i. an invitation to a party

“mother,” said ruth, coming in from school a few days later, “mildred maydole has invited me to her birthday party. she wrote the invitations herself on the prettiest little note paper. here is mine.”

mrs. duwell read:.

dear ruth,

it will give my mother and me much pleasure if you will come to my birthday party from three to six o’clock, saturday afternoon, january twenty-eighth.

your friend,

mildred maydole.

“oh, mother, please say i may go!” cried ruth excitedly, jumping up and down on tiptoe. “mildred wants an answer soon, so that her mother can make her plans.”

“why, my dear, i think you may go,” said her mother, “if i can get your new dress made by the twenty-eighth. you have grown so fast that i have not been able to keep up with you in sewing.”

“i am so happy with the thought of going,” exclaimed ruth, “that i can scarcely wait for[135] the day. you know, mother, mildred is older than i, and it is a great honor to be invited to her party.”

“yes, indeed, it is,” agreed her mother. “naturally mildred could not invite all the children in your grade at school; so if i were you i would not talk about the party before the other children. you see, it might hurt the feelings of some who were not invited.”

“that’s just what mildred said, mother; she asked us to keep it a secret for that reason.”

“well, dear, if you do keep it secret, do not make a mystery of it, whispering among the fortunate ones and letting the others wonder why you all say, ‘hush,’ when they happen to come near.”

“why, mother! how did you know?” asked ruth flushing. “now that i think of it, that is just what we did do.”

“instead of just telling mildred that you will come,” said her mother, “i think it would be better to write a note accepting the invitation.”

“i’ll do it right away!” exclaimed ruth, running to her little desk. “will you help me with the words?”

“yes,” said mrs. duwell. “how would it do to say this:

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dear mildred,

my mother is very much pleased with the kind invitation to your birthday party, and says that i may come on saturday afternoon.

your friend,

ruth duwell.”

when ruth had finished writing, she sealed the envelope.

“i shall hand this to mildred after school is dismissed at noon,” she said. “thank you for helping me, mother.”

ii. a disappointment

mrs. duwell had been unusually busy for several days after the conversation about the party.

one day she said, “ruth, dear child, i cannot seem to find time to make your new dress. i wonder if miss fells could make it before the twenty-eighth. why not run over and ask her?”

“yes, mother, why not? i think that is a good idea,” agreed ruth.

“i do, too,” said her mother. “here is the material that grandma sent you. run along, and do not forget to thank miss fells if she will agree to make your dress.”

“no, indeed, mother, i won’t,” said ruth.

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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.

ruth talking to dressmaker

what is ruth asking the dressmaker?

outline of shirt pattern with photgraphs inside; butterflies in background

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[138]

[139]

[140] 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[141] 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.

in new dress

“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.”

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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.”

iv. the party

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.

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“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.

“she surely did surprise me. wasn’t she kind!” replied ruth.

the party was a delight. one of the games was a contest in needle threading. ruth threaded her needle in the shortest time and won the prize, a pretty silver thimble.

“perhaps the new dress helped you to win,” said mildred.

“won’t miss fells be pleased when she hears about it,” said ruth.

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questions

does your mother ever sew for a long time without resting?

how does her back feel when she stops?

do you think dressmaking is easy work?

can you tell some of the things dressmakers need in their work?

if you have ever visited a silk or woolen or cotton mill, tell about it.

where do the mill owners get their materials?

where do the stores get ready-made clothing?

could you or the shoemaker or the baker make as beautiful and comfortable clothing as the dressmaker?

why can she do it so well?

how can we make her work easier?