se intricate
psychical reactions, like a chemical change--I don't know! But I do know
the kids are the best things in the world."

She put her hand in his and squeezed it. "You know, Nate, I was just
thinking to-day as I put up the lunch--I'm a mighty lucky woman. I've
had all these children and kept every one so far; I've had such joy in
them--such joy, and we haven't had death. Even little Annie's long
sickness, and everything--Oh, dear, Nate--but isn't she worth it--isn't
she worth it?"

He kissed her hand and replied, "You know I'm so glad we went down to
South Harvey to live, Anne. I can see--well, here's the way it is. Lots
of families down there--families that didn't have any more to go on than
we had then, started out, as we did. They had a raft of kids--" he
laughed, "just as we did. But, mamma--they're dead--or worse, they're
growing up underfed, and are hurrying into the works or the breaker
bins. I tell you, Anne--here's the thing. Those fathers and mothers
didn't have any more money than we had--but we did have more and better
training than they had. You knew better than to feed our kids trash, you
knew how to care for them--we knew how to spend our little, so that it
would count. They didn't. We have ours, and they have doctors' and
undertakers' bills. It isn't blood that counts so much--as the
difference in bringing up. We're lovers because of our bringing up.
Otherwise, we'd be fighting like cats and dogs, I'd be drinking, you'd
be slommicking around in wrappers, and the kids would be on the
streets."

The children playing on the gravel bank were having a gay time. The
mother called to them to be careful of their clothes, and then replied:

"Nate, honestly I believe if I had two or three million dollars, and
could give every girl in South Harvey a good education--teach her how to
cook and keep house and care for babies before she is eighteen, that we
could change the whole aspect of South Harvey in a generation. If I had
just two or three million dollars to spend--I could fill that town just
as full as Harvey of happy couples like us. Of course there'd be the
other kind--some of them--just as there are the other kind in
Harvey--people like the Van Dorns--but they would be the exception in
South Harvey, as the Van Dorns are the exception in Harvey. And two or
three million dollars would do it."

"Yes, mamma,--that's the hell of it--the very hell of it that grinds my
gizzard--your father and my fathe