p. 12 | UPSIDE DOWN by Susan T. Perry

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 9, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 35.

UPSIDE DOWN.

By Susan T. Perry

"You've put that sleeve in upside down, Henrietta," said Helen Marcy.

"What is the difference? They will never know it; it is finished; throw it into the box," the young girl replied. "Nobody will know who made it."

"Yes, Henrietta, but when they open the box at the mission, somebody will have to rip it out and put it in again before it can be worn."

"They ought to be glad to get anything to put onto those little vandals. Do you suppose they would know whether a sleeve was put in upside down, or even wrong side out, Helen?"

Helen Marcy made no reply, as she saw her companion throw the gingham shirt-waist into the box that stood in the middle of the floor where the finished garments were deposited. She would have taken the sleeve out and put it in again herself, but she had promised to finish off some other work that evening, as the box was going in the morning. These two young girls belonged to the "Busy Workers Sewing Society." They had been preparing a box for a charitable institution in the city.

Henrietta Fassett was one of those persons who always did things, as her Aunt Jerusha expressed it, "in a whew." She did not think it worth while to baste the pieces of her garments together, for that took too much time; so when she sewed under her mother's or her aunt's supervision, she was oftentimes obliged to rip out the stitches, and do the work over again. She had heard her aunt say a hundred times, "Lazy folks always take the most pains, Henrietta." That afternoon she was responsible to no one, so the upside-down sleeve was allowed to be sent off, and that was all she thought about it.

Helen Marcy was entirely different in that respect from her intimate friend, Henrietta Fassett. It took her longer to finish her work, but it never had to be done over again. She was responsible to herself and her own honor in such matters. If she had made the mistake that her friend made, she would have sat up all night, if needs be, to rectify it. She always aimed to do well whatever she did, and even in the very best manner of which she was capable.

The matron at the charitable institution was very glad to get the box. There were fifteen little boys in ragged garments waiting to put on the fifteen new gingham shirt-waists. It was such a help, she thought, to have them all ready to put on—no buttons to be sewed, and no fitting to be done, and no running up of seams. Those new, clean, pretty gingham waists all ready to be slipped over the boys shoulders. How good and kind the "Busy Workers" had been.

Mrs. Leavenworth, a friend of Mrs. Marcy's, was there to see the box opened, and she was very proud to say that the box came from the young girls of the town where she spent her summers. One boy after another stepped up to the matron and had a new waist put on, and marched off with a smiling face.

Fourteen boys had been equipped and sent off happy. Then the fifteenth boy came up, he was a thin, pale boy, with the saddest of faces. The matron said he had a very sad history, and sometime she would tell Mrs. Leavenworth all about it. Martin Beers stood by the box with a smile lighting up his face, he was going to have a new waist, probably the first bright, fresh, new garment he had ever had. His right arm went into the sleeve, but there was something wrong with the set of it.

"What's the matter with this sleeve?" queried the matron. "O, I see, it is put in upside down; somebody's made a mistake. It will have to go to the sewing-room and be ripped out. The sewing-girl is gone, too, this afternoon."

Mrs. Leavenworth saw the disappointed look on the little fellow's face. All the other boys were in the play-room with new waists on, and he would have to go back again with his old, torn shirt on. The lady laid aside her bonnet and wrap, and said, "Wait a few minutes, Martin, and I will fix the sleeve;" and so the boy sat down on a stool by her side, and watched her rip out the sleeve and put it in again. It took a half hour to do the work, but she told Martin some pretty stories while she was at work. Then he marched off to join the brigade with new gingham waists.

Henrietta had forgotten all about the "upside down sleeve," until the president of the society rapped on the table a fortnight afterwards, and called the "Busy Workers" and talkers to order. Then she read the letter Mrs. Leavenworth had written about the box. She wrote how needy the boys were, and how pleased they all were with the new garments. But this lady thought best to tell the whole truth as well as part of it, and so she added one waist had to be fixed before the boy could wear it, as somebody made a mistake, and put the right sleeve in upside down. She only mentioned it because she knew that the waist would not have been sent so unless it was a mistake. She also thought it would be a good thing to tell the young girls, so they would be more particular in future.

"Who could have made that mistake?" asked the president, as she stopped in the midst of her reading. No one answered, and Helen Marcy would not betray her friend. But Henrietta, after a few moments' consideration, spoke out clearly, "I made that mistake, girls, and I did not remedy it, but threw the waist into the box. I think I shall be more particular after this. I really did not think it would make much difference."

Mrs. Leavenworth concluded her letter by giving the sad facts connected with Martin Beers' young life, and the account touched the hearts of all the Busy Workers and brought tears to their eyes.

Henrietta seemed to be completely overcome as she listened to Mrs. Leavenworth's letter. When she went home she stopped at the store and bought material enough to make two waists for Martin Beers, and when she cut them out the next morning, she was so deliberate and particular about her work, that her mother said, "Seems to me you are taking more pains than usual with your work Henrietta."

"Yes, mother, I've got through doing my work upside down. I begin to realize how careless and thoughtless I've been all my life. I have done so many things in such an upside down sort of a way, and I've let them go without remedying the wrong either. I begin to realize it all now. I may sometimes thoughtlessly do more of my work upside down, but if I do, dear mother, I will stop and take it out, and do it over again until it is right. One can do a great deal of work in life "upside down," and I hope hereafter God will help me to have all that I do finished up square and true and lasting, and right side up."

"My dear, I cannot tell you how happy you've made me," the mother replied, as she put her arms around her daughter and kissed her.—Susan T. Perry, in N. Y. Evangelist.