Many persons have a horror of patched clothes. If patching becomes necessary, there should be no sensitiveness upon the subject. We must clothe according to our condition in life. The ojiinion of the butterflies and fops who largely make up certain phases of fashionable life, is not worth a thought. It is a false presumption, that because a person has wealth, he or she looks down on those who are poor. The gentleman and lady never do. It is only "cads" and "snobs" who fear contact with those who keep the world moving. The world moves by the force of the labor that is done. It is those who mix mortar, lay brick and stone, build and finish houses, make machinery and utensils, set type and run the printing press, raise the provisions that feed the multitude — in short, the thinkers and workers of this world — who are the moving power. The mechanic and the manual laborer, as well as the 372 TWENTIETH CENTURY HOME COOK BOOK. merchant, the manufacturer and the financier, are the machinery which keeps the world in motion. The merely wealthy, who spend their lives in idleness, are as moths flitting about a candle — necessary perhaps, because the money they spend helps to make a market for the products of the workers. But the soiled laborer, with patched clothes, if temperate, industrious and honest, performs a more impor- tant part in this workaday world of ours. Some must wear mended clothes. In fact, there are few sensible persons, how- ever rich, but do so in some degree. In making up a dress or suit, reserve some of the stuff for the mending that must surely come. If this cannot be done, then select the nearest match you can. It is no disgrace to wear a coat of as many colors as that of Joseph. It may have been the height of fashion in Jacob's time ; it is not so now. But if the gentleman or lady of wealth desire not to attract attention to their dress, certainly the gentleman or lady less wealthy should not seek to attract attention by the singularity of their patching and darning. " A stitch in time " should be the motto. How easy it is in sorting the clothes for the wash to make a memorandum of such as require mending, if you cannot remember — a button off a garment, a frayed edge or button-hole, a rent, a missing string or band, towel to be cut in half and the edges resewed. The clothes being rough dried, mend them before starching and ironing. V. Altering Clothes. In these days of cheap sewing machines the work of making, mending and alter- ing clothing is much simplified. Children's clothing requires constant care. Tailoring requires considerable strength. Men's clothing is more cheaply bought ready-made than it can be made at home. The mending is not difficult. Altering Children's Clothes. — Patches may be so neatly inserted as scarcely to show. The legs of a child's trousers may be turned by cutting off, and reversing — changing right and left — so as to scarcely show. Children's skirts may be altered to fit the constantly growing form, letting out the tucks and bands. The material for children's suits or dresses may be gotten from the partly worn clothes of the adult members of the family. Garments thus made are just as good for the little ones to play about in the fresh earth and grass, just as good to be torn by briers and brush as new onei. Children need pretty free scope at play. It is healthy ; it is good for both brain and muscle. The child who never rolled in the grass, never wanted to make mud pies or haul sand on a shingle, who never soiled or made a rent in the dress, never made any mark in the world as man or woman. VI. The Kind of Clothes to Wear.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Many persons have a horror of patched clothes. If patching becomes necessary, there should be no sensitiveness upon the subject. We must clothe according to our condition in life. The opinion of the butterflies and fops who largely make up certain phases of fashionable life, is not worth a thought. It is a false presumption, that because a person has wealth, he or she looks down on those who are poor. The gentleman and lady never do. It is only "cads" and "snobs" who fear contact with those who keep the world moving. The world moves by the force of the labor that is done. It is those who mix mortar, lay brick and stone, build and finish houses, make machinery and utensils, set type and run the printing press, raise the provisions that feed the multitude — in short, the thinkers and workers of this world — who are the moving power. The mechanic and the manual laborer, as well as the merchant, the manufacturer and the financier, are the machinery which keeps the world in motion. The merely wealthy, who spend their lives in idleness, are as moths flitting about a candle — necessary perhaps, because the money they spend helps to make a market for the products of the workers. But the soiled laborer, with patched clothes, if temperate, industrious and honest, performs a more important part in this workaday world of ours. Some must wear mended clothes. In fact, there are few sensible persons, however rich, but do so in some degree. In making up a dress or suit, reserve some of the stuff for the mending that must surely come. If this cannot be done, then select the nearest match you can. It is no disgrace to wear a coat of as many colors as that of Joseph. It may have been the height of fashion in Jacob's time ; it is not so now. But if the gentleman or lady of wealth desire not to attract attention to their dress, certainly the gentleman or lady less wealthy should not seek to attract attention by the singularity of their patching and darning. " A stitch in time " should be the motto. How easy it is in sorting the clothes for the wash to make a memorandum of such as require mending, if you cannot remember — a button off a garment, a frayed edge or button-hole, a rent, a missing string or band, towel to be cut in half and the edges resewed. The clothes being rough dried, mend them before starching and ironing. V. Altering Clothes. In these days of cheap sewing machines the work of making, mending and altering clothing is much simplified. Children's clothing requires constant care. Tailoring requires considerable strength. Men's clothing is more cheaply bought ready-made than it can be made at home. The mending is not difficult. Altering Children's Clothes. — Patches may be so neatly inserted as scarcely to show. The legs of a child's trousers may be turned by cutting off, and reversing — changing right and left — so as to scarcely show. Children's skirts may be altered to fit the constantly growing form, letting out the tucks and bands. The material for children's suits or dresses may be gotten from the partly worn clothes of the adult members of the family. Garments thus made are just as good for the little ones to play about in the fresh earth and grass, just as good to be torn by briers and brush as new onei. Children need pretty free scope at play. It is healthy ; it is good for both brain and muscle. The child who never rolled in the grass, never wanted to make mud pies or haul sand on a shingle, who never soiled or made a rent in the dress, never made any mark in the world as man or woman. VI. The Kind of Clothes to Wear.

Twentieth century home cook book