A small girl sits beside the porch steps, in the yard that was sparsely covered with the green of crab grass over a rocky surface embedded with slack from the coal that was carried in for the heating and cook stoves. It didn't matter that the wooden walkway led straight to the steps and risked an intrusion on her private dreams. It was easy to shut off everything around her while she drew her pictures in the frame of her fantasies.

She drew aside, just to sit there, quietly engrossed with the wish book known as a Sears, Roebuck catalog. Thumbing through the slick pages with photos of finely dressed brides in flowing lengths of white lace, and formal and colorful dresses for special occasions--even the casual attire of pedal pushers and sleeveless blouses had a sophistication that impressed her young mind.

These moments alone activated her fantasies, her dreams of what she would have when she grew up. Interestingly, her fantasies were set within the boundaries of her present conditions and the limited knowledge of a small child…