Says I, in a kind of a blind way, “You may be sorry if you do,” and then I says to her in clear and piercin’ accents these words,
“Do you love your husband Betsey?”
“I don’t think love is necessary,” says she, “I am married, which is enough to satisfy any woman who is more or less reasonable, that is the main and important thing, and as I have said, love and respect, and so forth are miners as—”
“Miners!” says I in a tone of deep indignity, “Miners! Betsey Bobbet—”
“Mrs Betsey Bobbet Slimpsey,” says she correctin’ of me proudly, as she attacted another mournful lookin’ hole as big as my two hands,
“Well! Betsey Slimpsey!” says I, beginnin’ agin, and wavin’ my right hand in a eloquent wave, “There hain’t no more beautiful sight on earth than to see two hunan soles, out of pure love to each other, gently approachin’ each other, as if they must. And at last all thier hopes and thoughts, and affections runnin’ in together, so you can’t seperate ’em nohow, jest like two drops of rain water, in a mornin’ glory blow. And to see ’em nestlin’ there, not carin’ for nobody outside the blow, contented and bound up in each other, till the sun evaporates ’em, (as it were) and draws ’em up together into the heaven, not seperatin’ of ’em up there—why such a marriage as that is a sight that does men and angels good to look at. But when a woman sells herself, swaps her purity, her self respect, her truth, and her sole, for barter of any kind, such as a house and lot, a few thousand dollars, the name of bein’ married, a horse and buggy, some jewellry, and etcetery, and not only sells herself, but worse than the Turk wimmen goes round herself, huntin’ up a buyer, crazy, wild eyed, afraid she won’t find none—when she does find one, suppose she does have a minister for salesman, my contempt for that female is unmitigable.”
Betsey still looked so wrapped up in dignity, as she bravely attacted the seat of another pair of trousers, that it fairly made me mad. Insted of that proud and triumphant mean I wanted her to look some stricken, and I resumed in a tone of indignaty, almost burnin’ enough to set fire to her apron,
“Nor I don’t want these wimmen that have sold themselves for a certificate with a man’s name on it—I don’t want to hear ’em talk about infamy; haint they infamous themselves? What have they done different from these other bad wimmen, only they have got a stiddy place, and a little better wages, such as respectability in the eyes of fools and etcetery. Do you suppose that a woman standin’ up in front of a minister and tellin’ a few pesky lies, such as, ‘I promise to love a man I hate, and respect a man that hain’t respectable, and honor and obey a man I calculate to make toe the mark’—do you suppose these few lies makes her any purer in the eyes of God, than if she had sold herself without tellin’ ’em, as the other infamous wimmen did? Not any. Marriage is like baptism, as I have said more’n a hundred times, you have got to have the inward grace and the outward form to make it lawful and right. What good does the water do, if your sole haint baptised with the love of God? It haint no better than fallin’ into the creek.”