434 MRS. L. N. MONMOUTH. made from a pair of raveled stockings, it was an article of apparel by no means to be despised. This served for use in spring and fall. The problem of shoes had been mainly solved by the discovery of the old overcoat, although, to spare any unnecessary use of objects so difficult to manufacture, the soles of old rubbers, lined with flannel and laced sandal- wise upon the feet, often answered for household wear. The problem of stockings remained. It was finally solved by means of a knitted shawl and some ancient homespun underclothes, all of which had been long since cast aside. They were a mass of ends and ravelings, but the yarn, though torn and in a few places moth-eaten, was other- wise quite sound and .very strong. This was carefully washed, wound into skeins, colored, rinsed, and rewound into balls for knitting — a labor of weeks. When it was completed Mrs. Monmouth found herself supplied with sufficient material to afford stockings for a lifetime. Her summer clothing gave less trouble than the heavier garments required for winter. She was fortunate enough to find an old chocolate and white print gown of her mother's, which merely demanded altering over. A second dress — a very pretty one — was made from a bed- ticking, and trimmed with blue drilling taken from a pair of overalls left on the place by some careless workman, years before. A pair of checkered table-cloths were held in reserve to be used should occasion require. Linen articles were supplied from fifteen mottoes, worked upon muslin and cotton flannel, that the house contained. These were soaked and boiled clean before being used. Hats and bonnets were deemed superfluous. When, how- ever, it was necessary to pass the limits of the little farm and appear in public, a battered straw ruin from the attic fulfilled the demands of propriety, its forlorn condition being concealed beneath the folds of a barege veil.
