240 FARMING IT 



of it, I would wait. But we would welcome 

 her all the same, for she was Dick's wife. 



It was Thursday afternoon, and we were 

 waiting for Dick and his wife to arrive. I had 

 shaved and put on my newly-pressed summer 

 suit ; my wife had on a white duck suit and white 

 tennis shoes, my daughter wore the same. I sat 

 under a tree reading a newspaper; a couple of 

 law books lay opened at my feet. I had n't read 

 them, and did n't intend to read them, and did n't 

 care a hang what they contained. Only it would 

 be a good idea to let Dick's wife know just what 

 sort of a family she was entering. If she was 

 well-bred, she would feel more at home, and if 

 she was ill-bred, forward, or conceited, it would 

 perhaps be as well to impress her in the first place 

 so as to keep her from undue self-assertiveness. 



As I sat there pretending to read, but in reality 

 not seeing a line or a word of the page, I began 

 again to be depressed about the prospect of an 

 addition to the family that would at best be thor- 

 oughly unwelcome both to my wife and to me, 

 and, more unfortunately, to Dick. A boy of his 

 age would not be likely to be attracted by a 

 young and refined girl, because Dick was cer- 

 tainly young, and for a boy, rather refined and 

 fastidious, and he would be all the more liable 

 to be impressed by the coarser and more mature 



