38T 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
that I did want a counterpane, and had long wished 
for one of about the quality of this. I never need¬ 
ed it less than at present, while there were other 
things that I did need, and my money would not 
purchase all. He would tell me what he would do, 
He should lose by it, but he would let me have 
those two articles for $3.00. Then shortly he of¬ 
fered them for $2.80. Then he put with them a 
pair of boy’s suspenders, of which I had inquired 
the price—all for $2.80. Then $2.75. At last I 
might have the counterpane and table-cloth for 
$2.50. He seemed to wonder what I could be 
thinking of, to refuse such an offer. But I bad told 
him all along that I could not spare the money 
now, for these things. I did not need them so 
much as I needed other things. Just now I did not 
need them at all, but I thought he was selling them 
cheap, and would get them if I had plenty of 
money. He grew so earnest about it that I was al¬ 
most afraid. At last he put aside the counterpane, 
saying, “ I see you are poor, you do not want that 
spread.” I looked to see what emotion the con¬ 
templation of my poverty called forth, but he was 
simply serious, and he continued, “You can have 
that table-cloth for 70 cents.” I went immediately 
and got the money. In doing so I spied two pairs 
of children’s stockings which I had bought of a 
peddler in the spring, and found too small for use. 
I asked if I couldn’t trade those for handkerchiefs 
or something. No, he did not want any more 
goods. He only wanted to sell what he had. He 
wouldn’t give five cents for those stockings. He 
had had just such stockings, and sold the last of 
them for ten cents a pair. What did I pay for 
them ? I told him I gave 25 cents a pair, which I 
knew was too much. “ No,” he said. He sold the 
same kind of stockings for that price in the spring, 
but to get rid of them lately he had to sell them 
much cheaper. “But,” he suggested, “you have 
not lost your money, for they are of good quality, 
and if they are too small for your girls, you can put 
them on that little boy.” I hadn’t thought of that. 
So he strapped his heavy pack upon his back, took 
his valise in his hand, and trudged on, and I, as I 
put away my kneading board and tidied my kitch¬ 
en, indulged in a train of reflections, which led to 
the writing of this paper. I don’t despise a ped¬ 
dler because he is a peddler. He is a hard working 
man, and he surely might be in worse business. 
The last one before this who called here, selling 
erasive soap and silver polish, told me that he went 
to peddling because he lost his situation in a ma- 
Fig. 1.— smith’s wheel-chair, platted back. 
chine shop on account of hard times, and couldn’t 
find anything else that he could do. One man, who 
is very popular now as a stoiy writer and preacher, 
used to peddle soap in this region, I am tol'd. 
Bronson Alcott, too, was a peddler once. But the 
pertinacity of some of these traveling traders, like 
that of agents for lightning rods and insurance 
companies, is s'ometimes hard to bear. More than 
once I have been worried into purchasing some¬ 
thing which I did not want, and of which I never 
afterward could bear the sight. 
Getting Things Mended. 
Have yon never been astonished by the charge 
made by your cobbler for some trifling repairs upon 
your boots ? When the old boot begins to go to 
pieces, it seems to you that a few stitches here and 
a few stitches there, would make it all right again, 
and of course it would cost little. But before you 
leave them with the cobbler or shoe-maker, inquire 
what charge he will make, and very likely you will 
conclude that it will pay better to get a new pair, 
than to have those mended. Not being a shoe¬ 
maker yourself, you can not tell how much time 
and labor it may take to repair what seems to you 
very small damage to the boot. 
Quite recently an acquaintance of mine had a les¬ 
son in this line taught her by a clock tinker. Or 
rather she learned more forcibly a lesson previously 
taught her, for she did ask the tinker what charge 
he would make for putting her clock in order, be¬ 
fore she yielded to his request and gave him the 
job. But she could not get him to fix a price. He 
only assured her pleasantly, “ We shan’t quarrel 
about the price,”—and went about the business. 
Now “hard times” had already come knocking 
faintly at the door of that house, and other houses 
round about, so very naturally my friend’s husband 
asked also about the prospective charges, when he 
came in, and found the silent old clock coming down 
for repairs. “Not much,” said the tinker, “we 
shan’t quarrel about the price.”—So the young hus¬ 
band went out and unhitched the tinker’s horse and 
led him into the yard, where he might graze on the 
fresh green grass, and I believe that the tinker also 
was served with some refreshment. For my friends 
knew just how nearly they had reached the bottom 
of the purse, and just how long it would be before 
harvest, and they hoped to soften the tinker’s heart. 
