"Well, you will. He's the one who always used to stow all his catch of
fish in the bow of the boat 'cause he said it was easier to row
downhill. He ain't no heavyweight for brains as you can see, an' years
ago he married a wife feather-headed as himself. He did it out of
whole cloth, too, so he's got no one to blame if he don't like his
bargain. At the time of the weddin' he was terrible stuck up about his
bride, an' he gave her a black satin dress that outdid anything the
town had ever laid eyes on. It was loaded down with ruffles, an' jet,
an' lace, an' fitted her like as if she was poured into it. Folks said
it was made in Brockton, but whether it was or not there's no way of
knowin'. Anyhow, back she pranced to Wilton in that gown an' for a
year or more, whenever there was a church fair, or a meetin' of the
Eastern Star, or a funeral, you'd be certain of seein' Minnie Coffin
there in her black satin. There wasn't a lay-out in town could touch
it, an' by an' by it got so that it set the mark on every gatherin'
that was held, those where Minnie's satin didn't appear bein' rated as
of no account." Celestina paused, and her mouth took an upward curve,
as if some pleasant reverie engrossed her. "But after a while," she
presently went on, "there came an upheaval in the styles; sleeves got
smaller, an' skirts began to be nipped in. Minnie's dress warn't wore
a particle but it looked as out-of-date as Joseph's coat would look on
Willie. The women sorter nudged one another an' said that now Mis'
Bartley Coffin would have to step down a peg an' stop bein' leader of
the fashions."
Celestina ceased rocking and leaned forward impressively.
"But did she?" declaimed she with oratorical eloquence. "Did she? Not
a bit of it. Minnie got pictures an' patterns from Boston; scanted the
skirt; took in the sleeves; made a wide girdle with the breadths she
took out of the front--an' there she was again, high-steppin' as ever!"
Robert Morton laughed with appreciation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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