The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1901-02-08

| out from lue pOnuPTOus NOHH AIh
Of trunk for examination and final
rejection.
II had been suggested as ball dress,
as tea-gown, as "A lining for an opera
wrap, as almost every article OF fem
mime apparel 1t had been handled,
literally and 1guratively, until II was
wonder that n rag Of the original
fabric rept"ined. In fact, IL suppose
! must get along with Aunt Tabitha's
wedding gown" had come TO be the
Nining family expression for ~ must
give up getting anything new" while
that heirloom Itself was regarded as
a symbol OF renunciltion.
Yes, the girls certainly would laugh
when they heard that at last the dc
spised gown was In style and that
their mother was 10 wear IL at the
Avery reunion! At least that was
what Mrs Vining had thought as she
folded her paper and started upstairs
II was not until she had been kneci-
ing for some ten minutes beside the
| NOah's Ark trunk in the little attic
storcroom that the guilty fcar already
referred TO seized her Suppose the
girls should want the taffcta them
selves? TO be sure she had only the
! day before given them money for a
gown apiece; but those were to be
evening affairs of filmy chiffon and
! lace. Wouldn't Ellen, the Cldcst, ask
| for the taffcta when she knew that
! taffctas were "in"
At the thought Mrs. Nining suddenly
rose with the precious silk pressed to
her breast her pink cheeks pinkcr and
her bright eyes brighter than ever
was their wont. ITS mine-mincw
she whispered, 81 can't give il up.
do so want gown that's pretty and
in style Just this once" Then, hear
ing q sound of girlish laughter below,
| she thrust the rustling folds into the
remotcst corner OF the big trunk.
lowered the lid and crcpt downstairs
rs cautiously as Is she had been a
! hOusphreakCr.
! "I'll take II to my room and begin
on il this very afternoon" she thought,
But that afternoon proved an un-
usually busy one, even for this busy
woman. First. ncighbOr called n
moment for fancy-work pattern, and
stayed an hour. Then the girls brought
i'm mounds of samples from which
mother must help them select their
new gowns. and later in the day an
important committee meeting Of her
sewing society drew Mrs. Nining away
TO the church vestry, there to discuss
ways and means of providing the
heather with the garb of civilization.
All the time that gray talfcta silk
with the pink rOschuds existed as an
unchanging background against which
were outlined all the events Of the day.
! Even the girls gowns aroused only
q half hearted attention. At the com
mittee meeting she barely escaped
forever losing caste with her fellow
committce-women 10y voting that SO
many yards of taffcta silk with pink
figures he bought ror garments for the
heather, instead of the unblCached
muslin commonly appropriated for that
| purpose.
And at the ncighborhood sociable
that evening Mrs. Nining was present
in body only. Even when talking with
the rector, or looking over photo
graph album with the doctors wife,
she was, in fancy, walking up and
down the old entrance hall of tie
Avery homestead arm in arm with her
favorte cousin; or she was sitting at
the head of the long dinncr-tablc in
the dear old pancllcd dining-room; or
reading a poem To hushCd audience
n the red drawing-room-and always
she was clad in rustling gray gown
dotted with tiny pink rosebuds, made
up IN The latest style.
Perhaps 4 was because of the en-
croachment of these waking visions
upon Mrs Winnings usual hours OF
slumber that she for once oversight the
next morning. At any rate, IL was long
after nine when she finished her soil
;ary breakfast crept up to the attic
storcroom and threw back the lid OF
the Noah's Ark trunk
IL hope | didn't muss Il. putting IL
away in such n hurry" she said. feel
ing down into one corner. Then, mo
meut later. WAY. IL can't bc TUE
yes. it is-the gown isn't there" Be
yond doubt IL was gone
Mrs yniug tumbled the contents OF
the trunk out upon the floor and looked
INTO II and behind IL. and finally eX.
amined every article that Il had con.
tained, from velvet rcuculc To poke
bonnet: hut nowhere was there \
square inch OF gray silk dotted with
pink rosehuds.
"Couid the girls"
Without further shaping the qucS
tion. Mrs Nining hurried out Of tn,
storeroom and downstairs into the blu,
sat sewing
Aunt Tabitha's wedding gown
she gasped. ITS goncw
Then she stopped short on the FOO
of The bed lay what had been the gray
; taf1cta silk. now cut into multitudinCl,
folds and sections.
You cut it up You cut up Aun
Tabhhas govst" she murmured: ant
: then sat down upon the bed and hurS
: into tears.
In moment both the girls were r.
her side. why. mother" said Ellen
do you mean that you wanted tha
old silk? Why I never dreamed q
: | rtnnI. o. ti1.rnf ", hmm, ,-ntt .an..n