"Land, yes; heaps of 'em; but they all wear Shaker bunnits!"
"I suppose you know more about the women in the outside world than most of the
Brothers, on account of traveling so much?"
"I guess anybody 't drives a seed-cart or peddles stuff along the road knows
enough o' women to keep clear of 'em. They 'll come out the kitchen door,
choose their papers o' seasonin' an' bottles o' flavorin', worry you 'bout the
price an' take the aidge off every dime, make up an' then onmake their minds
'bout what they want, ask if it's pure, an' when by good luck you git your
cart out o' the yard, they come runnin' along the road after ye to git ye to
swap a bottle o' vanilla for some spruce gum an' give 'em back the change."
Susanna could not help smiling at Ansel's arraignment of her sex. "Do you
think they follow you for the pleasure of shopping, or the pleasure of your
conversation, Ansel?" she asked slyly.
"A little o' both, mebbe; though the pleasure's all on their side," returned
the unchivalrous Ansel. "But take them same women, cut their hair close to
their heads (there's a heap o' foolishness in hair, somehow), purge 'em o'
their vanity, so they won't be lookin' in the glass all the time, make 'em
depend on one another for sassiety, so they won't crave no conversation with
menfolks, an' you git an article that's 'bout as good and 'bout as stiddy as a
man!"
"You never seem to remember that men are just as dangerous to women's
happiness and goodness as women are to men's," said Susanna, courageously.
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