Cambridge sketches
Estelle M. H. Merrill, Ed.

[78] What would they think to be told when purchasing goods that the price was “two and thrippence,” “three and ninepence” or “four and sixpence” ? We older children remember the prices as thirty-seven and a half, sixty-two and a half and seventy-five cents.

I think with actual pity of the children of the present generation who have no remembrance of such a store, with a bell which jingled merrily as the door opened, to call one of the two sisters from a back room. It is next to being without a remembrance of a grandmother's home in the country, where the hollyhocks stood near the open windows, and the bees flew in and out, and the white floors were sanded, and the rows of shining tins full of milk looked so inviting, and the fruit cake smelt so sweet in the high cupboards, with a big wooden “button,” as it was called, to fasten the doors instead of a lock.

The two sisters who kept the store where I loved to linger, were regular attendants at the old Orthodox Church on Norfolk street, where Rev. William A. Stearns preached faithfully for many years. My father used to assist in “taking up the collection,” and always said if everyone should give as generously in proportion as these women, the results would be astonishing.

Miss Abigail usually wore in the house a buff muslin turban, but for church the bonnets were something to attract attention, being made of black satin lined with yellow. Immense bows of broad gauze ribbon were placed between the crown which resembled a tin quart measure, and the front which was like a large tunnel. These bonnets were worn long after the fashion had passed away and given place to the small “cottage bonnet” or other