a party there. Marriage means givin' 'em all up, Minnie. . . ."
Minnie smiled tolerantly. "I know, ma, you've gone all over that before. You got a lot of old-fashioned ideas in your head about marriage, and you don't seem to see that things is different now than they used to be. Men don't expect women to be their slaves no more, they want 'em to be pals—sweethearts."
"That's what they all say, Minnie, before they get you."
"No, ma—you needn't worry about me havin' to give up everything when I marry Billy MacNally, because I ain't! Us women is too advanced to make such mistakes nowadays like they used to. Advanced," emphasized Minnie.
Her mother went on with her work, saying nothing, but a faint smile brightened her face.
"Why, only the other night at the movies," Minnie continued, "Billy and me saw a picture about a couple startin' out on a fifty-fifty plan—and maybe it didn't work out swell. We talked about it on the way home and Billy says it's exactly how we'll do it, ma, just like a couple o' pals. No, none o' that old slave stuff for Billy and me."
Mrs. Flynn looked up and smiled at her daughter's pretty, eager face. Then the smile died away as she asked: "Do you love him, Minnie—enough to stand for him day in and day out, when he's sick and tired and discouraged, and out of a job—and dirty?"
"Honest, ma, the way you go on is a holler." Minnie's laughter filled the kitchen. "O' course I love him. Or believe me, I wouldn't be thinkin' of marrying him. And you know, ma, that I'm wise to the fact that no man's a bed o' roses. I'd like to know if I ain't had a good trainin' as to what men are like, with their dirty, stinkin' tobacco, and always needin' a shave, with a guy like Pete around givin' his sisters a liberal education!"
