In a heap o' ways she thess perzacly suits Sonny. Lookin' at it from one p'int o' view, she's a sort o' dictionary to him. Whenever Sonny finds hisself short of a date, f' instance, or some unreasonable spellin' 'll bother 'im, why, he'll apply to her for it an' she'll hand it out to him, intac'. I ain't never knew her to fail. You see, while Sonny's thoughts is purty far-reachin' in some ways, he's received his education so sort o' hit an' miss thet the things he knows ain't to say catalogued in his mind, an' while he'll know one fac', maybe he won't be able to recall another thet seems to belong hand in hand with it. An' that's one reason why I say thet little Mary Elizabeth is thess the wife for him. She may not bother about the whys an' wherefores, but she's got the statistics. It's always well, in a married couple, to have either one or the other statistical, so thet any needed fac' can be had on demand. Wife, she was a heap more gifted that-a-way 'n what I was, but of co'se hers wasn't so much book statistics. She could give the name an' age of every cow an' calf on the farm, an' relate any circumstance thet has took place within her recollection or mine without the loss of a single date or any gain through imagination, either. I don't know but I think that's a greater gif' than the other, to be able to reproduce a event after a long time without sort o' thess techin' it up with a little exaggeration. Th' ain't no finer trait, in my opinion, _in man or woman_, than dependableness, an' that's another reason I take sech special delight in the little daughter, Mary Elizabeth. If she tells you a thing's black, why you may know it don't lean todes brown or gray. It's thess a dismal black. She may hate to say it, an' show her hatred in a dozen lovin', regretful ways, but out it'll come. An' I think thet any man thet can count on a devoted wife for _exactitude_ is blessed beyond common. So many exac' women is col'-breasted an' severe. An' ef I had to take one or the other, why, I'd let my wife prevaricate a little, ef need be, befo' I'd relinquish warmheartedness, an' the power to command peacefulness an' rest, an' make things comfortable an' homely, day in an' day out. Maybe I'm unprincipled in that, but life is so short, an' ef we didn't have lovin' ways to lengthen out our days, why I don't think I'd keer to bother with it, less'n, of co'se, I might be needful to somebody else. Yas, doc', I 'm mighty happy in the little daughter--an' the book--an' the blessed boy hisself. Maybe I'm too talkative on the subject, but the way I feel about him, I might discuss him forever, an' then they'd be thess a little sweetness left over thet I couldn't put into words about him. Not thet he's faultless. I don't suppose they ever was a boy on earth thet had mo' faults 'n Sonny, but they ain't one he's got thet I don't seem to cherish because I know it's rooted in honest soil.