They watched his operations with the clock, and 
he made so few changes, or did so little to the ma¬ 
chinery, that the young wife thought “ he surely 
can’t charge more than a dollar, and ought not to 
ask that ” ; and the young husband said within him¬ 
self “ that piece of work isn’t worth over half a 
dollar, anyhow.”—When it was done, the tinker, so 
sure that they wouldn’t quarrel over the price, 
coolly charged two dollars for the job. The man 
of the house as coolly replied “ 1 never shall pay 
that price.”—Then the tinker grew angry and re¬ 
fused to accept even half a dollar, or anything less 
than the price asked, but rode away in great wrath. 
And the old clock wouldn’t go after all. 
How many of r.s have had our trials and disap¬ 
pointments with the tinkering and high charges of 
sewing machine agents ! With what difficulty you 
conveyed your machine to the room of some agent, 
and with what difficulty you parted with the five 
dollars charged for its repairing, when it was said 
to be all right, and then with what difficulty you 
submitted to the inevitable, when the machine 
wouldn’t go any better than it did before mending. 
Simplicity and Health in Dress. 
The gifted women who center at the “hub of the 
universe ” named Boston, did not set their wits to 
work in vain, when they began to study the ques¬ 
tion of woman’s dress. One of that band, who 'is 
also one of the authors of an excellent little volume 
on “ Dress Reform,” writes me in a private letter 
that ihree articles constitute her present dress, the 
chemiloon, the gabrielle skirt, and the princesse 
dress—light, quickly put on, comfortable, and grace¬ 
ful in outline. On account of the present exagger¬ 
ated ideas of woman’s shape, some kind of pannier 
projection is made in the back of the skirt, to give 
the required outline to the outer dress. These arti¬ 
cles of dress have all been described, more or less, 
in the household columns of the American Agricul-. 
turist, and I have had repeated calls from its read¬ 
ers, to tell them where patterns could be obtained. 
The book mentioned above, gives much informa¬ 
tion about the manner of making the new garments. 
This information is found in the appendix of sixty- 
nine pages, and is properly illustrated. The hody 
*■ the book is made up of five lectures on “ Dress 
Reform as it Effects the Health of Women,”—all 
of them by educated and successful lady physicians, 
except the last, which is by Mrs. Woolson, who 
edits' the volume. This is on the need of a reform 
in woman’s dress, from an sestetic point of view. 
The dress reform committee of the New England 
Woman’s Club, studied the subject thoroughly, 
and became convinced that it was far more impor¬ 
tant to give women a knowledge of the construc¬ 
tion and needs of the bodies, than to assail Fashion, 
since no dependence can be placed upon Fashion. 
They went to work so wisely, that Fashion took 
no offence, and even now seems inclined to aid the 
women of sense, by adopting their new undergar¬ 
ments to a degree. The fashion articles mention 
them, announce patterns for combination waist and 
drawers, (chemise drawers), and recommend the 
Union flannel under-suits, (vest and drawers woven 
in one piece), while they do not go so far as to 
leave out all use for the waist, but advise wearing 
that between the under-suit and chemise-drawers. 
This latter suit must be like the “ chemiloon,” 
which by some is cut by a loose basque pattern. 
I wish that these lectures on Dress Reform could 
be given by their authors in every neighborhood 
throughout the country. This, of course, is im¬ 
possible. I fear that the volume containing them 
has not gained the circulation it deserves on ac¬ 
count of its useful character; but I can see how the 
well digested and clearly expressed ideas of the 
few, intelligent women who gave that course of 
lectures on Dress Reform, may be given a wide cir¬ 
culation, and be made to do a vast deal of good to 
women everywhere. The plan is simple, and I for 
one mean to act upon it without delay, in my se¬ 
cluded little comer of the world. Any woman who 
wants to help the cause along, can buy the book 
and write her name in it, and lend it to one and 
Fig. 3.— NEW HAVEN CHAIR, RECLINING POSITION. 
another, taking care that it does not get stranded 
too long in one place. Or, she can get other ladies 
to unite with her in purchasing the volume, and 
have some good reader read the book aloud, one 
lecture on an afternoon, to a group or assembly of 
ladies, either in her house or in some more public 
place of gathering. I wish this plan might be act¬ 
ed upon, for I am sure that it would help the human 
family on toward health, wealth, happiness, and 
freedom. I think, too, that the publishers should 
advertise the book in the American Agriculturist. 
To Wash Black and White Goods when the 
Color Is not Fast. 
Wasn’t I glad when at last the little boy’s suit of 
black and white cotton goods was completed ? It 
