OUR POST-OFFICE BOX.
Just about this time, dears, your mammas are very busy in looking at the fall fashions. They wish to dress their girls and boys so neatly and comfortably that they shall have no temptation to think too much about their clothes. And then, too, they want you to wear pretty things, because children should look bright and beautiful, just as flowers and birds do.
If you choose, you may ask them to make your own new costumes like some of these pictures. We think, too, the little women who write to the Post-office Box about their doll families, and who have so much on their minds in the way of caring for the Lady Bettys, and Miss Lucys, and Mabels, and Isabels, whom they so dearly love, will be glad to see some dainty fall fashions for dolls. The little girls in the picture are very graceful and sweet.
I wonder if I can help you a little in dressing these same dollies. There are two tall girls nearly in the middle. The one on the right we will call Alice. Her dress is of fine soft cashmere of an olive tint. She has a wide sash of satin a little darker than her gown. Her friend Florence has on a petticoat of Indian red, which is a peculiarly rich dark shade. If mamma will give you a few bits of velvet or velveteen for this petticoat, and also for the shoulder cape, Miss Florence will look very charming. Her over-dress may be of fawn-colored silk.
Shall we call the two little ladies on Alice's right Dotty and Dimple? Dimple has her face this way, and Dotty's is turned aside. We will dress Dimple in lavender and heliotrope, and Dotty shall be a cunning little maiden in two shades of brown.
Now for the others. Don't you wish we could see little Marjorie's blue eyes and rosy cheeks? But we can only guess at them. Our artist has shown us that she knows how to stand up straight, and the way she holds her head is delightful. She is wearing, as you see, a pretty gray check, and she is a very good match for her little sister in that stylish cadet blue, and her cousin Willie in his jaunty suit.
When you shall have succeeded in dressing some of your pets like these pictures, you may write and tell me all about the fun you had in cutting out the clothes and making them fit. Be sure you write about how you contrived the little bonnets and hats. Perhaps you will be trying your skill at dressing dolls for a fair this winter, or in making Christmas presents, and these illustrations may give you some new ideas.