the winter is a hard one, and never are satisfied,” remarked Miss
Perkins, making her diamonds sparkle as she sewed buttons on the
wrong side of a pink calico apron, which would hardly survive one
washing.
“Nobody can ask me to do any more, if they remember all I ‘ve got
to attend to before summer,” said Trix, with an important air. “I ‘ve
got three women hard at work, and want another, but everyone is
so busy, and ask such abominable prices, that I ‘m in despair, and
shall have to take hold myself, I ‘m afraid.”
“There ‘s a chance for Jane,” thought Polly, but had n’t courage “to
speak out loud in meeting,” just then, and resolved to ask Trix for
work, in private.
“Prices are high, but you forget how much more it costs to live
now than it used to do. Mamma never allows us to beat down
workwomen, but wishes us to pay them well, and economize in
some other way, if we must,” said Emma Davenport, a quiet,
bright-eyed girl, who was called “odd ” among the young ladies,
because she dressed simply, when her father was a millionaire.
“Just hear that girl talk about economy! I beg your pardon, she ‘s
some relation of yours, I believe!” said Belle, in a low tone.
“Very distant; but I ‘m proud of it; for with her, economy does n’t
mean scrimping in one place to make a show in another. If every
one would follow the Davenports’ example, workwomen would n’t
starve, or servants be such a trouble. Emma is the plainest dressed
girl in the room, next to me, yet any one can see she is a true
gentlewoman,” said Polly, warmly.
“And you are another,” answered Belle, who had always loved
Polly, in her scatter-brained way.
“Hush! Trix has the floor.”
“If they spent their wages properly, I should n’t mind so much, but
they think they must be as fine as anybody, and dress so well that it
is hard to tell mistress from maid. Why our cook got a bonnet just
like mine (the materials were cheaper, but the effect was the
same), and had the impertinence to wear it before my face. I forbid
it, and she left, of course, which made papa so cross he would n’t
give me the camel’s hair shawl he promised this year.”
“It ‘s perfectly shameful!” said Miss Perkins, as Trix paused out of
breath. “Servants ought to be made to dress like servants, as they
do abroad; then we should have no more trouble,” observed Miss
Perkins, who had just made the grand tour, and had brought home
a French maid.
“Perky don’t practise as she preaches,” whispered Belle to Polly, as
Miss P. became absorbed in the chat of her other neighbors. “She
pays her chamber girl with old finery; and the other day, when
Betsey was out parading in her missis’s cast-off purple plush suit,
Mr. Curtis thought she was mademoiselle, and bowed to her. He is
as blind as a bat, but recognized the dress, and pulled off his hat to
it in the most elegant style. Perky adores him, and was mad enough
to beat Betsey when she told the story and giggled over it. Betsey
is quite as stylish and ever so much prettier than Perky, and she
knows it, which is an aggravation.”
Polly could n’t help laughing, but grew sober a minute after, as
Trix said, pettishly, “Well, I ‘m sick of hearing about beggars; I
believe half of them are humbugs, and if we let them alone they ‘d
go to work and take care of themselves. There ‘s altogether too
much fuss made about charity. I do wish we could be left in
peace.”
“There can’t be too much charity!” burst out Polly, forgetting her
shyness all at once.
“Oh, indeed! Well, I take the liberty to differ from you,” returned
Trix, putting up her glass, and bestowing upon Polly her most
“toploftical stare,” as the girls called it.
I regret to say that Polly never could talk with or be near Trix
without feeling irritated and combative. She tried to conquer this
feeling, but she could n’t, and when Trix put on airs, Polly felt an