Chapter XII
Mary Frances’ Treasure Box
“GOOD-AFTERNOON, dear Thimble People,” said the little girl, putting Angie on a rocking chair.
and a
pinafore”
“Good-afternoon,” came many little voices, and Sewing Bird began to sing:—
“I don’t,” laughed Mary Frances. “Please tell me?”
“Magic and Mystery!” exclaimed Mary Frances, putting her hands over her eyes; and Fairy Lady sat in the doll’s rocking chair.
dear
Fairy
Lady”
“Oh,” said Mary Frances somewhat breathlessly, “excuse me for calling you so suddenly, but I so wanted to talk with another woman—” and then she blushed, fearing she had offended the little bird.
“And not a bird,” smiled Fairy Lady. “I understand,” she nodded, “a bird, be she ever so wise, doesn’t understand the needs of a doll-child or the heart of her mother.”
“Thank you, dear Fairy Lady,” replied Mary Frances.
“And I know how brave you are while your mother is away, Mary Frances, child,” continued Fairy Lady, “but I’ve had orders from our King not to speak of that—so we’ll get the material ready for dolly’s apron.”
“Here is the lawn,” said Mary Frances. “Grandma gave it to me.”
some
day”
“By the way,” said Fairy Lady. “Where will you put these things as you make them? You must keep them a secret, you know, until we finish the lessons, or we’ll become Never-Nevers.”
“I shall keep them in my treasure box. Mother gave it to me a year ago. It has a little key and it locks. Mother said all girls love to have a kind of a secret place to keep treasures in.”
“Have you the box here?” asked Fairy Lady.
“Oh, yes,” smiled Mary Frances. “I keep it in my trunk. It is made of tin, and very light.”
“Go and get it, please.”
“Good,” laughed the sweet voice of Fairy Lady, as Mary Frances brought in the treasure box. “Now, everything is prepared.”
“May I tell about the lovely lessons, sometime?” asked Mary Frances.
“Yes,” smiled Fairy Lady. “You may,—some day. We do not want our help to be given to one little girl only—so when we are all through, you can form a Sewing Circle to which your girl friends may belong, and you can teach them all you have learned.”
“Oh, how perfectly lovely!” exclaimed Mary Frances. “But won’t you help me any more then,—you, and the dear, dear Thimble People?”
“You’ll have your mother then, you know,” explained Fairy Lady.
“Oh, yes,” said Mary Frances happily. “She had planned to teach me to sew this very summer—it will be another grand surprise for her if I know how—when she comes.”
“I wish afternoons were much longer,” smiled Fairy Lady; “but we must do our lesson. Now, just a word
Cotton cloth is made from the cotton plant; wool cloth from sheep’s fleece; silk cloth from silk worm’s cocoon; linen cloth from the flax plant.
The soft cotton is the warm coat for the cotton plant seed-baby. The fleecy wool is the warm coat of the sheep, or the little lambs. The web from the silk worm’s cocoon is the cradle in which it sleeps. Linen is made from the stalks of the flax plant.
When these materials are spun, or twisted, into long threads, we have spool cotton and silk, wool yarns, and linen thread, for sewing. When the threads are woven or laced together into cloth, the stronger threads run the length of the goods—they are the warp threads. The weaker, or woof threads, run crosswise of the goods.