“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.”
Ruth’s dress was not finished until an hour before the party began.
As soon as the last stitch was taken, Miss Fells herself carried it to the Duwell home.
Ruth was “on pins and needles” for fear it would not be done in time, and she was delighted to see the dressmaker.
“Oh, Miss Fells, I cannot thank you enough for getting it done!” she cried.
“Hurry and put your dress on,” said Miss Fells. “I want to see how it fits.”
In less time than it takes to tell, Ruth was dressed.
“It fits perfectly,” said Miss Fells, who was almost as happy as Ruth herself.
“It certainly does,” said Mrs. Duwell. “It is just right.”
Mildred was very glad when Ruth arrived at the party, for she knew of her worry about the dress.
“It is beautiful, Ruth,” she said, looking with sparkling eyes at the pretty smocking on the waist and skirt. “Miss Fells told me she was going to surprise you,” she added.