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Show THE HISTORY OF A RAG CARPET. CAR-PET. A contributor to the Toledo Blade having set forth the advantages, of a rag carpet, "Jane Brandon" gives the other side of the story : I was the only girl in a family of six, as poor as poverty and as proud as Lucifer. We, that is mother and I, wanted a carpet, and we concluded con-cluded to make a rag carpet; the boys agreed to help us and we went to work. We saved and washed,-dried, cut and sewed for four mortal years. Sometimes the boys would say they would cut no more, but after a brief season of repentance they invariably returned re-turned to their charge. Mother's hands were blistered, the boys blistered blist-ered theirs, and then father took up the shears, but he soon gave it up, saying that "the tarnal thing would cost more than it was worth." The rags were all cut, sewed, colored and wound into balls at last. Aunt Dolly spun the warp of wool from our pet lamb's back, and wove the carpet. It looked well enough, and we had enough to cover the parlor floor and the best bed-room about forty yards in all. While we were tacking down the carpet one of the neighbor's girls came in, and after praising our carpet, said : "We have got a new carpet" "When did you make it?" mother asked. "Oh, we didn't make it; it ' is a boughten carpet" "We couldn't afford a boughten carpet," car-pet," replied mother, "they cost so much." "Ours cost two dollars a yard, and it's real nice; we girls braided for it, and it only took us a year." Mother looked at me and I looked at mother; neither of us spoke, but our looks spoke a whole Ubrary. Mary Jones and her sisters had earned a carpet car-pet worth twice as much as ours, in a year, by braiding palm-leaf hats at thirteen cents apiece. When the last tack had been driven into its place, we rose from our knees sadder and wiser women. |