over her things, and selecting a straw which she herself had worn
three years before, she tied a black ribbon across it, and sent it as
a present to Mary.

The bonnet had been rather large for Mrs. Campbell, and was of course
a world too big for Mary, whose face looked bit, as Sal expressed it,
"like a yellow pippin stuck into the far end of a firkin." Miss
Grundy, however, said "it was plenty good enough for a pauper,"
reminding Mary that "beggars shouldn't be choosers."

"So it is good enough for paupers like you," returned Sal, "but people
who understand grammar always have a keen sense of the ridiculous."

Mary made no remark whatever, but she secretly wondered if Ella wore
such a hat. Still her desire to see her sister and to visit her
mother's grave, prevailed over all other feelings, and on Sunday
morning it was a very happy child which at about nine o'clock bounded
down the stairway, tidily dressed in a ten cent black lawn and a pair
of clean white pantalets.

There was another circumstance, too, aside from the prospect of seeing
Ella, which made her eyes sparkle until they were almost black. The
night before, in looking over the articles of dress which she would
need, she discovered that there was not a decent pair of stockings in
her wardrobe. Mrs. Grundy, to whom she mentioned the fact, replied
with a violent shoulder jerk, "For the land's sake! ain't you big
enough to go to meetin' barefoot, or did you think we kept silk
stockin's for our quality to wear?"

Before the kitchen looking-glass, Sal was practising a courtesy which