III. At the Dressmaker’s
“Good afternoon, Miss Fells,” said Ruth, when she entered the door of the dressmaker’s house.
“Good afternoon, Ruth,” said Miss Fells, who knew the little girl. Then, noticing the package, she added, “Oh, I hope you are not going to ask me to make you a dress any time soon.”
Ruth’s heart sank. “I was going to, Miss Fells,” she admitted.
“How soon?” asked the dressmaker.
“By January the twenty-eighth.” Then she told about the party and her mother’s disappointment.
“I don’t see how I can do it—” began Miss Fells. Then seeing the tears in Ruth’s eyes, she said, “But let me look at the goods, Ruth.”
The little girl spread the material out on the table.
“Isn’t it pretty!” exclaimed Miss Fells. “Perhaps I can get some extra help. Come for a fitting to-morrow at four o’clock, and we’ll see what can be done.”
“Oh, thank you, thank you, Miss Fells!” Ruth exclaimed.
Then she ran all the way home to tell the good news.
What is Ruth asking the dressmaker?
The “butterflies” on this page are the moths of two of our american silkworms.
In olden days, spinning was done at home. Today we have great spinning and weaving machines, and much of our clothing is made in factories.
“Now we see, Ruth,” said her mother, “how glad we should be that different people do different things for us. A person who studies and works in one special line must do better than one who works at it only once in a while—the way I do dressmaking.”
“Why, that is true, mother,” exclaimed Ruth, “I never thought of it before, though.”
“There are many more things to be learned about dressmakers,” went on her mother. “Let us talk about some of them this evening.”
“Mother, I suppose father will ask a lot of questions—just as he did about the tailor.”
“I don’t doubt that,” said Mrs. Duwell, “and I am glad that you are interested. I have heard my grandmother say that when she was young, there were no ready-made paper patterns.”
“Why, mother, how could people make dresses then?” asked Ruth.
“It was done in this way. A seamstress or some one who liked to make dresses would cut out and fit a dress for somebody in her family or neighborhood. If the dress was pretty, the pattern would be borrowed and used by almost the entire village.”
“Didn’t people mind if other dresses were made just like theirs?” asked Ruth.
“No,” said her mother, “styles did not change quickly in those days. Indeed, the getting of a new dress was a great event in the life of a girl, and it was chosen most carefully.
“You see, it served first as a best dress; then, being turned, it often served as second best. After that, perhaps it would be handed down to a younger child to be worn as long as it had been by its first owner.”
“My,” cried Ruth. “I am glad I didn’t live in the days when new dresses were so scarce.”
Mrs. Duwell smiled. “Children to-day have more of everything than children ever had before. They have more clothes and playthings, and better chances for ed-u-ca-tion—but here comes your father, Ruth. You may run and tell him of our plan for the evening.”
Mr. Duwell was very much pleased with the plan. When the evening came he asked and answered many questions. He then showed the children pictures of silkworms in a large book marked “S.”
“By the way,” he asked, “do you know that we have silkworms right here in America? The American silkworms spin silk as strong and beautiful as that of the Chinese silkworms. But the people here do not have the time or patience to grow silkworms.”