"Well, let them be beautiful or ugly, still I should think the same
of the beauty of this village."

"While the sun shines it may be tolerable; but, uncle, in wet bad
weather--it must become a mere pond, it lies so completely in the
hollow of the hills."

"There is reason in that, Warham."

"And yet, even as a pond, it would have its advantages--it would
be famous for duck-raising."

"Pshaw! you are worse than a Mahometan."

"Something of a just comparison, uncle, though scarcely aimed,"
said the other; "like Mahomet, you know, I doubt the possession of
souls by women."

"Yet if these of Charlemont have not souls, they have no small
share of happiness on earth. I never heard more happy laughter from
human lips than from theirs. They must be happy."

"I doubt that also," was the reply. "See you not, uncle, that to
nine or ten women there are but three lads? Where the disproportion
is so great among the sexes, and where it is so unfavorable to the
weaker, women never can be happy. Their whole lives will be lives
of turmoil, jealousy, and pulling of caps. Nay, eyes shall not
be secure under such circumstances; and Nan's fingers shall be in
Doll's hair, and Doll's claws in Nanny's cheeks, whenever it shall
so happen, that Tom Jenkins shall incline to Nan, or John Dobbins