"I don't know anything more tiring than being with children day in
and day out," said Mrs. Brown, "it gets frightfully on your nerves!"

"Oh, I'd like about twelve!" said Mrs. Burgoyne.

"Oh, Mrs. Burgoyne! You WOULDN'T!"

"Yes, I would, granted a moderately secure income, and a rather
roomy country home. Although," added Mrs. Burgoyne, temperately, "I
do honestly think twelve children is too big a family. However, one
may be greedy in wishes!"

"Would you want a child of yours to go without proper advantages,"
said Mrs. Lloyd, a little severely, "would you want more than one or
two, if you honestly felt you couldn't give them all that other
children have? Would you be perfectly willing to have your children
feel at a disadvantage with all the children of your friends? I
wouldn't," she answered herself positively, "I want to do the best
by Mabel, I want her to have everything, as she grows up, that a
girl ought to have. That's why all this nonsense about the size of
the American family makes me so tired! What's the use of bringing a
lot of children into the world that are going to suffer all sorts of
privations when they get here?"

"Privations wouldn't hurt them," said Mrs. Burgoyne, sturdily, "if
it was only a question of patched boots and made-over clothes and
plain food. They could even have everything in the world that's
worth while."

"How do you mean?" said Mrs. Lloyd, promptly defensive.