G. A. Birmingham

“ I had spoken thus and thus; and Biddy Canavan had spent half a week's income or thereabouts on buying me a cake.
"What," I asked helplessly, "is to be done with a woman like this? She can't work and won't try to. She's utterly inefficient. She can't be helped or improved in any possible way. She's a burden to society, a menace, an actual menace, to the peace of mind of respectable people who wear flannel shirts, and she possesses in the highest degree the distinctive virtues of Christianity. ”

“ I did speak to Biddy Canavan. I spoke as no man ought to speak to a woman, as I never spoke to a woman before and never intend to speak to one again. I wore the flannel shirt in order to keep my temper up to the boiling point. ”

“ If she speaks at all she says she's very sorry—and I can't, I simply can't, scold her."
"Very well," I said. "I'll speak to her myself to-day. That kind of woman must be shaken up for her own good. What time does she come here? ”