CHAPTER THREE

A Conflict

Two days after, Mrs Graham came to our home for a visit. My mother mentioned that it was a long walk for her small child, Arthur.

"It is a long walk for him, but I must either take him with me on visits, or stay at home with him; I never leave him at home. Please apologise to the Millwards and Mrs Wilson for me, as I cannot visit them until Arthur can walk such a long distance," Mrs Graham replied to my mother.

"But you have a servant," said Rose, "couldn't the child stay with her?"

"She is busy with the housework, and too old to run after a child," she replied.

All this time, I was seated on the other side of the room, but listened carefully to their conversation. The lady's face is pale and sweet, but she does have quite a temper, I thought to myself.

After some time, my mother began to speak, "We are going to have a small party on Monday, the fifth of November. I do hope you will come, Mrs Graham. You can bring your little boy with you, you know."

"Thank you, but I never go to parties."

"Oh! This will be a quiet party, just ourselves, the Millwards, the Wilsons, and Mr Lawrence, your landlord, who you should meet."

"I apologise, but I won't be able to come, for the evenings are quite dark, and Arthur is too small."

Rose soon brought some sweet wine and cake to serve. Two glasses were filled and given to Mrs Graham and her child. Both refused the drink, and the child looked as if he would soon begin to cry.

"Never mind, Arthur," said his mamma, "Mrs Markham thinks it will do you good, as you were tired after your walk, but she will not force you to drink," she said to her child. "He hates wine, and gets sick if he smells it. I always give him a bit of wine when he takes medicine, so I suppose I've made him hate it."

"So, Mrs Graham, you wish to keep your son from all temptation, rather than teach him to resist them on his own? What makes a strong man—overcoming challenges or never finding such challenges to test him?"

"I will keep the temptations from him until he is strong enough to resist them himself. I am preparing my son for the world."

"Yes," said my mother, "but you cannot keep the boy from all temptation. Let me warn you that you will regret educating that boy yourself, and one day you will realise this. The boy needs more than simply his mother's education."

"You mean, then, that I should send him to school, where he'll learn to disrespect his mother's authority and affection!" said the lady.

"Oh, no! But, you will treat him like a girl, and he will never learn to act like a man. But, I'll get Mr Millward to talk to you about it. He'll tell you what you should do."

"I do not want to trouble the minister. Besides, Mr Markham, I believe, shares the minister's opinion, that a boy should not be guarded from evil, but should be sent out to fight it alone to prove he has morals. He seems to believe that a boy should seek danger, rather than avoid it—"

"I'm sorry, Mrs Graham, but you misunderstood me. I did not say that a boy should be taught to seek temptation to overcome it, I only said that it's better to strengthen the boy, rather than weaken the temptation, because life's temptations are not weakened," I interrupted.

"I understand, but do you believe girls should be taught the same?"

"Certainly not."

"No; you would have her tenderly raised; taught to depend on others for support, and guarded from all evil. But, will you tell me why a boy and a girl should be raised in such different ways? Is that because a girl could not resist temptation?"

"Of course not."

"Well, you say that a boy must be tempted to prove that he has morals, but how is a girl to prove that she has morals? It must be either that she is too weak to overcome temptation or that she has no morals, and cannot be tempted."

"Of course not!" I interrupted at last.

"Well, then perhaps you believe both men and women are weak and make mistakes. If a woman makes an error, however, she is ruined; whereas if a man does, he is strengthened with experience. You believe men should learn through experience, but women should learn through what they are told."

She then stood up to leave.

"Mamma, you have not shaken hands with Mr Markham!" her son exclaimed as they were leaving.

She laughed and turned around to shake hands. I was annoyed, however, at how impolite she had been towards me since we first met.

(end of section)