"Gosh, you talk as though I had asked her to marry me. We are just good
friends. I enjoy visiting her and hearing her play."
"Yes, Martin, I know, but life ain't all piano playin' after you get
married, is it, Mom?"
Mrs. Landis laughed. "No, it's often other kinds of music! But I'm not
sorry I'm married." "Me neither," confirmed her husband. "And that,
Mart, is what you want to watch for when you pick a wife. Pick one so
that after you been livin' together thirty years you can both say
you're not sorry you married. That's the test!"
"Oh, some test!" the boy said drearily. "I--I guess you're right, both
of you. I guess it isn't a thing to rush into. But you don't know
Isabel. She's really a lovely, sweet girl."
"Of course she is," said his mother. "You just hold on to her and go
see her as often as you like. Perhaps when you've been at the bank a
while longer and can afford to get married you'll find she's the very
one you want. Any one you pick we'll like."
"Yes, of course, yes," said Mr. Landis. Wise parents! They knew that
direct opposition to the choice of the son would frustrate their hopes
for him. Let him go on seeing the butterfly and perhaps the sooner he'd
outgrow her charms, they thought.
But later, as Mr. Landis unlaced his shoes and his wife took off her
white Mennonite cap and combed her hair for the night, that mild man
sputtered and stormed. All the gentle acquiescence was fallen from him.
"That empty-headed doll has got our Mart just wrapped round her finger!
All she can say is 'Delicious, lovely, darling!'"
Mrs. Landis laughed at his imitation of the affected Isabel.
"Good guns, Mom, if any of our boys tie up with a doll like that it'll
break our hearts. Why couldn't Mart pick a sensible girl that can cook
and ain't too tony nor lazy to do it? A girl like Amanda Reist, now,
would be more suited to him. Poor Mart, he's bamboozled if he gets this
one! But if we told him that he'd be so mad he'd run to-morrow and
marry her. We got to be a little careful, I guess."
"Ach, yes, he'll get over it. He's a whole lot like you and I don't
believe he'd marry a girl like that."
"Well, let's hope he shows as good taste when he picks a wife as I did,
ain't, Mom?"