g and
Saturday affairs at which the children studied arithmetic, grammar,
geography, writing and spelling, by working on cows, pigs, chickens,
grains, grasses, soils and weeds? And had not Newton become a better
boy--a wonderfully better boy? Mrs. Bronson's heart was filled with
resentment that she also could not be enrolled among Jim Irwin's
supporters. And when Mrs. Bonner sneered at the buttonholes and cookies,
Mrs. Bronson, knowing how the little fingers had puzzled themselves over
the one, and young faces had become floury and red over the other, flared
up a little.

"And I don't see," said she, "anything to laugh at when the young girls do
the best they can to make themselves capable housekeepers. I'd like to
help them." She turned to Mrs. Bonner as if to add "If this be treason,
make the most of it!" but that lady was far too good a diplomat to be
cornered in the same enclosure with a rupture of relations.

"And quite right, too," said she, "in the proper place, and at the proper
time. The little things ought to be helped by every real woman--of
course!"

"Of course," repeated Mrs. Bronson.

"At home, now, and by their mothers," added Mrs. Bonner.

"Well," said Mrs. Bronson, "take them Simms girls, now. They have to have
help outside their home if they are ever going to be like other folks."

"Yes," agreed Mrs. Bonner, "and a lot more help than a farm-hand can give
'em in school. Pretty poor trash, they, and I shouldn't wonder if there
was a lot we don't know about why they come north."

"As for that," replied Mrs. Bronson, "I don't know as it's any of my
business so long as they behave themselves."

Again Mrs. Bonner felt the situation getting out of hand, and again she
returned to the task of keeping Mrs. Bronson in alignment with the forces
of accepted Woodruff District conditions.

"Ain't it some of our business?" she queried. "I wonder now! By the way
Newtie keeps his eye on that Simms girl, I shouldn't wonder if it might
turn out your business."

"Pshaw!" scoffed Mrs. Bronson. "Puppy love!"

"You can't tell how far it'll go," persisted Mrs. Bonner. "I tell you
these schools are getting to be nothing more than sparkin' bees, from the
county superintendent down."

"Well, maybe," said Mrs. Bronson, "but I don't see sparkin' in everything
boys and girls do as quick as some."

"I wonder," said Mrs. Bonner, "if Colonel Woodruff would be as friendly to
Jim Irwin if he knew that everybody says Jenni