Authors: Mary Christner Borntrager

Tags: #Fiction, #Action & Adventure, #test

Ellie (9 page)

Page 73

Borsky said, pointing to the drab ones Mrs. Maust was about to buy.

"Well, you have helped real good with the work all summer. Maybe you could wear it for Sunday. But just this onethe others will have to be dark colors." It was enough. Ellie could have jumped with joy, and she probably would have, had she known what their
Maut
had planned.

After Mrs. Maust made more purchases of buttons, thread, hooks, and eyes, she and Ellie carried the bundles of cloth to the house. In the two weeks following, it seemed that Mother's sewing machine never stopped. Susie had also brought her machine from home. In the evening, when her work for the day was done, she escaped to her room upstairs and made dresses of her own. Ellie would sit and watch her sometimes when she had been sent upstairs at bedtime. She thought she never saw such beautiful dresses. Susie had finished the rose-colored one and hung it up under her white organdy cape and apron. The pink shone through so prettily. Ellie couldn't keep her eyes off it.

"Do you like that dress?" asked Susie one evening.

"Oh, yes," Ellie said. "It's the prettiest dress I've ever seen, except maybe the yellow one my friend Missy wore at school."

"How would you like to have one?"

"Me? Oh, no. I couldn't," Ellie said.

"Why not?" Susie wanted to know.

"Oh, my pop. He wouldn't let me."

"But if someone gives you something, it's different, isn't it?"

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''Well, I guess. I don't know, thoughbut who would ever give me something so nice?" she wondered aloud.

"I would," said Susie.

"What? You . . . oh, but you can't."

"Yes, I can, and I am going to. Not just one, but two. A rose one and a yellow one. That's why I bought more material than I needed. I'll finish my yellow one. Then I'll begin on yours."

Ellie was speechless. She wondered if her mother knew about this. And what would Papa say? Sleep wouldn't come for a long time that night. When it finally did, she dreamed she was floating on pink and yellow clouds with Papa and Mama running along, trying to pull her down. Then she sailed away, with Susie holding her hand, into a rose-colored sunset that was lined with yellow gold.

Even though the Mausts lived outside of the Amish settlement, Susie did not lack for a way to go to the young folks' gatherings. Every Sunday evening some young boy in a shiny buggyfancied up with foxtails and battery lightscame to take Susie to the singing, and brought her home again. Mr. Maust frowned on so much running around, and also at the fancy buggies and boys that invaded his property every week.

He knew Susie would be hard to replace as a worker, so he put up with some things of which he didn't approve. Still, he had made up his mind that as soon as the summer work was over and the new baby was there, Susie must go.

Sunday night came again. After chores, Ellie saw

Page 75

Susie run upstairs to get ready for the singing. She followed her.

"Come in, Bussli," Susie invited. Ellie sat on the bed and watched Susie slip into her rose-colored dress.

"Where are you going?" asked Ellie.

"My beau and I are going to the singing."

"What's a beau?" asked Ellie.

"Why, my boyfriend."

"Will I ever have a beau?" Ellie wanted to know.

"Oh, sure, you will, a girl as pretty as you. You will have lots of beaus."

"And can I ride in a fancy buggy?"

"Of course, in the fanciest."

"Oh, my!" said Ellie. She felt warm all over.

Soon they heard the sound of a buggy coming down the drive. Susie hurried downstairs and out to the buggy, just as it pulled up to the gate.
She looks like a picture,
thought Ellie, turning as Susie waved.

"See you in the morning, Bussli," she called.

I'll be glad when it's me that is riding in a fine buggy with my beau,
Ellie mused. Then she heard Mother call, and she came back to reality once more. Should she tell Mother about the present Susie was making for her? No, she decided to wait and let Susie tell her. But all evening she kept thinking of pretty dresses, fancy buggies, and beaus.

Next to Missy, she had another close friend. She hoped Susie would stay with them forever.

Page 76

11
As the Twig Is Bent

A new baby joined the Maust family in late Septemberanother boy. This one they named Andy. The hired girl had consented to stay and help out until Mrs. Maust was able to carry on the household duties. Ellie was glad Susie was staying longer. She was also happy that school would soon begin and she could see her little English friend each day again. There was so much to tell herall about her new baby brother, the
Maut,
her pet lamb, Susie's many beaus, but especially the pretty dresses which were given to her by her good friend, Susie.

Oh, and about those dresses. Ellie would never forget the evenings spent in the making and trying on of those two garments.

"When are you going to tell Mama?" Ellie inquired one evening as they were doing a fitting.

"Hush, Bussli, and hold still. How can I finish if you wiggle so? Once we get the dresses done, we will

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show your mother. If I tell her now, she is liable to talk to your papa about it, and he might just get a notion I can't make them for you. But once they are finished, he may let you wear them. For who else would they fit?"

What wisdom this young lady has,
thought Ellie.

