"No, because sewing cards for little girls to learn on were not made then.
Or if they were, my mother didn't know about them. I learned by making a
quilt for my doll bed."

"What's a quilt?" asked Mary Jane as she set her first glass down and
picked up another.

"A quilt is something like a comforter," explained Mrs. Merrill, "only it
isn't made so thick and heavy and the outside is made up of lots of little
pieces of cloth sewed together in a pattern. I remember my grandmother
Camfield came to visit us and she thought it was so dreadful that I--a
great big girl nearly four years old--hadn't learned to sew or knit. So she
hunted up my mother's piece bag the very first day she came and cut out
some blocks for me to piece. Funny pieces they were, too, Mary Jane, you'll
laugh when I show it to you sometime! Because the goods look very different
from the kinds of goods we see now, very different. I know one piece had
big red horse shoes all over it and another had horses' heads. Those pieces
were from my little brother's waists and were thought just exactly right
for boys in those days."

"Can't I make a quilt for my dollies?" asked Mary Jane eagerly.

"To be sure you can, dear," answered Mrs. Merrill, "only I think you will
find it more fun to learn to sew on those pretty cards I've ordered. Then
when you can handle your needle well, you can make a quilt just as I did.
There, now, we're through here," she added, "and if you'll clean the
bathroom washstand while I tidy the bedrooms, we can sit right down to
sew."

If there was one bit of housework above another that Mary Jane loved to do,