s poured into it. Folks said
it was made in Brockton, but whether it was or not there's no way of
knowin'. Anyhow, back she pranced to Wilton in that gown an' for a
year or more, whenever there was a church fair, or a meetin' of the
Eastern Star, or a funeral, you'd be certain of seein' Minnie Coffin
there in her black satin. There wasn't a lay-out in town could touch
it, an' by an' by it got so that it set the mark on every gatherin'
that was held, those where Minnie's satin didn't appear bein' rated as
of no account." Celestina paused, and her mouth took an upward curve,
as if some pleasant reverie engrossed her. "But after a while," she
presently went on, "there came an upheaval in the styles; sleeves got
smaller, an' skirts began to be nipped in. Minnie's dress warn't wore
a particle but it looked as out-of-date as Joseph's coat would look on
Willie. The women sorter nudged one another an' said that now Mis'
Bartley Coffin would have to step down a peg an' stop bein' leader of
the fashions."

Celestina ceased rocking and leaned forward impressively.

"But did she?" declaimed she with oratorical eloquence. "Did she? Not
a bit of it. Minnie got pictures an' patterns from Boston; scanted the
skirt; took in the sleeves; made a wide girdle with the breadths she
took out of the front--an' there she was again, high-steppin' as ever!"

Robert Morton laughed with appreciation.

"Since then," continued Celestina, "for at least fifteen years she's
been makin' that dress over an' over. Now she'll get a new breadth of
goods or a couple of breadths, turn the others upside down or cut 'em
over, an' by keepin' everlastingly at it she contrives to look like the
pictures in the papers most of the time. It's maddenin' to the rest of
us. Abbie Brewster knows Minnie well an' somewhere in a book she's got
set down the gyrations of that dress. I wouldn't be bothered recordin'
it but Abbie always was a methodical soul. She could give you the date
of every inch of satin in the whole thing. Just now there's 1914
sleeves; the front breadths are 1918; the back ones 1911. Most of the
waist is January, 1912, with a June, 1913, vest. Half the girdle is
made out of 1910 satin, an' half out of 1919. Of course there's lights
when the blacks don't all look the same; still, unless you got close up
you wouldn't notice it, an' Minnie Coffin keeps on settin' the styles
for the town like she always has."

The narrator paused for br