ated as he is, of
course, but land alive! you couldn't beat that hard soft soap of
hers, no matter what education you had."

Pearl shook her head and wished that she could share her aunt's
optimism, but she felt that something more than a knowledge of
soap-making was needed for a happy married life. On her way to school
she thought about it so hard that it seemed to her that any one
coming behind her would be sure to find some of her thoughts in the
snow.

Mr. Donald, who saw that something was troubling her, inquired the
cause of her worried face.

"Of course, I do not want to know if it is a secret, Pearl," he said;
"but it may be that I could help you if I knew all about it."

Pearl looked at him before replying.

"It isn't a secret that I was told and promised, not to tell. It is
something that I found out by accident, or, at least, all by my own
self, and still it's not to be talked about, only among friends."

Mr. Donald nodded.

Pearl went on: "Maybe now you're just the one that could help me. I
believe I will tell you all about it."

This was at recess. The children were out playing "shinney." They
could hear the shouts of the contending sides. Pearl told him her
hopes and fears regarding Martha. "Martha's all right at heart, you
bet," she concluded; "she's good enough for Arthur or any one,
really. If she had vulgar ways or swore when she got mad, or sassed
her Ma, or told lies, or was stingy or mean or anything like that, it
would be far worse and harder to get rid of, because nothing but a
miracle of grace will cast out the roots of sin, and then even it is
a big risk to marry any one like that, because you're never sure but
one tiny little root may be left, and in due season it may bust up
and grow."

"It may, indeed," Mr. Donald said, smiling. Then he added, when his
smile had faded: "'Bust up and grow' are the words to express it."

"But if Martha could only get smoothed up in education, and know
about William the Conqueror, and what causes tides, and could talk a
little more and answer back a little smarter like, it would be all
right, I do believe."

"I have known men to marry uneducated women, and be very fond of
them, too," said Mr. Donald thoughtfully. "Some of the Hudson's Bay
factors married squaws."

"I know," Pearl agreed. "Old Louie Baker, the surveyor's guide, told
Pa about his squaw, Rosie. He Eked Rosie fine, and thought she was
real pretty when there wasn't a white woman in s