Dolly looked. "I see," she said, slowly. "Elbow sleeves, to keep from
rolling them up; and a little square Dutch neck just below the collar
line, so you won't have to wear a collar; and a short, full skirt, just
off the floor; and the color, my dear,--and here you show your feminine
vanity,--a most becoming blue!"
"I hope so," said Mary, not at all abashed. "I like to have becoming
clothes, even in the kitchen. But you did not say a word of the
material; all my working things are ginghams or some sort of wash goods.
Then they are all in one piece, and trimmed with plain bias bands edged
with a fold of white, or some similar contrivance. I put an apron on
when I do kitchen work and try and keep the dresses clean as long as I
can, and when they are soiled put them right in the tub, and they take
no time to do up. And, by the way, they are not all this pretty color. I
have still more serviceable ones of dark navy blue, and others of
striped gray and white, like a nurse's dress; but I am thankful to say
they are all pretty and all becoming, and far neater in every way than
my shirt-waist and skirt used to be."
"Do you wear the same thing summer and winter?"
"No; in summer I have thin things, lawns and dimities and organdies, but
they are all made like this. Even my dress-up summer things are apt to
be, too, because I like the fashion and it never 'goes out,' as other
fashions do."
"But you don't wear this uniform at dinner. At least you change every
afternoon now to a more or less dress-up frock. Is that for my benefit?
Do you wear these gowns when you are alone?"
"No, never. I always put on a fresh and pretty gown after my lunch
dishes are put away and my dinner all ready but heating it up or doing
the last necessary cooking. Then I spend the afternoon like a lady of
leisure. At dinner-time I put a mammoth long-sleeved apron on and go out
in the kitchen and finish up as I am; I take off my apron before the
dinner is served, too. If I have to carry out plates and wait, as of
course I do when we are alone, then I have a really pretty little white
apron I slip on; but I will look as nice as I can at my own
dinner-table."
"And spill the greasy dish-water around the edge of the dress, as you
did before?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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