MRS. L. N. MONMOUTH. 433 to tramps of a possible masculine protector. It was destined now to resume a more active career of useful- ness. With great difficulty Mrs. Monmouth lifted it from its peg and dragged it to her room to examine at her ease. It proved a mine of wealth to her. The lining alone, of the finest and glossiest black lasting, quilted in dia- monds, was a great treasure ; then, when this had been ripped away, the reverse side of the coat itself was revealed to be dark gray, clean, whole, and as good as new. With this gray cloth cut in strips, the old waterproof newly washed, pressed, and mended, was so trimmed and pieced as to make a very respectable garment for winter service. Better still, the same stuff — a kind of fulled cloth — was so thick, warm, and pliable that Mrs. Mon- mouth, after having ripped up an old shoe for a pattern, was enabled to make herself an excellent pair of shoes out of it, comfortable, neatly fitting, and not unsightly. " These home made shoes," she says with pardonable pride, " shut off the shoe bill at the store, and gave me Harper s Magazine" But let us not forget the quilted lining. From this, long, shining, and almost exactly of the fashionable shape, a cloak was made which, when lined and trimmed with a few odds and ends of cashmere, proved so hand- some and at a little distance so like satin, that its skillful and modest owner dared not wear it much abroad, for fear of being accused of wild extravagance. It was reserved to put on in the house on very cold days, and on Thanksgivings, " to give thanks in." From some plaid black and white flannel which had lined the waterproof before its renovation, another cloak was made, less elegant, but still, when decorated with pressed gros-grain ribbon, and a fluting and ball-fringe
