ome, and
the man says nothing. His normal state is doing wrong and being
scolded from morning till night--for going out without his breakfast,
for not cleaning his boots when he comes in, for spoiling chairs by
sitting on them with wet clothes, for spilling his tea on the
tablecloth, for going away to market with a dusty coat, for visiting
the stable with his Sunday coat, for not speaking at all to visitors,
for saying things he ought n't when he does speak--till the
long-suffering man, raked fore and aft, rushes from the house in
desperation, and outside remarks to himself, by way of consolation,
'Losh keep 's! there 's nae livin' wi' her the day; her tongue 's
little better than a threshing-mill.' His confusion, however, is
neither deep nor lasting, and in a few minutes he has started for a
round of the farm in good heart, once or twice saying 'Sall' in a way
that shows a lively recollection of his wife's gifts."

"Then the men love to be ruled," began Kate, with some contempt; "it
does not give me a higher idea of the district."

"Wait a moment, young woman, for all that goes for nothing except to
show that the men allow the women to be supreme in one sphere."

"In the dairy, I suppose?"

"Perhaps; and a very pleasant kingdom, too, as I remember it, when a
hot, thirsty, tired laddie, who had been fishing or ferreting, was
taken into the cool, moist, darkened place, and saw a dish of milk
creamed for his benefit by some sonsy housewife. Sandie and I used to
think her omnipotent, and heard her put the gude man through his
facings with awe, but by-and-by we noticed that her power had limits.
When the matter had to do with anything serious, sowing or reaping or
kirk or market, his word was law.

"He said little, but it was final, and she never contradicted; it was
rare to hear a man call his wife by name; it was usually 'gude wife,'
and she always referred to him as the 'maister.' And without any
exception, these silent, reserved men were 'maister;' they had a look
of authority."

"They gave way in trifles, to rule in a crisis, which is just my idea
of masculine government," expatiated Kate. "A woman likes to say what
she pleases and have her will in little things; she has her way, and if
a man corrects her because she is inaccurate, and nags at her when she
does anything he does not approve, then he is very foolish and very
trying, and if she is not quite a saint, she will make him suffer.

"Do you remembe