"Didn't you hear me? I have improved upon your name."
"I noticed it, but I wanted to make sure it was intentional and not a mistake."
"Tell me—do you like it?" asked Polly, eagerly.
"Indeed I do, dear; I never could abide that name of 'Maw' and 'Paw' that is common with the ranchers."
"Then why didn't you tell me this long ago! Oh, mother!"
"If I corrected you, and the other children at school heard you use different terms from those they were accustomed to, they would think you 'proud' and 'too good for a rancher.' I have heard that criticism so often, that I have given up trying to better conditions or express my own desires in anything that an illiterate and inexperienced neighbor may find fault with. I just accept things as they are, now, but hope for better things for my children."
This was a new light on her mother, and Polly felt subdued by it. She wondered if her mother would have been any different if she had been in Mrs. Maynard's place.
"You see," continued Mrs. Brewster, turning to Anne, "one so gets to dread the free speech and narrow-minded opinions of some ranchers that one forbears in everything, rather than have strife and ill-will from those one must meet at times."
Anne nodded. "But sometimes it is better to take the risk of offending the whole community if one finally wins out."
Mrs. Brewster looked approvingly at the girl, and Polly changed the conversation by saying: