Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-07-01
JANE CARY'S OUTING.
MYSTERIOUS DIsPENsATIoN OF PROyI-
DENCE.

|
| DENCE.
''Youll have to cut your cloth very saw
ingly, Miss Cary, if you calculate to get a
good full dress out of eight yards OF cash
mere v'
II know it, Mrs Barker, but 1 We planned
it all, and 1 can have it made up in this
style by using sham skirt Miss Cary
took up ssThe Bazar' and pointed to figure
on the pattern plate.
II was quite a while deciding whether
I'd have basque or a polonaise, and then
| was bothered-to know whether I'd better
have the skirt box -pleated or side pleated,
but finally settled on this pattern.
cit will be very tasty, too," replied the
the neighbor, ''and those pleats will be worn
for while longer, I think, though the city
boarders had some of their dresses made that
way last summer"
While Mrs. Barker was speaking she kept
rubbing her fingers over the piece of black
cashmere which was lying on top of Miss
Carys sewing machine.
81 call that pretty good piece, for the
price, don't you, Mrs. Barker?''' Miss Cary
asked, as she took one end of the goods in
her hands and held 1t up to the window.
"You see it has blue-black shade, and the
| lllluS Is Oodtcu uP GuiCA duu AAth.
"It is an excellent piece, if am any
judge; but when are you going to start,
Miss Cary?''
81 hope to get off next week, while work
is slack. Next month, you know, I'll be
driven, for the spring sewing will come in
then"
"You'l Il miss your daughter, Mrs. Cary, -
said the neighbor, turning to address the
mother who sat in an oldfashioned rocking
chair by the stove.
.'Yes, but Amandy Wells is coming to
stay with me, and I'm glad enough to have
Jane go. She's been a-trying to get out to
her brother Jacobs for ten years, but every
time she's made up her mind to go some
thing has happened to keep her home. Last
spring had malary, and wasn't fit to do
anything about the house for three months,
and the spring before Sam was under the
weather and home here for quite SPELL
When Jane laid her plans that fall to 60,
John had his bad luck, and she thought
twas more her duty to stay and keep her
money to help his folks with"
The old lady took up her knitting work
and began to pick up some stitches she had
dropped.
"The truth ISL she continued. "Jane
hain't never been nowhere. Always stayed
right here and worked and tugged and
took care of me.''
eff there is any one who deserves an out
ing it's your Jane," said Mrs. Barker. "Ev-
erybody is glad she is going"
eyes, James earned a vacation, and a
good long one, too," the mother replied
s'But folks don't always get what they earn
in this world, I've found out. Luck always
does seem to go agin some folks.'
tSDOp't to1lr hat mother - the
daughter replied, as he pinned pattern on
to the piece of black cashmere and traced
out its dimensions with her scissors. "Don't
you believe peoples paths are marked out
for them?"
"Well, sometimes do, Jane, and then
again I don't But we can't none Of US un-
derstand the Lords dealings with us.
"'God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to PERFORM"
''It's time my dinner was going" Mrs.
Barker said, glancing up at the face of the
tall clock which stood in one corner of the
room. ''I'll try to III in and see you again
before you go, Miss Cary"
| After the neighbor went out Jane Cary
pinned the different pieces belonging TO the
chosen pattern on to the long piece of black
cashmere. She turned them around and
upside down, all sorts Of ways, to save the
cloth. She was we'll used to such planning.
She had worked at dress-makirg for nearly
twenty years. She had had great many
small patterns of goods to deal with, and
many customers, who knew she would make
their small patterns go farther than they
could themselves. A new dress was quite
an event in Jane Cary's life. She was just
calculating in her own mind how long it
was since she had had one, when her moth
er said
'Come to think of it, Jane, you haint had
a new dress for over six years. You turn
ed your black alpaca and made it over three
times. 1t looks real good and will do to
wear to save this one for long spell, yet.
| And that brown merino you had dyed two
years ago-that looks Almost like new.
declare It's wonderful how nice they dye
things nowadays. We used to have our
own dye-pots and color our dresses our
selves when was girl, but we didn't get
'em to look as nice as the dyers do now.''
| While the mother was talking, the dress.
makers scissors were busy cutting out the
different portions of the new garment. Jane
Cary was going to have an outing, and an
outing in Jane Cary's life was as great an
event as new dress. The money to pay
the travelling expenses was hidden away in
their great .grandmother's blue sugar bowl
on the top shelf of the china closet. The
same amount had been deposited there for
the same purpose number of times before,
but as Jane told her mother, "The unex-
! pected exigencies of the times had OCCASION
ed rush upon the Blue Bank and the de-
posits had to be drawn out" But now the
financial outlook seemed to be favorable
one
81 won't make Jacobs folks ashamed of
me-" she thought, as she pinned the pieces
together. "1f [ can't 60 to see folks and
make a good appearance, I'll stay at home.
When you visit your relations you want
little dress-maker laid down her scissors, as
she thought how proudly Jacob and his wife
would say: 'This is my sister, Miss Cary,
from the East"
BY Saturday night the dress was finished
and the new trunk was packed, for Jaue
Cary was going to start on the early train
Monday morning. There was no settled
minister at that time in the New England
village, but the services were held regular
ly every Sunday in the church.
| Wnen Jane Gary heard the bells ringing
that particular Sunday morning, it seemed
to her as if they had never sounded more
sweetly. She entered the church, just as
the choir arose to sing the morning anthem.
She was dressed in her new suit, and all
eyes were turned toward her as she walked
down the aisle. Everybody knew that Jane
Cary was going West the next morning to
visit her brother Jacob She was great
favorite in the village and her frien were
so glad that she was going to have an out
ing.
Deacon Brown read sermon in a slow,
drawing tone, and Jane Cary wondered
why he should have selected such dull,
prosy one. She could not get sufficiently
interested in it to keep her mind off from
the prospective journey. She kept wonder
ing whether she would get into the night
train when she changed cars at Grand City,
and whether her trunk would have to be re-
checked And then she remembered that
she had neglected putting an extra pocket
inside her dress to carry her money in
Vividly before her minds eye came the
placard she had seen in the picture of the
large depot, and the words printed in capi-
tai letters: "Beware of pickpockets."
When the service was ended, Jane Cary
felt conscience-smitten to think that she had
allowed SO many things to distract her mind
1