60 FOREST FANCIES 



designs and choosing becoming colors, and no 

 little maid was ever more interested in her 

 spring frock. Yet after all this talk and 

 trouble, each tree chose the pattern that her 

 mother used to wear, who had dressed as her 

 mother dressed, and the pretty and varied 

 styles at last ready for Easter were nothing 

 new at all, for each fresh and smiling tree 

 wore exactly the same sweet flowered pattern 

 that her great-great-grandmother wore ever 

 so many Easters ago. 



So Easter morning came, and when Polly 

 had brightened her old dark-green dress with 

 a new ribbon, she ran out of the gate and over 

 the field, through the wood, to the home of Por- 

 tia and Pearl. The carriage was at the 

 door. 



**We are going to church," said Portia. 

 ^'Run back, little Polly, and put on your best 

 dress." 



But Polly had no best dress. She had hoped 

 they would take her as she was, though when 

 she saw Portia's tan suit and Pearl's pink 

 freshness, she knew how plain was her own 



