The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1899-02-15
HER TUCKED SILK WAIST.

The woman appeared at the door {
her friends room with a roll of silk III
der her arm and in her hands thin
bic, thread, needles, scissors and othe
things necessary foran all days sewln
bee.
''You promised to let me make no
waist on your machine she said
"Can 1 make It to-day?"
Her friend looked trife startled, bu
she restrained her emotion with he
roic effort.
"why, yes" she gasped. Certain
ly. Come on in"
A light dawned upon the other VIC
man. She stood irresoIutely in tn
doorway.
"May be you are going down town,
she said, ''or out on your bike, or some
thing.r
mot at ALL" replied her friend
switching her bicycle costume Off
chair into closet. "Don't be silly
Come on in and make your waist.
And she proceeded in a melanchol,
way TO take Off the top and drag tn
machine out into the middle Of ,th'
roOm where the woman could see 4
sew. The woman triumphantly un
rolled four yards of red taffeta and hour
ished it about like a flag.
'.Isn't it pretty?" she exclaimed
"And wait till you see how am going
to make 1t. saw one down town yes
terday that / am going to make it by
Ii was tucked all over"
Her friend sank exhausted In chair
Tucked all overr' she repeated faint
Iy. She was wondering how long Il
would take, how many daysthe woman
would be in her room using her ma
chine tucking that waist all over.
YES" asserted the woman, 81 am
going to tuck it all over, crossways in
the front and back. You don't think
am too broad TO have the tucks run
crosswsys instead Of up and down, dc
you?r
Her friend observed her critically.
Then she coughed.
"oh, no" she murmured behind hei
hand.
''Then," (" resumed the woman, 81 am
going to tuck the sleeves up and down.
That will relieve the effect of the cross
ways tucks, you know, and am going
TO run a lot Of tiny little tucks along
the collar and the cuffs. I wish you
could have seen the one am going to
make it by. 1t was a Jim dandy waist.
1t was red like mine, and it had a
straight piece of black taffeta tucked
down the front and little tucked lapeis
ON the collar aud cuffs. Mine is going
to be exactly like it. When you see me
come out in it you won't know it from
a bought waist. You just wait now
aud keep your eyes opeD.n
She sat down. threaded ;he machine
and began to tuck the silk, while her
friend wrapped herself in a crocheted
slumber robe Of so many different col
ors that she looked ike a Comanehe
Indian, with the exception Of her face,
which was white and beautiful, and en-
dsayored to the best Of her ability to
become recOnciled to her fate. The
woman sewed and sewed, drew the silk
away from the needle, shipped off the
thread with the scissors, creased an
other tuck and sewed again. The hum
Of the machine, filing up the silence,
preeluded any attempts at converse
ton. Presently she stopped sewing
and looked up.
al Think she remarked eompla-
Gently, ''that l viii tuck the entire
four yards and then cut the waist out
afterward. That will be the easiest
way
Her friend with difficulty suppressed
a groan.
"Perhaps it will" she faltered. With
that she looked out of the window once
more. Another party Of bicyclists pass
I'd. The corners OF her mouth dropped.
The woman hummed as she sewed.
Fhe morning was young, and she was,
we'll, not so young as she had been, but
joyful, which amounts to much the
same thing. When she got through
With all that sewing, she kept on think
ing, she was going to have the prettiest
waist in the boarding house. She was
going to finish it with a grand flourish
and spring it on the eoarders at dinner.
It would be a good deal of work to fin
sh it in day, but she was equal to 1t,
she thought Sac hummed louder as
she fell TO imagining how dazed the
ooarders would look when she walked
IN, as large as life, and twice as natu-
ral, decked out in all the glory Of her
much-tucked waist. She
lummed and sewed and hummed and
sewed. After long time it occurred
% her that with all her sewing the part
she had finished was exceedingly min
lite. She glanced back over her shout
Ter at the silk which had not been
lone. 1t WIS long four yards that
rallied out there on the floor, very longl
Gould it be possible that the salesman
lsd made a mistake and given her
more than four yards ? 1t was little
short of miracle if be had-she had
paid for only four. She sewed another
tuck and looked back over her shoulder
again. Really that was the longest
four yards Of silk she had ever seen in
al her born days. She heaved tre-
N sndous sigh and looked from the silk
10 the clock. Ten. She had been sew
ng exactly an hour.
She resumed her humming and sew
ID some more. The tune she hUmmed
was Yankee Doodle She always
that when she sewed. She
6ound that it had the effect Of bracing
hsr up No wonder they played it on
the battlefield. Il was good, all
around tune for the faint of heart
Toe noise Of the machine again stop
ped. She drew out the thread and
broke it Off between her fingers. The
scissors had dropped to the floor and
she couldn { find them Whenever she
was so busy she didn't know what TO do
the scissors always began to lose them
selves.
"Do you think" she inquired, turn
.ng her head sideways as she ran her