"Besides, won't your folks be surprised? Everyone likes surprises. Here, lift your arms so I can see if I need to cut out any more before attaching the sleeves. Oh, you look so pretty in pink. Yellow goes with your dark hair and eyes nicely, too. Just you wait, young lady. You will break more than one boy's heart."

She didn't really know what Susie meant, but it sounded important.

Talk about surprises! Well, when the dresses were completed, Susie was in for the surprise.

"Come and put on your rose dress now, and we will go down and show your folks how nice you look. I'll bring the yellow one." Ellie slipped into her new dress and apron. "Oh, you look so cute. Wait until they see."

Slowly the girls descended the stairs and made their appearance in the living room, where Papa was reading and Mother was feeding the baby. Mrs. Maust let out a gasp, which caused Jake to look up from the paper in his hand.

"Ach, my," was all Mama said. But Mr. Maust said plenty. The joy all left Ellie's face and her eyes lost their sparkle as she heard her papa say, "Ellie, you go right upstairs and get out of that outlandish dress." Then he rebuked his wife for allowing their

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daughter to dress in such a worldly fashion.

"Such bright colors," he said. "Lizzie, you know it's forbidden. If we let her wear clothes like this now and go against the rules of the church, what will she be like when she grows up? As the twig is bent, so grows the tree. From now on, when the dry goods van comes here, I'll do the buying. That light blue material that she wore last Sunday is plenty fancy. I never thought you'd go so far as to buy such loud colors."

Mrs. Maust was too stunned to answer, but the hired girl wasn't. Never had she spoken up to her employer before, but this was too much. "Jake," she ventured, "your wife didn't buy the goods for these dresses, nor did she make them. In fact, she didn't know any more about it than you did until now. If there is any blame, I'll take it all. When I bought the materials for my own dresses, I saw how wistfully Ellie looked at them and"

"Huh!" interrupted Jake. "Wistfully? The lust of the eye is what I'd call it."

Susie continued, "Ellie is such a hard worker and a good girl, so"

"Yes, and I aim to keep her that way," Mr. Maust said, once again breaking into Susie's speech.

"Well, she isn't a member of the church yet, and I know she needs more school clothes. Surely she could wear them for school. I just wanted to give her a gift," remarked Susie.

Mrs. Maust was appalled at the
Maut 's
spunk.

"Are you finished?" thundered Jake. "We can clothe our own children. If you wanted to give her a

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gift, you could have given her a nice dish or something fit for our people. Now go upstairs like I told you, Ellie, and change your dress."

"You are impossible!" was all Susie said, as she and Ellie turned and went back upstairs.

Ellie began to cry.
Now,
she thought,
I'll never get to wear my beautiful dresses.

"Don't cry, Bussli," Susie said. "I'll talk to your mom. She isn't as strict as your papa is. Maybe we can work something out yet. Come, now. I'll help you get undressed." And then she hung the dresses neatly in the closet, where Ellie feared they must stay forever.

"I know what," remarked Susie a few days later. "Every night when we come upstairs to get ready for bed, Ellie, you will put on one of your new dresses for me and pretend we are in school. I will act as if I were your very good friend. You know, the one you told me about."

"Oh, you mean Missy?"

"Yes, that's the one. Missy, what a different name. Well, anyway, we will play school, and you will have the prettiest dress of all."

"Susie," Ellie exclaimed, "I like you so much! Can't you stay here all the time?"

"No, I'm afraid not. You see, I promised my own mother I'd help her a while, and thennow this is a secret I haven't told anyoneI plan to get married in the spring. I know you won't tell, that's why I'm telling you. Besides, we are special friends."

"Married!" exclaimed Ellie. "Oh, Susie, who are you marrying?"

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"It's the boy who came to see me more than any other. The one with the high-steppin' horse and"

"And the fancy buggy," interrupted Ellie.

"Yes, that's the one. He only asked me last Sunday night after the singing."

"But you and he aren't even baptized yet, and Papa says he is worldly."

"Don't tell anyone this, either, but we plan to join another church. We know we wouldn't be satisfied staying with the Old Order."

Now many thoughts raced through Ellie's mind. Was Susie wicked? How could she be, when she was so nice to her?

The two weeks that followed flew by, it seemed. Susie could not persuade Lizzie Maust to let Ellie wear her yellow or rose dress to school. Being a good and faithful wife, she stood by her husband, even at times when he seemed extra strict.

Ellie thought she couldn't stand it when the time came for the
Maut
to leave. She watched Susie pack her clothes and various other items.

"Want to help?" asked Susie. "Hand me my cold cream jar, and the perfume bottles." She put them carefully between clothes, so the jars and bottles wouldn't break. "Now, I'll take the powder." Then, noticing how longingly Ellie looked at the box of body powder, she handed it back and said, "No, you take it. Just don't use too much, or your papa will find out."

"Me?" asked Ellie, astonished at the thought.

"Why not?" commented Susie. "What's wrong with smelling good?"

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