suggested the subject, and--"

"That ain't what I axed you," the woman retorted, sharply. "Pull in
that hoss, Joe, or I'll git out an' walk the balance o' the way afoot.
That ain't what I axed you, Dolly Drake. I want to know now an' here
if you are goin' to teach my gals an' other folks' gals a lot o' stuff
that was got up by bold-faced Yankee women with no more housework to
do, or children to raise, than they have up thar these days. I want to
know, I say, for if you are I'll keep my young uns at home. I've
always had the highest respect for you, an' I've cheered an' stomped
my feet every time you made a speech at the schoolhouse, but if
speechmakin' is goin' to make you put on pants an'--"

"Git up!" The driver was whipping his horse. "Don't pay no attention
to 'er, Miss Dolly," he called back over his shoulder. "She's been
jowerin' ever since she stepped out o' bed this mornin'. If she had a
chance to vote she'd stuff the ballot-box with rotten eggs if the
'lection didn't go her way."

"You see that?" Dolly sighed, as the buggy vanished in the gloom.
"This fool thing may cost me my job. Warren Wilks ought to be ashamed
to get up a joke like this."

"Why don't you throw it over and be done with it?" Mostyn asked,
sympathetically.

"Because I'm like the woman you just heard talking," Dolly returned.
"I'd rather drop dead in my tracks here in this sand than to have
those devilish boys beat me. For the Lord's sake, tell me something to
say."