t-grow
them, in spite of their bigness."

The girl's parcel was found to contain candy and a duck of a fan.

But Alice's wedding things soon put everything else in the shade. The
dainty sets of underwear with their complicated puffs and insertings,
frilled petticoats, silk and muslin and poplin gowns, hats and parasols,
lay in a rainbow colored heap on the bed and chairs.

"Alice," said Marian, caressing some of the dainty lingerie, "who is
going to iron all these puffs and ruffles? It would take hours to do
them right, especially the petticoats."

"I know, Marian--I asked Aunt Clara the same question. And do you know
what I have done?"

Her audience looked interested.

"I just went down town the minute I got to Centerville and got some nice
strong muslin and I've been making it up perfectly plain except for a
tiny edge. They are heaps more comfortable--and I wear these others for
best. Why, I couldn't keep a maid and hurl all that stuff at her every
week!"

"Are they wearing hoops pretty generally?" Mrs. Morton inquired as Alice
laughingly held a pair up for inspection.

"Yes, and bustles too. See this buff poplin with the panniers just has
to have a bustle. Thank goodness they're young yet, as Dick says, but I
suppose they'll keep on getting bigger."

"Oh, I should think they'd be so hot and horrid."

"They are, but the hoops are delightfully cool, only you have to be on
your guard with the treacherous things or they swing up in front when
you sit down, in a most mortifying fashion."

"I have a pair to wear with my muslin dresses--it makes them stand out
beautifully," said Katy complacently. "But Mother wouldn't let Gertie
have any. She said she was too young."

"I didn't want the old things," Gertie protested. "And you wouldn't have
got yours if you hadn't teased perfectly awful, and I heard Mother say
she guessed you'd soon be sick enough of them."

"I agree entirely with your mother, Gertie, I consider them unsuitable
for little girls. But they do set off a handsome dress to advantage. I
remember during the war we used to wear such large ones we could hardly
get through a door with them."

"Mother Morton, I bet you were a lot more frivolous than we are now."
Marian put her hand lovingly on the wrinkled one that was smoothing the
folds of a rich silk.

Mrs. Morton smiled. "Well, we had our pretty things. Alice's dresses are
lovely, but she hasn't anything more elegant than my second day dress.
It