o
hate to sew rags!"

"What kind of sewing do you like?" asked Janey, in a tone that would
have been sarcastic in an older person.

"I just don't like any kind. Hanny, do _you_ know that some one has
invented a sewing-machine?" and Polly looked up with the triumph of
superior wisdom.

"Oh, yes, I saw it at the Institute Fair. And there's a place on
Broadway where a woman sits in the window and sews. It's very queer; but
we think it doesn't sew real nice."

Polly was for the moment nonplussed. Hanny _did_ seem to know almost
everything. Then curiosity overcame her.

"Does it do really and truly sewing?"

"Why, yes. When you come down, I'll ask Joe to take us over to see it."

"Carpet-rags?"

"Well--I don't know. Long straight seams, and hems and stitching."

"Well, I'm going to have one when I'm married. I wonder if they cost
very much!"

"There'll be lots of things for you to do before you are married. And
some girls don't have any chance. You'll want to know how to keep
house--"

"I like housekeeping. You just go from one thing to another. I'll have
some one to cook and peel potatoes and all that. And we'll keep a horse
and waggon, and I shall go to ride every day."

Janey laughed. "Just now, you had better sew carpet-rags."

"And I'll never have any rag carpets. I will give away all the old
clothes."

"I'm afraid you'll never have much of anything, nor a husband either,
Polly Odell," said her mother. "You talk, and leave the rags for Hanny
to sew."

Polly turned scarlet, and sewed very industriously.

"I'd like to see a sewing-machine," began Janey, presently. "How does it
go?"

"There is a strap around a wheel that is fast to a frame. You put your
feet on, so, and just make them go up and down after you have started
the wheel with your hand. The needle goes through, and something catches
the thread, then it goes through again, and that makes the stitch. It is
very curious."

"You know a good many things, don't you, Hanny?" said Janey, admiringly.

Hanny coloured.

"I can beat her all out running, I know; and I'll bet a penny she can't
jump over the creek."

"And don't you dare her to, Polly. Remember how you fell in. Oh, Hanny,
she was a sight to behold!"

"Well--it had been raining, and the ground was soft, so I slipped a
little on the start. But I've done it time and again."

"And you're a regular tomboy. Girls don't train around that way in the
city."

Janey had begun to rip out