Norwich bulletin., 1913-06-28

mother and my older sister cut out
 the cloth. according to the paper pat terms, and made up the suits for the
 three of us. 1t took some weeks to accomplish all this. And candor con- strains me to admit that the clothes didn't fit very smoothly in some quarters.
 I also remember that all the bits of cloth left from the cutting were treasured up with care. The bigger pieces were rolled up and put away to mend with; smaller bits were made into holders and the like; mere strips and selvages were rolled into balls for carpet rags"
 Now days, things go differently. We all know how. so there's no need of my expatiating on the process of getting a new suit in 1913. Certainly we don't go to the mill after our of the owner or president would come out and sell it to us. There are other differences, too, between those days and this. For instance:
 Cape overcoats'' were considered stylish at that former time One was made for my older brother This was about 1860. mind you. He wore that coat year or two around home. Then he went west, taking the coat with him. He wore it two seasons in and around Omaha, then a frontier post hundreds of miles beyond a rail- road. Later. it came back to father, who wore it around the farm for many years. The coat itself played out and went into the rag-bag. The cape came down to me and 1 still wear it, on rainy evenings. to and from the barn. when I do my chores. One button-hole has been overcast" so many times that it is difficult to make the button take hold, and the outside is sadly faded. But it is still absolutely whole, without any prom ise of fraying or wearing out for an other fifty years.
 In noting the difference between how we buy now and sixty years ago, it might also be interesting to note the difference in what we buy.
 The other evening, threw that old cloak over my shoulders as l went out to milk. All the while I was stripping the heifer I kept thinking about the differences between the day
 when that old cloak was new and the present. And the more 1 thought the more clear it became to me that Is just that, nowadays, we get poorer goods. at higher cost. but with less trouble to ourselves.
 That old purchase involved a days trip of man and team to the mill: another half-day's trip to the local the women-folk, cutting and basting and trying. and sewing with needle and thread.
 The last time I bought a new suit I went into the big clothing store, mentioned my leg-length, waist and picked out the style and coloring I wanted, tried the suit. found it fitted, and walked out with it on, leaving the old one to be sent home by ex- press.
 And I paid more for that suit than for the material for three suils, any one of which was certainly three times better. in point of wearing value.
 l saved a lot of trouble and delay. Sure. That is. I saved myself trou- ble But somebody else took all the trouble and did ali the work, just the same, and 1 paid for it.
 Don't forget that when you're boast of modern convenienees." You're paying for them. every single one of them: paying not only all they cost, but several profits, in addition, to the several hands who have taken your work to do for you.
 That woolen mill doubtless made as big if not a bigger profit on the cloth it sold my father than a similar mill makes on a similar amount, now. But this was practically the only toll my father had to pay
 When I bought my suit and had it on in fifteen minutes. I saved myself a deal of trouble and delay. But paid toll, not only to the cloth maker but to the manufacturers agent, and to the wholesaler, and to the innum- erable trades unions which are sup ported by his workmen. and to the railroads, and to the carters. and to the storage warehouses. and to the They all took their nib ble off mes-and I paid it. just to save myself some work and some bother and some waiting, I didn't get any thing like much value. in the way of clothes, as my father got for less money, but I got a good deal more in the way of convenience.
 To lazy folks, this is a big object. But I am coming to wonder as grow older, whether, after all, the encour-