They grew less willing to
submit to the gentle control of their parents, and were quite inclined to
think the rules under whose influence they had been educated were
altogether _too strict_, fortifying their occasional remonstrances with
"Mary Jones says so," or "Fanny Adams thinks so." This gave their
affectionate parents much solicitude and pain.
One evening the little girls came home with a petition that they might "go
to school barefooted," and, as usual for the last few weeks, Susie said,
"All the girls go without shoes."
"That, my child, is no reason why _you_ should do so if we prefer you
should wear your shoes."
"But, mother, it is so warm!" said Annie.
"What would you have thought, Annie, if I had told you to go to school
barefooted while we lived in Massachusetts?"
"All the girls wore shoes and stockings there, mother."
"But was it not quite as warm there as here, my child?"
"I suppose so; but, mother, all the girls and boys laugh at us so. They say
we are 'proud,' because we wear shoes and stockings."
"You must not mind being laughed at when you are doing right."
"But I can't see what wrong there is in going barefooted," said Annie.
"You are not now required to see the harm in it. All you have to do in this
case is to obey."
"But won't you tell us _why_, mother?" persisted Susie.
"No, children, I shall not now tell you _why_.
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