"It doesn't make any difference who you are, Moses. If you don't try to learn that lesson about minding yourself, you won't get on very well."
"Who says so?"
"Miss Laury Ann says so, for one."
"Did she tell you to mind yourself?"
"She—she showed me how to do it."
"Does she mind herself?"
"Always, that's what makes her—so nice and kind. You see, Moses, you are the man of the family, and the man of the family has to be responsible for it and have a good control of it. So you've got to have a good control of yourself." The word was unfortunate.
"Ma's got a control," Moses said. "Little Eva."
"I didn't mean that kind of control, Moses. I meant—well, you just think what I meant. I want you to promise me that you will watch yourself and tell yourself what's right and wrong, just as if you were telling it to somebody else."
"Well, I'll see about it," said Moses, "but if I do it, they got to," he pointed to his sisters.