreeable surprise which he had
in store for Mrs. Peveril that night.
"Well, darling" said he, as he came
into his wife's sitting room-6oudoir,
she called it.
sive smile.
1--WE got iti'a
SCOT What?''
''The white silk gown.n fiinring the
box toward her. 'Just from PARIS All
made and trimmed, and ready to put
on!" ~
"Oh, you darling ?" cried Mrs. peve-
III, effusively, ga she jumped up and
kissed her liege lord on each side of his
and then in the middle.
And then she cut the string with her
scissors, and opened the pasteboard box.
expecting to behold some marvel Of
Worth's or exquisite creation of Madam /
Elise's
"Oh, my goodness sra- cfous!' said
Mrs. Beveril, recoiling.
What is 1t, my dear ?' questioned
Mr.. Peveril.
Take it away!" said Mrs. Peveril.
What for?" said Mr.. Peveril,
'at's the same one ~ sobbed the lady |
with the grease-spots, taken out by
nasty benzine, and few yards of cotton
blonde basted across the front. Horace
Peveril, where did you get n"
AT Madam Isaacs's on Blessington
street" said Mr.. Peveril, beginning to
realize that there was some terrible mis-
take somewhere. And I gave seventy
five dollars for it," Te' e'''
"Seventy-Aye dollars ga shrieked Mrs.
feyeril. And I sold it to her yester-
day for temp
And then Mrs. Peveril went into hys
terics in good earnest.
Mr.. Peveril went down to the dry
goods emporium the next day, and or.
dered twenty-four yards of four dollar |
silk; and Mrs. Peveril econonizes no |
NOR more IN IN the cast. off-drsss direction. And
avoid the subject.
"Because, says Mrs. Peveril, "I was
such a goose ~
And I was the biggest fool in New
York J" says the husband.
IN.