Year: 1876

going to bring the country back te
more than its old time prosperity
Everybody was delighted with the
young ladies, and none more SO thar
the young gentlemen, who were en-
raptured with the neat figured calico
setting off to perfect advantage the
girllsh forms, and they wondered
that the faded old calico they had
observed on their own sisters and
mothers early in the morning, and
IN house cleaning seasons, and
on wash days, never seemed to look
that way. They mentally compared
the cost of one of those enchanting
calico dresses which the graduates
wore, with the cost OF the customary
swisse or tulle, or Paris muslin, with
the elaborate and expensive trim
mings of point lace, or satin trim
mings, and dreamed of cheap home
with little angel in calico, and
small No. rs, fitting about in it, all
coming within the range OF a thous
and a year. And thus Laura, while
merely indulging in what was partly
a girlish whim, and partly, and pro
badly in the greater part, real good
sincere, honest motive Of good
girls heart, was laying no small par,
Of the foundation for the superstruc.
ture of national prosperity. She was
giving an impetus to the specie re
sumption bill, although she probably
did not know it. 1t may not have
occurred to Laura that the economy
she was introducing into her own
home would, like a stone dropped
into pool, send its influence in rip
pling circles clear to the limits OF
that homes influence, into her faith
er's business, into her mothers house
hold management, into the habits OF
the household servants, and so, if
Laura's sisters co-operated with her
in sufficient numbers and with enough
heartiness, these little ripples would
interminglc and make quite tidal
wave on the surface of public affairs,
If


That is an awkward word with
which to end a paragraph, but we
will have to let it stand there while
we consider what the end of that par
agraph must be. There are several
things to be considered In connection
with this good start which Laura has
made in restoring the financial and
commercial interests Of the country
to their old time stability and pros
perity. In the first place, Laura can.
not do this alone. There is Tom.-
Tom, who was just beside himself
with admiration of her loveliness,
her intelligence. her good sense, her
wit, her accomplishments of mind
that 1valled her personal beauty, as
she stood up in her calico dress and
read her graduation essay. Tom,
who, resplendent in the glory of a
new seventy dollar suit, sat and ad-
mired Laura's economy in appearing
in public in q calico dress that cost a
dollar and a half if she made 1t her.
self, and only two dollars and a halt
if she had it made. Tom, who paid
the Messieurs Raab more for his
elaborate necktle than Laura paid for
her whole dress; Tom, whose sleeve
buttons cost nearly as much as Lau.
ra's entire outfit, even including the
crowning glory with which Mrs.
Miller's cultured taste completes and
perfects the beauty of femme appar,
el. Tom must come down to cali
co basis before Laura's scheme for
the resumption of specie payments
can succeed. 1t won't do for him to
dream of little vine-embowered cot
tage, with 4 closet hanging full of
dollar and half dresses for Laura,
and sixty-five dollar suits for Tom,
in order to keep inside of the thous-
and a year. Tom pleads that his is
very difficult figure to fit, his cutter
tells him SO, and he can never get a
ready-madc suit to look decent on
him, and in his business he has got
to look nice. 1t is mark of Toms
great self-dcpreciation, that he knows
he can never admire himself half SO
much in broadcloth as he did Laura
in calico, and as to coming out in a
jeans suit, perish the thought. He
must have a Broadway hat IN the
winter, and the style changes every
spring, and white hat is an absolute
necessity in the summer, and what
would man look like in high hat,
a jeans suit and heavy boots? So
Laura finds no ally in Tom. If she
is going to set this poor distracted
country on its financial legs, she
must do it in her calico, and drag
the dead load of TOMS sixty-five dol
lar suit, and shirt that buttons be-
hind, and Chinese laundry bills, and
sleeve buttons, and three button cuffs
that reach to the elbow, and the
changing styles of seven dollar silk
hats and Burt shoes. That is Tom
and devoted as he is to Laura, deeply
as he esteems her noble, self sacrific
ing, sensible economy, Tom evinces
no disposition to initiate the model
girl in that one important respect
There is part of the If supplied.


And then, Laura herself. One week
after the commencement triumphs.-
There is scarcely wrinkle in the
calico dress, which Laura somehow
loves to wear and has adopted as &
morning dress, and the tell-talt
bushes climb into her checks ant
burn and glow like sunset as she
thinks of commencement night anC
what Tom said about this dress an(
what fond, foolish dreams they bull
upon that cheap dress pattern. Blu
there is an invitation to grand wed
ding, and Tom is going with her, ant
there is little time for day dreams be
cause the dressmaker is here already
and there is barely week to ge
ready. When. Tom comes on thu
appointed night, IN the carriage fo1
which he paid five dollars, he finds
his calico angel as near ready as ou
angels ever are, and when she at las
enters the parlor in cream colore(
silk trailing off in train that is t.
the dress, in the amount of matcria