"Do you know what I'd do if I were in Mother's place? I'd
take a great, big running jump for it and land! I'd take a
chance. What is there for her in this town? Nothing!
She's been giving things up all her life, and what has it
brought her?"
"It has brought me a comfortable living, and the love of my
two children, and the respect of my townspeople."
"Respect? Why shouldn't they respect you? You're the
smartest woman in Winnebago, and the hardest working."
Emma McChesney frowned a little, in thought. "What do you
two girls do for recreation?"
"I'm afraid we have too little of that, Emma. I know Fanny
has. I'm so dog-tired at the end of the day. All I want is
to take my hairpins out and go to bed."
"And Fanny?"
"Oh, I read. I'm free to pick my book friends, at least."
"Now, just what do you mean by that, child? It sounds a
little bitter."
"I was thinking of what Chesterfield said in one of his
Letters to His Son. `Choose always to be in the society of
those above you,' he wrote. I guess he lived in Winnebago,
Wisconsin.
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