 the blameless woman? - apt to be a little severe
towards her own sex, which in her opinion was framed to be entirely subordinate.
On the other hand, she was disproportionately indulgent towards the failings of
men, and was often heard to say that these were natural. Also, it must be
admitted that Mrs. Garth was a trifle too emphatic in her resistance to what she
held to be follies: the passage from governess into housewife had wrought itself
a little too strongly into her consciousness, and she rarely forgot that while
her grammar and accent were above the town standard, she wore a plain cap,
cooked the family dinner, and darned all the stockings. She had sometimes taken
pupils in a peripatetic fashion, making them follow her about in the kitchen
with their book or slate. She thought it good for them to see that she could
make an excellent lather while she corrected their blunders »without looking,« -
that a woman with her sleeves tucked up above her elbows might know all about
the Subjunctive Mood or the Torrid Zone - that, in short, she might possess
»education« and other good things ending in »tion,« and worthy to be pronounced
emphatically, without being a useless doll. When she made remarks to this
edifying effect, she had a firm little frown on her brow, which yet did not
hinder her face from looking benevolent, and her words which came forth like a
procession were uttered in a fervid agreeable contralto. Certainly, the
exemplary Mrs. Garth had her droll aspects, but her character sustained her
oddities, as a very fine wine sustains a flavour of skin.
    Towards Fred Vincy she had a motherly feeling, and had always been disposed
to excuse his errors, though she would probably not have excused Mary for
engaging herself to him, her daughter being included in that more rigorous
judgment which she applied to her own sex. But this very fact of her exceptional
indulgence towards him made it the harder to Fred that he must now inevitably
sink in her opinion. And the circumstances of his visit turned out to be still
more unpleasant than he had expected; for Caleb Garth had gone out early to look
at some repairs not far off. Mrs. Garth at certain hours was always in the
kitchen, and this morning she was carrying on several occupations at once there
- making her pies at the well-scoured deal table on one side of that airy room,
observing Sally's movements at the oven and dough-tub through an open door, and
giving lessons to her youngest boy and girl, who were standing opposite to her
at
