21 



a gratuity iu proportion to its worth. It would be well for the 

 children to imitate such work. 



Thirteen warm and useful comforters reminded us that 

 their owners were not of the opinion concerning them, 

 that the individual who was out in a severe rain was 

 about the necessity of an umbrella. Some one suggested the 

 usefulness of one ; ho replied, " I haven't one. When it is 

 pleasant I do not need it ; now I'm as wet as I can be, so what 

 is the use of buying one '? It will not always rain." Though 

 the weather did not suggest comforters at the time, prudence 

 and thrift suggested their usefulness at a future day. They 

 were pretty, too ; not a poorly made one among them. 



One by Mrs. Caleb Thomas, aged eighty, so nicely made 

 and as prettily combined as need be. We sometimes think 

 that those who were taught to sew before the age of " sewing 

 machines " far excel, as a rule, the younger people who are not 

 obliged to use the fine stitching required in the " olden days." 



The twelve patchwork bed quilts show that some thought 

 it worth while to save the pieces. Mrs. Jane S. Oakman 

 contributed one ; the good needlework and nice matching, or 

 fitting at the corners of the squares, spoke for itself. A 

 "Lilly Quilt," by Mrs. William M. Taylor, aged sixty-nine, 

 was very pretty and excellently made ; the first one ever 

 presented for display in our Fair. Others are well worthy of 

 mention ; but, like the lady who went to one of the minister's 

 wives, once preaching in town, (who had appeared in a new 

 bonnet the Sabbath before,) and suggested the removal of the 

 feather from the new bonnet, the lady replied : " It was the 

 most simple of anything ; more so than flowers." The caller 

 replied, *' Well, one must draw the line somewhere, and I draw 

 it at feathers." So with the quilts : one must stop " some- 

 where," it takes so much time to speak of them separately. 



