e street,--it was so hard and smooth,--though you had to keep turning
out for vehicles, but one didn't meet them very often.

Boots were not made high for girls and women then, but everybody had a
pair of thick woolen stockings, some of them with a leather sole on the
outside, which was more durable. The children pulled them well up over
their knees and kept good and warm. Some people had leather leggings,
but rubber boots had not been invented.

Boys were out snowballing--girls, too, for that matter. Someone sent a
ball that flew all over Doris, but she only laughed. She snowballed with
little James now and then.

So they were bright and merry when they reached the sign of "Jonas
Field," and Doris gave her pretty, rather formal greeting. She was never
quite sure of Aunt Priscilla.

"I suppose _you_ came to see Solomon!" exclaimed that lady.

"Not altogether," replied Doris.

"Well, he is out in the kitchen. And, Betty, what is the prospect
to-day?"

"Oh, Aunt Priscilla, I almost think I'll get off. Father is on my side,
and mother did really promise 'Lecty last summer. Mother couldn't get
along alone, you know, and Jimmie boy is doing so well at school that
she would like to keep him all winter. Father knows of a girl who would
be very glad to come in and work for three dollars a month, though he
says everybody gives four or more. But Mr. Eastman will be here so soon.
Father said I might get some things in Hartford."

"We'll see what Boston has first," returned Aunt Priscilla with a little
snort. "I've been hunting over _my_ things."

People in those days thought it a great favor to have clothes left to
them, as you will see by old wills. And occasionally the grandmothers
brought out garments beforehand, and did not wait until they were dead
and gone.

"I have a silk gown that I never wore above half a dozen times. I could
have it dyed, I suppose, but they're so apt to get stringy afterward.
Maybe you wouldn't like it because it's a kind of gray. You're free to
leave it alone. I shan't be a mite put out."

The old spirit of holding on reasserted itself. Of course, if Betty
didn't like it, _her_ duty would be done.

"Oh, Aunt Priscilla! It looks like moonlight over the harbor. It's
beautiful."

The elder woman had shaken it out and made ripples with it, and Betty
stood in admiring wonderment. It looked to her like a wedding gown, but
she knew Aunt Priscilla's had been Canton crape, dyed brown first and