rer, "an' I reckon Gawd,
Hisself, don't know eitheh, but we locoed wimmen allus love bad men a
heap better'n we do good ones. I've been seein' it all my life ontil I'm
got plumb ashamed o' my sect."

But to Grace, that night, she said inconsistently, her gray crest
bristling with impatience:

"Honey, anything in this wohld that's worth havin' is worth fightin'
foh! Yuh are no Cahteh if yuh stand foh anybody's runnin' off yuah
stock. Neveh yuh mind haow wild an' ornary he 'peahs to be just now,
that fool boy is a thorrerbred at heart, and the best on 'em go loco by
spells. Thu betteh the breed, thu worse they bolt when things go wrong,
but they are mighty good critters to have in yuah brand! Thu trouble is
that you been feedin' him on bran mash when he's system was ahollerin'
foh star-shavin's! Ken Douglass ain't no yeahlin' no moah, honey; he
ain't no child to be tooken' an' raised like we did Buffo; he's a strong
man an' wants strong meat with salt an' peppeh on it. An' long's he's
not robbin' yuah lahdeh what yuh gotta kick about?"

But she turned her head away as the girl said bitterly:

"And you, too? It Is part of the Divine scheme, then, that only women
should keep themselves pure and sweet and clean in order to merit the
beatitudes of 'holy' matrimony! Delilah gets the kernel, and Ruth the
husks! You shameless old woman! To think that _you_ would dare preach
such a wickedness with unblushing face!"

"Dearie," said the old woman slowly, "Theah's been Delilahs eveh since
theah's been Samsons an' they allus will be. I reckon Gawd made 'em to
kinda take thu aige offen men's sharp desiah so as to keep it from
cuttin' puah hearts apaht. Yuh cain't change natuh, lammie; wild oats
will be agrowin' long afteh thu second comin' o' Christ! But theah allus
sown in wild an' waste places as is right an' fitten, an' thu seed runs
out in time. Thu betteh growths need pureh soil, an' men wisely sow
theah good seed in the clean gahdens that Gawd intended thu otheh kind
o' wimmins' hearts to be. Yuh kin allus cook betteh, too, on thu steady
heat of thu coals afteh the flame O' fierce fiah has buhned itself out,
an' thu brand that holds a man bites deepeh if it's heated In the
glowin' heart of Love afteh thu flame an' smoke of passion has drifted
away.

"Theah's things In a man's natuh that's gotta be buhned out; yuh cain't
prune 'em away. An' like measles, mumps an' small-pox, it's bettah to
happen when he's young. When that