Presently he begins to talk again. “If I were a preacher, or a moralist, or anything but a lawyer, trained only to look for the flaws in all things, I could show you how in that one passage of Holy Writ is contained a whole treatise on the Education of Women. But Master Gunnel shall do it for me.” “Right willingly,” declares Master Gunnel, “if you will but show me how.” “I would have you in the first place note that the ‘Mens Sana in Corpore Sano’ hath never been more clearly indicated than in that picture. For the healthy body, you shall see it mentioned not once but many times, and you shall guess at it, too, by the laughter and good humour which she carries down into her old age. ‘She hath girded her loins with strength, and hath strengthened her arm’—as if to show that this strength and suppleness of body, so admirable in a woman, were to be cultivated by suitable exercises; as to which, to speak sooth, none are so well adapted for the purpose as those she finds ready to hand in her household tasks, sweeping, kneading bread, churning, spinning.” “At all of which she was proficient, this ‘Valiant Woman,’” puts in Master Gunnel. “‘She hath looked well to the paths of her house, and hath not eaten her bread idle’, and again: ‘She hath sought wool and flax, and hath wrought by the counsel of her hands.’ ‘Her fingers have taken hold of the spindle.’” “As for her good humour,” continues your host, laughing a little, “I would ask your opinion whether it is better shown in anything than the excellent terms she always managed to maintain with her husband.” “Of a truth,” sayth Master Gunnel demurely, “the fact proveth that she suffered not from megrims, to which effect I, for one (who believe in the healthfulness of the morning hours), consider her early rising much contributed.” “Ah! Master Gunnel,” says More, standing up, “you will be able to write that treatise without any help from me.” Here you put in a word, and entreat Master More to develop the matter further. “And you will,” he promises you; “but let us climb to the roof of the new building, where I have promised to have the young ones, and question them on their knowledge of the stars.”