e was loaded and ready to cast off, the barrels came rolling
down the chute.

"The next time I saw Marie she was a bit cast down. She wished me to
suggest something for her to do. Said she wanted a mission--a chance
to do some good in the world. Thought she'd enjoy being a nurse. I
felt sorry for the girl, and suddenly I saw the flicker of a brilliant
thought.

"'Marie,' I said, 'as a member of The Society of Useful Women you are
under a serious obligation, and you have taste for missionary work.
Well, what's the matter with beginning on Nancy Doolittle? You owe her
a duty and ought to have the courage--nay, the kindness--to perform
it. Nancy talks too much.'

"'Well, I should say so,' said Marie. 'Nancy is a scourge--I have
often thought of it.'

"'She's downright wasteful,' I went on. 'She fills every hour with
information, and then throws on some more. It keeps coming. Your seams
open, and then it's every hand to the pumps! Dora Perkins and Rebecca
Ford are just as extravagant. They toss out gems of thought and
chunks of knowledge as if they were as common as caramels.

"'You should go to these girls and kindly but firmly remind them of
this fault. Tell them that too much conversation has created more old
maids and grass and parlor widows than any other cause. Give them a
little lecture on the old law of supply and demand. Show them that it
applies to conversation as well as to cabbages--that if one's talk is
too plentiful, it becomes very cheap. Suggest that if Methuselah had
lived until now and witnessed all the adventures of the human race, he
couldn't afford to waste his knowledge. If he talked only half the
time nobody would believe him. They'd think he was crazy, and they'd
know why, in past ages, everybody had died but him, and they'd wonder
how he had managed to survive the invention of gunpowder. These girls
have overestimated the value of good-will. Their securities are not
well secured. There are millions of watered stock in their
treasuries, and it isn't worth five cents on the dollar. Marie, you
can have a lot of fun. I almost envy you.

"'Tell these girls that the remedy is simple. They must be careful to
regulate the supply to the demand. They could easily raise the price
above par by denying now and then that they have any conversation in
the treasury.'

"Marie promised to undertake this important work, and I knew that in
connection with it she would also get some valuable advice.

"You see