od, and all is cheerfulness.

They would wax a little more serious only when they came to talk of
their daughters. A woman would begin by trying to recall her daughter's
age, and beg a second one to help her remember when the girl was born,
so that she might not make a mistake in the calculation. And when it
came to one that had a daughter of sixteen, the mother fell into a brown
study; she felt herself in a very, very critical position, because when
a girl comes to that age, one ought soon to marry her. And there is
really nothing to prevent it: money enough will be forthcoming, only let
the right kind of suitor present himself, one, that is, who shall insist
on a well-dowered bride, because otherwise--what sort of a suitor do you
call that? She will have enough to live on, they will buy a shop for
her, she is quite capable of managing it--only let Heaven send a young
man of acceptable parentage, so that one's husband shall have no need to
blush with shame when he is asked about his son-in-law's family and
connections.

And this is really what they used to do, for when their daughters were
sixteen, they gave them in marriage, and at twenty the daughters were
"old," much-experienced wives. They knew all about teething,
chicken-pox, measles, and more besides, even about croup. If a young
mother's child fell ill, she hastened to her bosom crony, who knew a lot
more than she, having been married one whole year or two sooner, and got
advice as to what should be done.

The other would make close inquiry whether the round swellings about the
child's neck increased in size and wandered, that is, appeared at
different times and different places, in which case it was positively
nothing serious, but only the tonsils. But if they remained in one place
and grew larger, the mother must lose no time, but must run to the
doctor.

Their daughters knew that they needed to lay by money, not only for a
dowry, but because a girl ought to have money of her own. They knew as
well as their mothers that a bridegroom would present himself and ask a
lot of money (the best sign of his being the right sort!), and they
prayed God for the same without ceasing.

No sooner were they quit of household matters than they went over to the
discussion of their connections and alliances--it was the greatest
pleasure they had.

The fact that their children, especially their daughters, were so
discreet that not one (to speak in a good hour and be silent