At the Market

"Ach, I guess Amanda ain't thinkin' of marryin' yet," said the mother.

"You fool yourself," was Millie's wise answer. "Is there ever a woman
born that don't think 'bout it? Women ain't made that way. There ain't
one so ugly nor poor, nor dumb, that don't hanker about it sometimes,
even if she knows it ain't for her."

Here the entrance of Amanda cut short the discussion.

"Millie," asked the girl, "shall I go to market with you this week?"

"Why, yes. I'd be glad for you. Of course, you always help get things
ready here and your Uncle Amos drives me in and helps to get the
baskets emptied and the things on the counters, but I could use you in
sellin'."

"Then I'll come. This lovely spring weather makes me want to go. I like
to see the people come in to buy flowers and early vegetables. It's
like reading a page out of a romance to see the expressions on the
faces of the city people as they buy the products of the country."

"Ach, I don't know what you mean. I guess you got too much fine
learnin' for me. But all I can see in market is people runnin' up one
aisle and down the other to see where the onions or radishes is the
cheapest."

Amanda laughed. "That's part of the romance. It proves they are human."

The following Saturday Amanda accompanied Millie to the Lancaster
market to help dispose of the assortment of farm products the Reist
stall always carried.