The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1900-01-18

wasn't worth while for mother TO have
guod clothes, for she never went any
where and didn't care.
Being really amiabie and sweet
natured girls. they probably believed
what they said. indeed, it's quite
likely that it never occurred to them
that mother didn't care to 90 any,
where because she had no suitable
clothes. Meantime Mrs. Vining SAID
nothing at all.
But just within the last week Mrs.
Vining had come to care very much,
both about clothes and about ''going
somewhere" In two weeks there was
TO be "a reunion of the Avery family
at the old place in Averytown, n. H.,
and she had been asked to write the
poem.
you see I haven't forgot the lovely
poetry you used to write in this days
when you were Grace Avery and the
AverytowE poet, belle and glass of
fashion, all in one" wrote the home
staying cousin who had sent out the
invitations, ''and l count on you as my
chief attraction Which letter goes
far toward explaining the special dis
favor with which Mrs. Ninine had eyed
the prehistoric black silk when she took
it down that morning for the sixteenth
course of alteration.
Mrs. Nining was the mother of grown
daughters; but she was such bright
eyed, pink-cheeked and altogether
youthful little mother that it is not to
be wondered a. that she shrank from
the ordeal of returning to what the
newspapers would call "the scene of
her girlish triumphs" gowned in a black
silk that was shiny where it ought to
have been lusterless. narrow where it
ought to have been broad and broad
where it should have been narfow-a
gown, in fact, that exhibited all the
known depravity of clothes that have
outlived their allotted period of serv-
ice.
~ suppose I'm horribly selfish and
worldly minded" the little mother had
said to herself that morning, as she sat
in the study trying to read the woman's
page in the Boston World, "but it does
seem as if | couldn't bear it if way
wasn't opened for me to have new
gown for that reunion"
just then omething in the fashion
notes caught her attention and set her
to reading in earnest.
Revival of Taffeta Silks. Among
the most attractive gowns now in
course of making for winter festivities
are taffeta silks figured in tiny flowers
! like those worn by our grandmothers.
Indeed, il is said that many such
gowns are being resurrected from old
trunks and chests by the lucky owners
of such ancestral finery, and with only
slight alterations will grace many OF
the seasons teas and receptions"
"Taffeta silk ancestral fnerv.'
dropped dsjointedly from Mrs. Vim.
ing's lips as she laid down the paper
"Why, there is Aunt Tabitha's we'd
ding gown"
That wedding gown. If ever there
was polite illustration of the proverbs:
Every dog has his day" it was that
ancient garment. A dozen times every
year for 20 years it had been dug out
from the ponderous Noah's Ark of a
trunk for examination and final rejec.
tion.
1t had been suggested as a ball-dress.
as ea-gown, as lining for an opera
wrap, as almost every article of femi-
nine apparel. 1t had been handled. lit
orally and fguratively, until it was a
| ~ % ~ fol
ric remained. In fact, 81 suppose
must get along with Aunt Tabitha's s
wedding gown" had come to be the
Nining family expression for 81 must
give up getting anything new" while
that heirloom itself was regarded as n
symbol of renuncation.
Yes. the girls certainly would laugh
when they heard that at last the de-
! spsed gown was in style and that their
mother was to wear it at the Avery re-
union. AT least that was what Mrs.
! Nining had thought as she folded her
! paper and started upstairs.
1t was not until she had been kneel-
! ing some ten minutes beside the Noah's
Ark trunk in the attic storeroom that
the guilty fear already referred 10
seized her. Suppose the girls should
want the taffeta themselves? To be
sure she had only the day before given
/ them money for a gown apiece: but
those were to be evening affairs OF
! filmv chiffon and lace. Wouldn't FL
! len, the eldest. ask for the taffeta when
she knew that taffetas were "in?"
At the thought Mrs. Vining suddenly
rose with the precious silk pressed to
her breast, her pink cheeks pinker and
her bright eyes brighter than even was
their wont. IT'S mine-mine" she
whispered. II can't give 1t up. | do
so want a gown that's pretty and in
style just this once." Then, hearing
sound of girlish laughter below, she
thrust the rustling folds into the re
motest corner of the big trunk, lowered
/ the lid. and crept downstairs as eau
| tiously as il she had been a house
! breaker.
"I'll take it to my room and begin on
/ ii this very afternoon" she thought.
But that afternoon proved an I'M
usually busy one. even for this busy