imed Ansel, with apparent
surprise; "I thought they must be leavin' it out, there's so much
onjinin' nowadays! Well, accordin' to my notions, if there is anything
wuss 'n marriage, it's hevin' it hold till death, for then menfolks
don't git any chance of a speritual life till afterwards. They certainly
don't when they're being dragged down by women-folks an' young ones."

"I think the lasting part of the bargain makes it all the more solemn,"
Susanna argued.

"Oh, yes, it's solemn enough, but so's a prayer meetin', an' consid'able
more elevatin' "; and here Ansel regarded the surrounding scenery with
frowning disapproval, as if it left much to be desired.

"Don't you think that there are any agreeable and pleasant women,
Ansel?" ventured Susanna.

"Land, yes; heaps of 'em; but they all wear Shaker bunnits!"

"I suppose you know more about the women in the outside world than most
of the Brothers, on account of traveling so much?"

"I guess anybody 't drives a seed-cart or peddles stuff along the
road knows enough o' women to keep clear of 'em. They 'll come out the
kitchen door, choose their papers o' seasonin' an' bottles o' flavorin',
worry you 'bout the price an' take the aidge off every dime, make up an'
then onmake their minds 'bout what they want, ask if it's pure, an' when
by good luck you git your cart out o' the yard, they come runnin' along
the road after ye to git ye to swap a bottle o' vanilla for some spruce
gum an' give 'em back the change."

Susanna could not help smiling at Ansel's arraignment of her sex. "Do
you think they follow you for the pleasure of shopping, or the pleasure
of your conversation, Ansel?" she asked slyly.

"A little o' both, mebbe; though the pleasure's all on their side,"
returned the unchivalrous Ansel. "But take them same women, cut their
hair close to their heads (there's a heap o' foolishness in hair,
somehow), purge 'em o' their vanity, so they won't be lookin' in the
glass all the time, make 'em depend on one another for sassiety, so they
won't crave no conversation with menfolks, an' you git an article that's
'bout as good and 'bout as stiddy as a man!"

"You never seem to remember that men are just as dangerous to
women's happiness and goodness as women are to men's," said Susanna,
courageously.

"It don't seem so to me! Never see a man, hardly, that could stick to
the straight an' narrer if a woman wanted him to go the other way. Weak
an' unstable as water, menfo