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Three Dresses / By Sharon Sumner
When my daughter was eight years old, she complained about not having the clothes she wanted. I told her the story of my three dresses and how lucky she was to have many dresses as well as long pants.
On a recent shopping trip with my daughter and granddaughter (age 7), I listened to the complaints from my granddaughter regarding her choice in clothes versus her mother's choice.
"Did you know Grandma only had Three Dresses when she was a little girl!" my daughter said. I was surprised she remembered.
In 1954 I lived with my family on a farm in Carroll County, Missouri. At the beginning of each school year I usually received a box of hand-me-down clothes from my cousin in Kansas City. Sometimes my Grandmother would make me new dresses from feed and flour sacks. But this year it was different. My cousin and I had become the same size so no boxes would be coming, and our wheat crop had been a good one. So we could purchase a few clothes.
One evening my mother got out the Montgomery Ward Catalog and sat at the kitchen table, covered by a gaily printed oil cloth, and ordered by mail new clothes for all of us. Although this was a time when parents chose the clothes for the children it was still exciting to gather round and pick out our favorites.
The anticipated arrival of store bought clothes had all of us watching daily for the arrival of the rural mail carrier. When the package finally arrived we had to wait until after supper to open it. It made quite a long day as we continually peeked into the living room to see if the package was still there. When the dishes were done and food put away we eagerly gathered round the table as Mother opened the package. I do not remember what the rest of the family received, but I got three new dresses. Store bought!
In the early part of the 1950's girls were not allowed to wear long pants to school. It was permitted, however, to bring a pair of long pants to put on under your dress during winter recesses and during the bus ride to and from school. Since I went to school five days and there were only three dresses, I had to wear two of the dresses two different days. So I had to be very careful not to get them dirty - laundry on the farm was only done once a week.
Of these three dresses only one stands out in my mind today. It was a cotton, avocado green, tweed, shapeless dress with a drop waist and patch pockets of yellow, pink, and blue. I'm sure my thrifty Mother thought the dress would allow growing room for the school year. But at school I was teased every time I wore that dress and I really hated it. So unfashionable, it hung like a sack on my undeveloped frame. During this time most of my school friends were getting full skirts with petticoats called Can-Cans.
(Continued)
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