Page:Live and Let Live.djvu/130

 it will answer your purpose very well for Sabbath days and so forth—go get it, Aurely,"

Aurelia did not know where it was. "She believed she had tucked it in the rag-bag."

Her mother uttered a philippic upon her wastefulness, and bidding her "hunt it up," the gown, torn, frayed, and rusty, was soon produced. "It don't look very smart, to be sure," said Mrs. Simson, evidently taken aback by its forlorn appearance; "but when it's sponged, and turned, and made over—I'll allow you time to do it of evenings—it will make quite a scrumptious dress—that is, considering it sha'n't cost you more than a dollar and a half—only think of getting a bombasin for a dollar and a half!"

"I am not going to wear mourning at all, Mrs. Simson."

"Possible!" exclaimed Mrs. Simson, holding up both her hands, "nor your ma neither?"

"Yes, my mother will wear it, but not the children."

Lucy's manner was so quiet and decided, that Dame Simson's hopes of turning the penny vanished; but suppress her spleen she could not. "Well," she said, "every one to their notion; but I think, if I was ever so put to it, I should find a way to get mourning when my folks died, especially where it was as it was; it looks pa'ticular and wanting of respect to go without it—looks is looks."

Lucy would have borne this innuendo in silence if she alone had been concerned; but her mother's part in it made the blood mount to her cheeks, and she said, "My mother's rule is to show your respect by doing your duty to the living; and,