i. the accident

wallace was very proud of the new suit of clothes his father had just bought him. he wanted to wear it to school the first day after it came home.

“if i were you i should keep it for best for a while, wallace,” said his mother. “your old suit is good enough for school for some time.”

“but tom dolittle is going to wear his new suit to-day; he told me so.”

“it doesn’t seem wise to me, wallace—but wear it if you think best.”

“all right, mother,” said wallace as he skipped away to put it on.

a few minutes later his mother stood watching a very happy boy running down the street.

“mother!” called wallace, walking slowly upstairs when he came in from school.

“here i am, boy, in the sitting room,” answered his mother.

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“just see what has happened to my new suit!”

“have you torn your jacket?”

“no, it’s not torn,” he said, coming into the room. “it is worse than that. i’m afraid it is ruined. look! look!”

“why, child,” exclaimed mrs. duwell, “how did this happen? let us go into the bathroom to wipe off a little of the mud. that may prevent stains.”

she hardly knew the mud-splashed boy who stood before her, so very unlike the spick and span wallace of the morning.

“well, dear, don’t worry too much,” she said. “we will see what the tailor can do for us.”

“do you suppose he can make it clean enough for me to wear?” asked the boy eagerly.

“i think that he can make it look very well,” said his mother. “put on your other suit and we will take this one around to the tailor’s shop. but you haven’t told me what happened.”

“why, it was this way: i was chasing some of the boys, and just as i reached the corner an automobile came speeding out of west street. it skidded into the curb, and splashed the mud over me from head to foot. the whole thing happened in less than a minute. you ought to have heard the boys laugh!”

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“i am thankful you were not hurt,” said his mother. “i will put on my wraps and we will go at once.”

ii. at the tailor shop

“good afternoon,” said mrs. duwell to the tailor as they entered the shop.

“good afternoon,” said the tailor. “what can i do for you to-day?”

“we want to see if you can make this suit of clothes look like new,” said mrs. duwell.

“let me look at it,” said the man, untying the parcel, and examining the mud-splashed clothing.

“well, that is pretty bad, but i guess we can do a good job.”

“how much will you charge?” asked wallace anxiously.

“seventy-five cents, if you call for it,” said the tailor, taking out a tag. “what name, please?”

“give your name, son,” said mrs. duwell.

“wallace duwell,” said the boy. “when may i come?”

“day after to-morrow,” replied the tailor. “we will do our best to make it look like new.”

“thank you,” answered wallace, smiling for the first time since the accident.

[130]

mother and boy at tailor

tell the story of this picture.

if you look at your coat carefully you will find a story about sheep shearing, spinning, weaving, and tailoring just like the story shown in the pictures in the coat on the opposite page.

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suit jacket hung up with photographs on it

do you ever think of the many people we have to thank for our nice warm clothing?

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“good afternoon,” said mrs. duwell, as they left the shop.

“good-by,” answered the tailor; “come again.”

“mother,” said wallace, after they had walked a few minutes, “it was my fault that this accident happened, and i want to pay for having the suit cleaned. i have the money aunt mary gave me for christmas.”

“that will please your father, wallace. we will tell him the whole story this evening.”

iii. what the tailor saved the duwell family

when wallace finished telling about the accident his father said, “i wonder how much money the tailor is saving us by doing this work?”

“i never thought about that,” admitted wallace.

“let me see. we paid seven dollars and a half for that suit, didn’t we, mother?” asked mr. duwell.

“yes, i think that was the amount,” answered mrs. duwell.

“well, if the suit couldn’t be cleaned it would mean that we should have to buy another in its place. mother can clean a suit well, but even she could not make as sorry a looking suit as[133] yours look like new. now do a little problem in arithmetic.”

wallace promptly pulled pad and pencil from his pocket, and wrote:

cost of suit $7.50

tailor’s charge for cleaning, .75

saved $6.75

“six dollars and seventy-five cents! i didn’t think it would be that much!” he exclaimed in surprise.

“be sure to thank the tailor when you go after your suit,” said mr. duwell.

“i certainly will,” said wallace.

questions

do you ever visit the tailor’s?

tell about his shop.

do you think his work is easy? could you do it?

if you were a tailor and had worked hard to do good, prompt work, how would you like to be treated in return?

if your suit could talk about all the things that happened to it before it came to you, it would tell a very interesting story. pretend you are a suit and tell all about yourself.