Page:Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903).djvu/153

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REBECCA
135

"The Snow-White is probably the most remarkable laundry soap ever manufactured. Immerse the garments in a tub, lightly rubbing the more soiled portions with the soap; leave them submerged in water from sunset to sunrise, and then the youngest baby can wash them without the slightest effort."

"Babe, not baby," corrected Rebecca from the circular.

"It 's just the same thing," argued Emma Jane.

"Of course it 's just the same thing; but a baby has got to be called babe or infant in a circular, the same as it is in poetry! Would you rather say infant?"

"No," grumbled Emma Jane; "infant is worse even than babe. Rebecca, do you think we 'd better do as the circular says, and let Elijah or Elisha try the soap before we begin selling?"

"I can't imagine a babe doing a family wash with any soap," answered Rebecca; "but it must be true or they would never dare to print it, so don't let 's bother. Oh! won't it be the greatest fun, Emma Jane? At some of the houses—where they can't possibly know me—I shan't be frightened, and I shall reel off the whole rigmarole, invalid, babe, and all. Perhaps I shall say even the last sentence, if I can remember it: 'We sound every chord in the great mac-ro-cosm of satisfaction.'"

This conversation took place on a Friday afternoon at Emma Jane's house, where Rebecca, to her