The box was of satinwood, beautifully finished, and
lined with crimson silk; and Mrs. Montgomery had taken good
care it should want nothing that Ellen might need to keep her
clothes in perfect order.
"Oh, Mamma, how beautiful! Oh, Mamma, how good you are! Mamma,
I promise you I'll never be a slattern. Here is more cotton
than I can use up in a great while — every number, I do think;
and needles, oh, the needles! what a parcel of them! and,
Mamma, what a lovely scissors! Did you choose it, Mamma, or
did it belong to the box?"
"I chose it."
"I might have guessed it, Mamma, it's just like you. And
here's a thimble — fits me exactly! and an emery-bag! how
pretty! — and a bodkin! this is a great nicer than yours,
Mamma — yours is decidedly the worse for wear; — and what's
this? — oh, to make eyelet-holes with, I know. And oh, Mamma!
here is almost everything, I think — here are tapes, and
buttons, and hooks and eyes, and darning-cotton, and silk-
winders, and pins, and all sorts of things. What's this for,
Mamma?"
"That's a scissors to cut button-holes with. Try it on that
piece of paper that lies by you, and you will see how it
works."
"Oh, I see!" said Ellen, "how very nice that is! Well, I shall
take great pains now to make my button-holes very handsomely."
One survey of her riches could by no means satisfy Ellen. For
some time she pleased herself with going over and over the
contents of the box, finding each time something new to like.
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