young, unmarried professors. An'
she began to go out a lot with them--skatin' an' sleigh-ridin' an'
snowshoein'.

"Like it? Of course she liked it! Who wouldn't? Why, child, you never
saw such a fuss as they made over your ma in them days. She was all
the rage; an' of course she liked it. What woman wouldn't, that was
gay an' lively an' young, an' had been so lonesome like your ma had?
But some other folks didn't like it. An' your pa was one of them. This
time 't was him that made the trouble. I know, 'cause I heard what he
said one day to her in the library.

"Yes, I guess I was in the next room that day, too--er--dustin',
probably. Anyway, I heard him tell your ma good an' plain what he
thought of her gallivantin' 'round from mornin' till night with them
young students an' professors, an' havin' them here, too, such a lot,
till the house was fairly overrun with them. He said he was shocked
an' scandalized, an' didn't she have any regard for _his_ honor an'
decency, if she didn't for herself! An', oh, a whole lot more.

"Cry? No, your ma didn't cry this time. I met her in the hall right
after they got through talkin', an' she was white as a sheet, an' her
eyes was like two blazin' stars. So I know how she must have looked
while she was in the library. An' I must say she give it to him good
an' plain, straight from the shoulder. She told him _she_ was shocked
an' scandalized that he could talk to his wife like that; an' didn't
he have any more regard for _her_ honor and decency than to accuse her
of runnin' after any man living--much less a dozen of them! An' then
she told him a lot of what his mother had said to her, an' she said
she had been merely tryin' to carry out those instructions. She was
tryin' to make her husband and her husband's wife an' her husband's
home popular with the college folks, so she could help him to be
president, if he wanted to be. But he answered back, cold an' chilly,
that he thanked her, of course, but he didn't care for any more of
that kind of assistance; an' if she would give a little more time
to her home an' her housekeepin', as she ought to, he would be
considerably better pleased. An' she said, very well, she would see
that he had no further cause to complain. An' the next minute I met
her in the hall, as I just said, her head high an' her eyes blazin'.

"An' things did change then, a lot, I'll own. Right away she began to
refuse to go out with the students an' young professors,