"Yes, I think they do. Mira Crane--I'll tell you how the country girls
talk--says 'we am,' and 'fust rate,' and she speaks rudely and abruptly
and doesn't look directly at a person when she speaks, she says 'good
morning' and 'yes' and 'no' without 'sir' or 'ma'am' or the person's
name, and answers 'I'm very well' without adding 'thank you.'"
"Yes," said Marjorie, taking mental note of each expression.
"And Josie Grey--you see I've been studying the difference in the girls
since I came home--"
Had he been studying _her_?
"Is there so much difference?" she asked a little proudly.
"Yes. The difference struck me. It is not city or country that makes the
difference, it is the _homes_ and the _schools_ and every educating
influence. Josie Grey has all sorts of exclamations like some old
grandmother, and she says 'I tell you,' and 'I declare,' and she hunches
all up when she sits or puts her feet out into the middle of the room."
"Yes," said Marjorie, again, intently.
"And Nettie Trevor colors and stammers and talks as if she were afraid of
you. My little ladies see so many people that they become accustomed to
forgetting themselves and thinking of others. They see people to admire
and imitate, too."
"So do I," said Marjorie, spiritedly. "I see Miss Prudence and I see Mrs.
Proudfit, our new minister's wife, and I see--several other people."
"I suppose I notice these things more than some boys would. When I left
home gentleness was a new language to me; I had never heard it spoken
excepting away from home.
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