The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-01-01

Nuo'c populdL1OU VI lNlVcF-
boro and Edgewood was walking
or driving in the direction of the
meeting house OIL Tory bill.
Church toilets. you may well be-
lieve, were difficult Of attainment by
Deacon Baxter's daughters, as they
had been by his respective helpmates
in years gone by. When Waitstill's
mother first asked her husband to buy
her a new dress, and that was two
years after marriage. he simply said:
You look well enough. What do you
want to waste money On inery for.
these hard times? If other folks are
~extravagant that amt any reason you
should be. You amt obliged to take
your %neighbors for an example, take
'em for a warnin'"
But, Foxwell, my Sunday dress Is
worn completely to threads urged the
second Mrs. Baxter.
That's what wOmen always say.
They're all alike, n more idea o a w.
in anything than a skunk %blackbird!
l can't spare any money for gewgaws.
and you might as well understand it
first as last. Go up attic and open the
hair trunk by the winder, you'll find
plenty there to last you for years to
come"
The second Mrs. Baxter visited the
attic as commanded, and in turning
over the clothes in the old trunk knew
by instinct that they had belonged to
her predecessor in Office. Some Of the
dresses were neat. though terribly worn
and faded. but all were fortunately
of her fine proportions. Besides, her
very soul shrank from wearing them.
and her spirit revolted both from the
insult to herself and to the poor dead
woman she had succeeded. 50 she came
downstairs to darn and mend and
patch again her shabby wardrobe.
Waitstill had gone through the same
experience as her mother before her,
but in despair when she was seventeen
she began to cut over the old garments
for herself and Patty. Mercifully there
were very few of them, and they had
lOuk SluCC UCcu ulSSoIOCu. ~ CA6uSCOA
she had learned to dye yarns with yell
low oak or maple bark and to make
puppies from elder and sumac berries;
she could spin and knit as we'll rs any
old AUNT" Of the village and cut and
shape a garment as deftly rs the Edge
wood tailoress. but the task Of making
bricks without straw was a hard u
indeed.
=. She wore q white cotton frock on
this particular Sunday. 1t was starch
ed and iruncd with a beautiful gloss,
while u touch of distinction was given
to her costume by a little black sleeve
less roundabout" made out Of the COW
ering Of an old silk umbrella. Her
aat hat had a single wreath Of coarse
daisies around the crown. and her
mitts were darned In many places.
Nevertheless you could not entirely
spoil her; God had used a liberal hand
in making her. and her fathers parsi-
mony was a sort Of boomerang that
few back chiefly upon himself.
As for Patty. her style of beauty. like
Cephas Coles ell. had to be toned down
rather than up to be effective. but cir
cumstances had been cruelty unrelent-
ing in this process of late. Deacon
Baxter had given the girls three or
four shopworn pieces of faded yellow
calico that had been repudiated by the
village housewives as not fast enough
in color to bear the test Of proper wash
ing. This had made frocks. aprons,
petticoats and even underclOthes for
two full years. and Patty's weekly OBJ
j~urgations when she removed her ever
lasting yellow dress from the nail
where it hung were not such AS should
have fallen from the lips Of a dea-
cons daughter. Waitstill had taken q
piece Of the same yellow material,
starcbed and ironed it. cut 4 curving.
circular brim from 1t. sewed in a plat
ed crown. and. 10, 4 hat for Patty!
What inspired Patty to put on q waist
; ribbon Of deepest wine color. With Q
:" Nttle band OF the same N the pale yee
lovv hat m ~ could snv