18C8. 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



393 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY; 



OR, 



HOW TO I^IAIvE HOME PLEASANT. 



BY ANNE G. HALE. 



[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 

 1866, by R. P. Eaton & Co., in the Cierli's Office of the 

 District Court for the District of Massachusetts.] 



CHAPTER XIII. 

 CHILDREN'S CLOTHING. 



Many persons when wishing for a change, or when 

 their garments get a little defaced cut them over for 

 their children ; and so when purchasing things for 

 themselves, keep their hoys and girls in mind. It 

 is an excellent plan. Not only will parents having 

 this end in view be likely to choose articles that 

 will wear well, but they will take good care of 

 them while in their hands, and so indirectly pro- 

 vide for their proper use when in the hands of oth- 

 ers. Thus, drab or grey being the best color for 

 boys* clothes, a father's pantaloons and vest of 

 this shade will, with little trouble, furnish enough 

 material for making his son a good suit of jacket 

 and troflsers, when they are too shabby for his 

 own use ; or, his brown sack may be metamor- 

 phosed into such a nice overcoat that the child 

 himself will see that it is better than the "boughten" 

 one which a proud schoolmate ostentatiously dis- 

 plays. The fabrics for summer wear, except tweeds, 

 cashmeretes and nankeens, are seldom substantial 

 enough for this second wearing. For girls, a 

 mother's brftwn and white Valencia, blue thibet, 

 green and white delaine, blue or buff gingham or 

 lawn, after washing and ironing — the cotton-and- 

 wool and cotton goods starched a little — will be 

 just as good and as handsome as new ; and her 

 gray or brown sack can be cut, and contrived, and 

 turned to suit successively half a dozen daughters. 



Don't make dolls or puppets of boys and g[irls 

 by dressing them like miniature men and women, 

 as is too much the custom — keep them children as 

 long as you can. There is nothing more charming 

 than the ingenuous simplicity of childhood, and 

 nothing more disagreeable than the assumption of 

 grown-up airs, which always follows grown-up 

 dressing. Be even more fastidious than if choos- 

 ing for yourself when deciding of what fashion to 

 make their dresses, and keep them as much as pos- 

 sible independent of fashion's changes. 



There need be no d*istinction between the dress 

 of a boy and that of a girl, until the child is old 

 enough to be trusted out of the house alone. Then 

 the boy's low-necked and short-sleeved gown may 

 give place to a frock and trowsers. Two breadths 

 of single width cloth — Valencia, lyonese, thibet or 

 cashmere, or cashmeret,giDgham, nankeen, or calico 



for summer — either plain or small plaids or stripes, 

 make the frock body. Take a measure around 

 the throat, and around the chest and the shoul- 

 ders, and cut the neck and the slope of the shoul- 

 ders to correspond with these. Bend the elbow to 

 measure the length of the arm, and cut the sleeve 

 like that of a man's coat or make it straight and 

 gather it into a wristband : make the arm-size 

 loose, and let the sleeve enter it straightlj' — but 

 not tight. The frock should reach to the knee — 

 the edge hemmed to the depth of two inches. It 

 should be bound with a narrow straight collar at 

 the throat and be buttoned down the fi'ont ; a belt 

 of the same material having a stiff lining, or a 

 stout leather belt, worn with it. This dress for 

 winter should be lined throughout with cambric. 

 A stout Silesia waist— double or lined — fitting the 

 form well not tightly — should be worn under this, 

 — to which the trowsers — plaited into a narrow 

 belt — should be buttoned ; — the trowsers also need 

 lining, and wear better to be rather loose, and 

 long enough to reach the ankle. As a boy gets 

 older make these trowsers of tweed, cassimere, or 

 doeskin ; but retain the frock till he is at least six 

 years old. Then he will want a jacket for his 

 trowsers, — similar in fferm to a woman's garibaldi 

 jacket, and made of men's cloth, like the trowsers. 

 Following this, at eight years, may be a straight 

 jacket, cut long enough to go over the hips, and 

 made to be left open in front showing a vest, — or, 

 rather, the waist of the trowsers buttoned in front 

 and lying over the belt of the trowsers in imita- 

 tion of a vest; this waist-front must be of the 

 same material as the jacket, and like that, lined 

 with Silesia and buttoned with strong buttons. 

 But young America is not satisfied with this a 

 great while — he delights to spread himself. 

 Spurning these limits you must be ready to sup- 

 ply him with a "real, true'' vest and "suspender- 

 pants," to wear with his jacket, by the time he is 

 ten, or he will feel that he is debarred of his 

 rights. Yet if you wish to keep him back a little, 

 you can accomplish it by establishing a law sim- 

 ilar to that which ruled the damsels of olden time, 

 when no maiden could be married till she had 

 spun and woven the cloth for her bridal out-fit, 

 (hence the name spinster for unmarried women), 

 saying that no suspenders can be worn till they 

 are knit by him who wishes to wear them. They 

 are just the simplest things to knit, of cotton or 

 cotton-and-wool — (sometimes called angola) yarn, 

 and quite elastic and strong. Make them an inch 

 and one-half wide and three-quarters of a yard 

 long. A button hole is knit in each end of both 

 suspenders by dividing the stitches, after one inch 

 has been knit, and taking them on two needles 

 and knitting it in two parts for about an inch, and 

 then taking all the stitches again upon one needle 

 and going on straightly with the work till M'ithin 

 two inches of the end when another button hole 

 must*e made before finishing. 



Still the march is onAvard and upward — he can- 

 not be repressed— the jacket is but the chrysalis 



