ether carefully, and,
leaving the window, Mrs. Mundy went over to the door. "Do you reckon
the women know, the women where you come from? And the other women,
the rich, and the comfortable, and the plain ones who could help,
too, if they were shown how--do you reckon they know?"

I looked up from the table where I had been straightening some
magazines. "Know what?"

"About there not being schools enough for the children, and about
boys and girls going wrong because of not being shown how to go
right, and about--"

Mrs. Mundy sat down in a chair near the door. "Another thing I want
to ask you is this: How did it come about that some men and women
have found out they've got to know, and they've got to care, and
they've _got_ to help with things they didn't use to help with; and
some 'ain't heard a sound, 'ain't seen a thing of what's going on
around them?

"Some people like being deaf and blind. But most people are willing
to do their part if they only understand it. The trouble is in
knowing how to go about things in the right way--the wise way. Women
have had to stumble so long--

"They're natural stumblers--women are. That is, some of 'em.
They're afraid to look where they're going. I don't like to lose
heart in anything human, but I get low down in spirit when I see how
don't-care so many women are. They're blind as bats when they don't
want to see, and they've got a mighty satisfying way of soothing of
themselves by saying some things ain't their business. That's
devil's dope. Generally women who talk that way are the ones who
call the most attention to the faults and failings of men.
Considering men are men, I think they do wonderful. Mr. Guard says
if women keep silent much longer the very stones will cry out."

"Mr. Guard? Is he the one you call the people's preacher?"

Mrs. Mundy nodded. "He preaches to them what won't go in a church.
I reckon you've seen something about him in the papers. He used to
have a church in a big city, but he gave it up. I don't think he
thinks like the churches think, exactly, but he don't have any call
to mention creeds and doctrines down here, and he just asks people
plain out what kind of life they're living, not what they believe.
I've been wanting for a long time for you-all to know each other."

"I'd like very much to know him. Ask him to come to see me."

"He don't go to see people unless they need him. I've been wanting
him for weeks to come to su