"When will I get a new dress for the first day of school?" Mary's green eyes sparkled. "When will we go to the store to buy dress material?"

Mother kept on cranking the handle of the butter churn. The thick cream slurped. Thoughtfully Mother looked at Mary. "Father and I decided that your new school dress will be made out of feed-sacks. Your old Sunday dress will also be a school dress."

The sparkle in Mary's eyes sailed away like little boats on a storm sea. "A feed-sack dress," she sighed.

Feed-sack material was used for making a lot of things, such as tablecloths, tea towels, quilts, and pillowcases. But for a school dress?

Life in the 1950's held challenges for everyone. But six-year-old Mary soon learned that contentment was not found in the things she wanted, but rather in thankful acceptance of what the Lord provided.

Story Titles

• [Mary's Family]

• 1. The Feed-sack Dress
• 2. The Hurricane
• 3. Crutches for Caleb
• 4. Telephone Trouble
• 5. A Gravestone for Pets?
• 6. The Pickle Jar
• 7. Why the Rope?
• 8. Tramp Charlie
• 9. Apple-butter Day
• 10. Useful Hands
• 11. Caught
• 12. Candy Surprise
• 13. Who Gets the Cheese Sandwich?
• 14. Birthday Blessings
• 15. Mary's Jump Rope
• 16. Danger on the Barn Swing
• 17. B-a-n-a-n-a-n-a
• 18. Big Book, Big Buildings
• 19. Grading Eggs for Grandmother
• 20. Mother in a Barrel
• 21. Noah Goes to the Hospital