Page:Live and Let Live.djvu/200

200 "But, Martha, you have not made the progress with your needle that Biddy has."

"La, no—I guess not—because I had the start of her at first—Miss Amy had to begin at the beginning with her; she did not know any more about handling a needle than you do about sailing a ship. Never did I see anything like Miss Amy's patience. She was copying that pictur of the Virgin Mary, and she would lay down her brushes without a wry look, and show Biddy how to fix on her patch, and, by the time her brush was going again, Biddy would get it all askew. She does it by plummet and rule now, but she is the first Irish person I ever saw that could put a patch on straight, which shows it's all in teaching—they an't stupid, but they an't privileged to use their faculties when they are young."

"Miss Amy is a beautiful seamstress," said Lucy; "she even excels my mother."

"Oh, they all beat all!" resumed Martha. "I don't mind our folks speaking all sorts of outlandish lingos, and painting, and playing on the piany, and so forth—a great many ladies that are of no use in the world—what you may call mere ornamental furniture, can do that; but what I respect them for is their understanding business, so that, if Mr. Hyde were to break to-morrow, they would be as independent as I am."

Some may smile at Martha's opinion that fortune and mere accomplishments made an accidental elevation, but we get the most accurate knowledge of life by viewing it from every position. Lucy took another view. "I respect them too, Martha," she said, "for what you do, but I love them for