"You are sententious tonight. I have led you into a place that has sharpened your wits."
"But not into a place that sharpened my appetite. But it makes a meal all the more enjoyable afterward. Do you find anything that hits your fancy?"
During the meal the preacher talked of the vices of a great city. A truthful farmer could have told him that there are almost as many vices in the country, and an observant moralist could have assured him that the great mass of women parading the sidewalks at night were sent thither by the rural reprobate, proprietor of a horse and buggy.
"Vice is in man," said Howard.
"Ah, but how are we to eradicate it?"
"By educating woman."
"I don't know that I fully comprehend you."
"Were you ever in a place where women are shameless?"
"No," said the preacher. "The only shameless women I ever met are those who accost me in the street."
"And if," said Howard, "you were to go into a thousand such places you would not meet a well-educated woman. Some of them are bright; some speak several languages, but I have yet to find one who speaks good English. But we are on a subject that is as old as the ocean. It is, however, always new to one in your profession, I suppose. You preach about it, and innocence wonders at your insight, but the young fellow who reports your sermon laughs in his sleeve."