"They _know_ things, them men do, and they're heaps happier because of
it." She paused, leaning on the old worn fence.

"An' their wimmen knows things," she went on. "I'm goin' to, too. It's
th' greatest comfort that they've got. I'm goin' to _have_ that comfort,
Joe!"

She patted the new spelling book as if it were a precious thing.

"I'm goin' to have that comfort," she continued. "I'm goin' to know th'
ins an' outs o' readin' an'" (she sighed and paused a second, as if this
next seemed more appalling) "an' of writin'. Dellaw! That's hard! All
sorts of curves an' twists an' ups an' downs an' things, an' ev'ry one
means somethin'!"

Joe looked at her, half in admiration, half in apprehension. "You goin'
to git too good fer these here mountings?" he inquired.

She gazed about her with a little intake of the breath, a little sign of
ecstasy, of her appreciation of the wondrous view.

"Too good for these here mountings?" she said thoughtfully. "Learnin'
couldn't make me that! It might show me how to love 'em more. Nothin' in
th' world, Joe, could make me love 'em less!"

He became more definite, a bit insistent. It had been plain, for long,
that it had required some self-control for him to walk as he had walked,
close by her side, without some demonstration of his admiration for her,
to stand there with her at the bars without some sign that in her