CHAP. ix. VINDICATES HIS WIFE. 167 



A new idea seemed to strike the man. " But did 

 ye no get some bawbees wi' yer wife ? " 



" No," said Edward, " not a bawbee ! But, though 

 poor in cash, she brought me a dowry worth more 

 than all the money ever coined !" 



" Trash, man, trash ! Fat could be better than 

 siller till a puir man ? " 



" Well, I'll tell you. She brought me a remarkably 

 sound and healthy body, strong bones, and a casket 

 well filled with genuine common sense, or rather a 

 mind far superior to that usually possessed by the 

 majority of her sex. Now that's what I call better 

 than money. And I can tell you also, that if young 

 men were to look out for such wives, they would be 

 able to lead their lives to much better purpose than 

 they now do. Your tap-rooms, and dram-shops, and 

 public-houses, would then have fewer and far less 

 eager customers. And, if I am not much mistaken, 

 there would be many more happy homes and happy 

 families, especially amongst the poor ; instead of the 

 miserable, heart-sickening, disease-engendering hovels, 

 which are a curse and a stain upon our so-called 

 civilisation." 



" Yell be a temperance man, then, are ye ?" 



" Yes ; I'm temperate enough. And if wives would 

 look more to their husbands' comfort, as well as to 

 the interests of their own families, there would 

 be far more temperance men, as you call them, than 

 there are now. I'm not a member of the Temperance 



