As Dawn was going to take it speedily, they were very enthusiastic and
unanimous in their evidence against the married state under present
conditions, and the thoughtful student of life on listening to the
testimony of these women of the respectable useful class, supposed to
be comfortably and happily married, will know that notwithstanding the
great epoch of female enfranchisement the workers for the cause of
women have yet no time for rest.

Dawn was so visibly worried by the revelations made to her in the most
natural way, that grandma grew concerned and published her mind on
the subject.

"Women ought to hold their tongues and let young girls come to things
gradual. To have it thrust upon them sudden is too much of a
eye-opener for them. The way women tell how their husbands treat them
nowadays is surprisin'. We all know that with the best of men marriage
ain't a path of roses, but in my day women kep' it to theirselves.
They suffered it in silence and thought it was the right thing, but
they're getting too much sense now; and perhaps all this cryin' out
against it will be a means to an end, for a grievance can't be
remedied till it's aired, that's for certain," said she.

Mrs Bray was in great form during those days, and though her
assertions frequently lacked logic, and betrayed in her the very
shortcomings which she railed against in men, nevertheless I liked
her, for she blurted out that with which the little quiet woman rules
by keeping it in the background, well hidden under seeming humility.

"Look here, Dawn," said she on one of these occasions, "when you get a
home of your own, take my advice and don't never let no other woman in
it. You can't, seein' what men are. There's no trustin' none of them,
and if you think you can you'll find yourself sold. And try soon as
ever you're married to get something into your own hands, as a married
woman is helpless to earn her livin'; and once you have any children
you're right at the mercy of a man, and if he ain't pleased with you
in every way you're in a pretty fix, because the law upholds men in
every way. If you don't feel inclined to be their abject slave they
can even take your children from you, and what do you think of that?
It shows we ain't got the vote none too soon, I reckon! I'm not sayin'
that you'll get that kind of a crawler; some of them is good,--a jolly
sight better than some of the women,--but the most, when you come to
live with them, is as h