STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE WHO HELP CLOTHE US THE TAILOR

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-splashed¹ boy who stood before her, so very unlike the spick and span² 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 automobile³ came speeding out of West Street. It skidded⁴ into the curb⁵, 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, untying⁶ 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.

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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 shearing⁷, 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 promptly⁸ 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.

1 splashed   

v.使（液体）溅起( splash的过去式和过去分词 )；（指液体）溅落

参考例句：

• Water splashed onto the floor. 水哗的一声泼洒在地板上。
• The cowboy splashed his way across the shallow stream with his cow. 牧童牵着牛淌过浅溪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 span   

n.跨度，跨距，范围；vt.持续，贯穿，跨越

参考例句：

• The time span of these documents from 1954 to 2009.这些文件的时间跨度为1954年至2009年。
• The measurement span is determined by the higher and lower range values.测量量程由上限值和下限值决定。

3 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

4 skidded   

v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的过去式和过去分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区

参考例句：

• The car skidded and hit a lamp post. 那辆汽车打滑撞上了路灯杆。
• The car skidded and overturned. 汽车打滑翻倒了。

5 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

6 untying   

untie的现在分词

参考例句：

• The tying of bow ties is an art; the untying is easy. 打领带是一种艺术，解领带则很容易。
• As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 33他们解驴驹的时候，主人问他们说，解驴驹作什么？

7 shearing   

n.剪羊毛，剪取的羊毛v.剪羊毛( shear的现在分词 )；切断；剪切

参考例句：

• The farmer is shearing his sheep. 那农夫正在给他的羊剪毛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The result of this shearing force is to push the endoplasm forward. 这种剪切力作用的结果是推动内质向前。 来自辞典例句

8 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。