John Larrysson's Column: Summer Story Chapter 7 Part 7 - Delaine Dress
文章日期:2019年8月6日

Father's blue eyes twinkled; he had been saving the best for last. He said to Laura's mother, "Hey, Caroline! There'll be a dance!"

Her mother smiled. She looked very happy and she laid down her mending for a minute. "Oh, Charles!" she said. 

Then she went on with her mending, but she kept on smiling. She said, "I'll wear my delaine dress." Delaine is a type of high quality wool from Merino sheep. Their mother's delaine dress was beautiful. It was a dark green, with a little pattern all over it that looked like ripe strawberries. A dressmaker had made it, in the East, in the place where Mother came from when she married Father and moved out west to the forest in Wisconsin. Mother had been very fashionable, before she married father and a dressmaker had made her clothes.

[audio 1]

The delaine dress was kept wrapped in paper and laid away. Laura and Mary had never seen Mother wear it, but she had shown it to them once. She had let them touch the beautiful dark red buttons that buttoned the basque up the front. Today people do not often wear a basque, but when Laura was young it was a very tightly fitting bra-jacket that went past the waistline and over the hips. Then she had shown them how neatly the small thin whalebones were sewn inside, with hundreds of little stitches crossing the whalebone and going back again. 

[audio 2]

It showed how important a dance was, if their mother was going to wear the beautiful delaine dress. Laura and Mary were excited. They jumped up and down, while sitting on their father's knees and asked questions about the dance until at last he said:

"Now you girls go to bed! You'll know all about the dance when you see it. I'll have to put a new string on my fiddle." A fiddle is another word for a violin - especially when played in a folk style. 

There were sticky fingers and sweet mouths to be washed. Then there were prayers to be said. When Laura and Mary were snug and comfortable in their bed, their father played the fiddle and sang, while he tapped his foot on the floor along with the music:

[audio 3]

"I'm Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines,

I feed my horse on corn and beans,

And I often go beyond my means,

For I'm Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines,

I'm a captain in the army!" 

(This song was written and sung by William Horace Lingard, in 1868 shortly after the end of the American Civil War.)

Little House in the Big Woods

Chapter 1 - Part 1: Introduction

Chapter 1 - Part 2: Wolves in the Night

Chapter 1 - Part 3: Venison

Chapter 1 - Part 4: Smoked Meat

Chapter 1 - Part 5: Food for Winter

Chapter 1 - Part 6: Butchering Time

Chapter 1 - Part 7: After Butchering Time

Chapter 1 - Part 8: Winter

Chapter 1 - Part 9: Winter Night

Chapter 1 - Part 10: About the Author & Where to Find the Book

Chapter 2 - Part 1: Winter Days and Winter Nights

Chapter 2 - Part 2: Jack Frost

Chapter 2 - Part 3: Laura and Mary Helped Mother with the Housework

Chapter 2 - Part 4: Churn on Thursday

Chapter 2 - Part 5: The Best Time of All

Chapter 2 - Part 6: Her Father Began to Play his Fiddle and Sing

Chapter 2 - Part 7: Father Told Stories

Chapter 2 - Part 8 - The Story of Grandfather and the Panther

Chapter 3 - Part 1: Introduction (The Long Rifle)

Chapter 3 - Part 2: Making Bullets

Chapter 3 - Part 3: Cleaning the Gun

Chapter 3 - Part 4: Loading the Gun

Chapter 3 - Part 5: Where and Why to Keep a Gun

Chapter 3 - Part 6: The Story of her Father and the Voice in the Forest Part 1

Chapter 3 - Part 7: The Story of her Father and the Voice in the Forest Part 2

Chapter 4 - Part 1: Christmas in the Forest

Chapter 4 - Part 2: Making a Gift for his Wife

Chapter 4 - Part 3: Christmas is Coming

Chapter 4 - Part 4: Children Make Pictures in the Snow

Chapter 4 - Part 5: Prince & the Blue Dress (part 1 of 3)

Chapter 4 - Part 6: Prince & the Blue Dress (part 2 of 3)

Chapter 4 - Part 7: Prince & the Blue Dress (part 3 of 3)

Chapter 4 - Part 8: Christmas Morning

Chapter 4 - Part 9: Santa Claus Only Gives Presents to Children

Chapter 5 - Part 1: Sundays

Chapter 5 - Part 2: The Weekly Bath

Chapter 5 - Part 3: Being Quiet

Chapter 5 - Part 4: The Story of Grandfather's Sledge and the Pig (part 1 of 4)

Chapter 5 - Part 5: The Story of Grandfather's Sledge and the Pig (part 2 of 4)

Chapter 5 - Part 6: The Story of Grandfather's Sledge and the Pig (part 3 of 4)

Chapter 5 - Part 7: The Story of Grandfather's Sledge and the Pig (part 4 of 4)

Chapter 5 - Part 8: Sunday Music

Chapter 5 - Part 9: Birthday Spanking

Chapter 6 - Part 1 - Introduction (Two Big Bears)

Chapter 6 - Part 2 - Getting Ready to Go

Chapter 6 - Part 3 - Milking Sukey the Cow (1 of 2)

Chapter 6 - Part 4a - Milking Sukey the Cow (2 of 2)

Chapter 6 - Part 4b - Review Questions: Milking Sukey

Chapter 6 - Part 4c - Answers for Review Questions

Chapter 6 - Part 5 - Her Father Has Not Come Home

Chapter 6 - Part 6 - The Story Of Her Father And The Bear In The Way (1 of 2)

Chapter 6 Part 7a - The Story of Her Father and the Bear in the Way (2 of 2)

Chapter 6 Part 7b - Review Questions: The Bear in the Way

Chapter 6 Part 7c - Answers for Review Questions

Chapter 6 Part 8 - Evening with Father

Chapter 6 Part 9 - When idiots see a bear: Hey let's feed the real live teddy bear!

Chapter 7 Part 1 Introduction - Maple Syrup

Chapter 7 Part 2 - The snow is melting

Chapter 7 Part 3 - Sugar Snow

Chapter 7 Part 4 - Grandfather prepares to make maple syrup

Chapter 7 Part 5 - Grandfather harvests maple syrup

Chapter 7 Part 6 - Why is it called a sugar snow?

by John Larrysson

[email protected]

A native English speaker who has been teaching practical English in Hong Kong for over two decades.

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