Year: 1879

but you never originated that remark.
don't believe like the STYLE, he added af.
ter pause. But do as you please, DEAR
1t was hard to say mo- to his little wife.


AT least you can buy the cloak at Nor.
ton q Brier's and be sure and make the
money go as far as you can


will, John it shall go as far as New
York = she replied, with happy laugh,
throwing her arms around his neck and Civ
ing him an enthusiasts hug.


She wrote her letter to New York at Mrs.
Jupe's dictaton, and the samples came in
due time.


John turned them over quizzically.
Couldn't you judge better of the color and
quality to see them in whole piece, rather
than in such scrap as this p


%, what silly John OF course not !;
when | can examine them at my leisure
now, with no saucy clerk to snatch them out
of my hands or talk me into buying what
don't want at all


a long hour was spent in this inspec-
tion.


'Do-do you think it had better be mixed
goods or plain?'


John was good natured. He laid down
his newspaper to raise the bits of cloth again
in his great hands. 'Doyou call that mixed?;
singing out scrap all knobs and long loose
hairs, and vieing with Joseph's coat in col
ors, the latest fashion of woven ugliness.
Yes, to be sure


well, then, dear, I should say, let us
have ii plain
| SO she chose soft, warm basket cloth in
dull maroon. Six yards, eight dollars But
it was double width, and these new goods
were expensive. The prices ran as high az
five dollars yard three was moderation.
And there would be enough for long
sacque, and then-last consideration of
prudent mind--it would make over ad.
mraby.


Then the silk-for this was to be hand.
some suit-Mrs. Jupe had said that silks
were to be got at almost any price now. And
not to be mean or buy a poor quality, Mrs.
Fay had fixed her price at dollar and a
balf yard.


But scrap at two dollars just matched
her cloth. Aud as most of the samples
ranged at prices even higher, with an i'm
petuosity which characterized the move.
ments of the small woman who mildly rul-
ed the Fay family, she decided upon this.
Seven yards-no, eight-it was well to have
piece left, and there should be bonnet
to match Eight it must be. She sert her
order in haste and then waited the result in
excitement which held in it more and more
of repentance as the days went by.


Early in the afternoon OF the third, an ex-
press wagon, man and an enormous book
appeared at her door. She ran to open it.
She took the precious parcel which bore her
name and placed carefully within the sane
titles of the parlor while the man was fun.
bling for the bill.


'Thirty-four dollars, mas am


She had the exact amount in her hand.
She had had the exact smount within reach
for the last two days.


Write your name just there And Mrs.
Fay wrote her name where the purple and
black finger pointed grimly-in characters
good deal like the trembling ones with
which she had written. Yes dear John
two years before, in reply to certain letter
which need not be further mentioned
here.
And dollar for the express
I-thought it wfs fifty cents
Both ways, ma'am, you know, G. o. d.
No, she did not know, not at that moment
certainly but she slipped a flty-cent piece
slyly back into her pocket and paid him the
dollar demanded.


She did not open the parcel at once. She
sat down to do a sum in mental arithmetic
Thirty-fve dollars from $50 left $l5 and
there were the Innings and trimmings, the
dressmaker and Susan James to be provided
for. And Aunt Maria's cloak She had
entirely forgotten the cloak There was no
impatience in the fingers that united the
strings as she prepared to inspect the dress
She had lost her enthusiasm over it al
ready.


| Horror of horrors Could that be her
silk as a broad ray of sunlight struck upon
it. 1t was by no means of the same shade
as the dress. Could the dealers have made
mistake ? But no she compared scrap
of the sample which she had chosen and a
bit of the sample which she had withheld.
1t was the same. Was it possible that it
could appear so different when seen in the
piece.


But there was no help for it now and
with that reflection the last ray of pleasure
in her new purchase vanished from her
mind. Not even Johns commendation could
enliven her,'Why, you're pretty as a picture,
said he, the same night, when she had
twisted the soft wooden stuff about her fg-
ure and stood waiting under the gaslight for
his inspection. The silk she had prudently
and thankfully bsnished from sight. The
dull maroon hue had frightened to rich
crimson under the light.


And did the money hold out p


Yes But the reply came family, and
Mrs. Jupe running in the next morning
found her friend poring over the supple
ment' to a fashion paper, her smooth fore
head drawn into two dreadful wrinkles
while she studied with despairing eyes thi,
sheet of lines and angles, bicycles and in
sane parallelograms, hopelessly confused
and inextricably entanged.


They are patterns said Mrs. Fay, a,
though she would have added, Gould you
ever believe it p Il thought perhaps nigh
cut my dress myself


'G"odness, child Did you ever do sucl
a thingr


NO but people do


They don't begin with handsome suit
however. Do you want to spoil ito ruiz
the whole dress, beside wasting the materia
and the money you have spent for it p


The last was an argument, and Mrs. Fay
laid by her sheet of hieroglyphics with