The next evening when the children came to Grandma’s room Bobby brought his new sweater—black with broad yellow stripes—to show her.
“Yellow,” said Grandma admiringly. “I always did like yellow, it’s such a cheerful color. The first really pretty dress I ever had was yellow.
“It was just about this shade, maybe a mite deeper—more of an orange color. It was worsted—a very fine piece of all-wool cashmere. Until then I had never had anything but dark wool dresses—browns or blues made from the older girls’ dresses—and I did love bright colors.
“Sister Belle was to be married in the spring and all winter Mother and Belle and Aggie had sewed on her new clothes. Nearly everything was ready but the wedding gown, and it was to be a present from Father’s younger sister, Aunt Louisa, who lived in Clayville.
“Belle was delighted, because she said Aunt Louisa would be sure to pick something new and stylish.
“My big brother, Stanley, went to Clayville one cold, snowy day in February, and Aunt Louisa sent the dress goods out by him. I remember we were at supper when he came. I had the toothache and was holding a bag of hot salt to my face and trying to eat at the same time.
“Mother ran to take Stanley’s bundles and help him off with his great-coat, and Aggie set a place at the table for him. But before he sat down he tossed a package to Belle. ‘From Aunt Louisa,’ he said.
“Belle gave a cry of delight and tore the package open. Then suddenly the happy look faded from her face. She pushed the package aside and, laying her head right down on the table among the dishes, she burst into tears.
“Aunt Louisa had sent Belle a yellow wedding dress!
“When Mother held it up for us to see, I thought it was the most beautiful color I had ever seen and wondered why Belle cried. I soon learned.
“Belle had light brown hair and freckles, and yellow was not becoming to her. To prove it, she held the goods up to her face.
“‘It does make your hair look dead and sort of colorless,’ Aggie agreed.
“‘And your freckles stand out as if they were starting to meet a fellow,’ Charlie put in.
“At this Belle began to cry again, and Father said that she did not have to wear a yellow dress to be married in if she didn’t want to. She should have a white dress. But this didn’t seem to comfort Belle a bit, for she declared that she wouldn’t hurt Aunt Louisa’s feelings by not wearing the yellow.
“My tooth got worse, and for the next few days I could think of nothing else. Mother poulticed my jaw and put medicine in my tooth, but nothing helped it. I cried and cried and couldn’t sleep at night, and Mother couldn’t sleep. At last she told Father that he would have to take me to Clayville to have the tooth pulled. There was fine sledding, and early the next morning Father and I set out. The last thing Mother said to Father, as she put a hot brick to my feet and wrapped me, head and all, in a thick comfort, was, ‘As soon as the tooth is out, John, take her over to Louisa’s till you get ready to start home.’
“The roads were smooth as glass, Father was a fast driver, and it didn’t seem long till we got to town. My tooth was soon out—it hardly hurt at all—and then Father took me to Aunt Louisa’s. We all liked Aunt Louisa. She was very fond of children and had none of her own.
The roads were smooth as glass, Father was a fast driver
“After dinner we sat by the sitting-room fire and Aunt Louisa cut paper dolls out of stiff writing paper for me and made pink tissue paper dresses for them. The dresses were pasted on. I could not take them off and put them on as Alice and Pink do theirs.
“As she worked, Aunt Louisa asked me about everything at home and about Belle’s clothes and the wedding.
“‘Has she got her wedding dress made yet?’ she asked.
“‘No, ma’am’, I replied, ‘she says she can’t bear to cut into it. She hates the very sight of it.’
“‘Well, I declare!’ exclaimed Aunt Louisa in surprise.
“‘It doesn’t become her,’ I explained carefully. ‘She says it makes her look a sickly green.’ And then I went on to tell Aunt Louisa everything they had all said, and ended up with, ‘Belle says she won’t hold John to his promise to marry her until he has seen her in that yellow dress.’
“‘What does she wear it for if she doesn’t like it?’ asked Aunt Louisa tartly.
“‘Father said she didn’t have to wear it if she didn’t want to, that if she wanted to be married in white, he’d get her a white dress. But Belle said she wouldn’t hurt your feelings by not wearing it for anything in the world.’
“Suddenly Aunt Louisa began to laugh. She threw her head back and laughed and laughed and laughed. I didn’t know what to make of her.
“‘I think it’s a beautiful color,’ I said consolingly.
“‘And you could wear it, too, with your dark hair and eyes and fair skin. What was I thinking about to send a color like that to poor Belle? I’ll tell you!’ she cried, jumping up and letting my paper dolls fall to the floor. ‘I’ll buy another dress for Belle, and you shall have the yellow one, Sarah.’
“She left me in the kitchen with Mettie, the hired girl, while she went over town. Mettie was baking cookies, and she let me dust the sugar on and put the raisins in the middle and I had a real nice time.
“The second dress was white cashmere with bands of pearl trimming and wide silk lace for the neck and wrists.
“When Aunt Louisa kissed me good-by, she whispered in my ear, ‘Tell Belle the trimming is because she was so thoughtful about hurting my feelings and I want her to look her best on her wedding day. And, Sarah, tell your mother to make up the yellow for you with a high shirred waist and low round neck. That is the newest style for children. And be sure to tell her I said not to dare put it in the dye pot.’
“As soon as we got home I gave the new dress to Belle. Mother was astonished, and Belle looked ready to cry again, till Father told them Aunt Louisa wasn’t offended at all. Then Mother was pleased, and Belle was simply wild about the new dress.
“‘Take the yellow and welcome to it, Sarah,’ she said to me when I had told her Aunt Louisa wanted me to have it.
“‘I’ll have to color it,’ Mother said, ‘She couldn’t wear that ridiculous shade.’
“‘No, no, Mother, please don’t!’ I cried. ‘Aunt Louisa said not to dye it. She said it would become me the way it is.’
“‘Tush, tush!’ said Mother severely, ‘You are too little to talk of things becoming you.’ But she didn’t dye it, and a few weeks later at sister Belle’s wedding I wore the yellow dress made just the way Aunt Louisa said to make it.
“And now, ‘To bed, to bed, says sleepy head,’ and we’ll have another story some other night.”