it was to gather the apples.

Don't you see, now, why she had such a nice complexion? But if you think
it don't quite account for such plump, rosy cheeks, why, then, she had
to chase ever so many ways for the strawberries. Not a strawberry was
raised in common folks' gardens in those days. They grew mostly in
farmers' meadows; and very angry those farmers used to be at such girls
as Roxy in "strawberry time"--"strawberry time" comes before "mowing,"
you know--for how they did wallow and trample the grass! Besides, the
raspberries and blackberries, instead of being Doolittle Blackcaps, and
Kittatinnies, and tied up to nice stakes in civilized little
plantations, grew away off upon steep hill-sides, and in the edges of
woods, by old logs, and around stumps; and it took at least three girls,
and half a day, and a lunch-basket, and torn dresses, and such
clambering, and such fun, to get them! _Of course_ Roxy had red cheeks,
and a sweet breath, and plump, firm white flesh--_so_ white wherever it
wasn't browned by the sunshine.

But otherwise she certainly was old-fashioned, almost quaint. Her hair
was braided tight in two long braids, crossed on her neck, and tied with
a bit of black thread; there was a pair of precious little blue ribbons
in the drawer for Sundays and high days. Roxy's mother would have been
awfully shocked at the wavy, flowing hair of you Wide Awake girls, I
assure you!

And Roxy's dress. _You_ never saw a "tow and linen" dress, I dare say.
Roxy's dresses were all "home-made"--not merely cut and sewed at home;
but Roxy's father raised the flax in the field north of the house, and
Roxy's mother spun the flax and tow into thread upon funny little
wheels. Then she colored the thread, part of it indigo blue, and part of
"copperas color," and after that wove it into cloth--not just enough for
a dress, but enough for two dresses for Roxy, two for herself, and some
for the men folks' shirts, besides yards and yards of dreadfully coarse
cloth for "trousers;" and perhaps there was a fine white piece for
sheets and pillowcases. Bless me! how the farmers' wives did work eighty
years ago!

And how that "blue and copperas check" did wear, and how it did shine
when it was freshly washed and ironed! Only it was made up so
ungracefully--just a plain, full skirt, plain, straight waist, and plain
straight sleeves. _You_ never saw a dress made so, because children's
clothes have been cut pretty and cunning for a great