"Fanny," rebuked Mrs. Tweedie, "our personal ambition must not be considered, and I sincerely hope that a spirit of self-sacrifice will be manifested, if necessary, when we come to the assignment of parts. Your idea, Mrs. Jones, is to give scenes from different plays?" "Yes," Mrs. Jones replied; "then if one or more of the scenes were unsuccessful, we could redeem ourselves with the others." "True," said Mrs. Tweedie, wisely, and then turning to Miss Sawyer, asked: "What scenes would you suggest?" As Miss Sawyer was considered the best read woman in Manville, she was always the first to be appealed to for advice in regard to such matters, though her shyness--often mistaken for modesty--made her opinion difficult to obtain. "During the past week," she began, "I have been looking over my Shakespeare (Mrs. Tweedie's suggestion) and have found several scenes that we might consider. I would suggest first the trial scene from the 'Merchant of Venice,' and--" "That would be great!" interrupted Fanny Tweedie. "Mrs. Stout could be the judge--I'd like to play Portia myself--and ma would be a lovely Shylock." "Fanny," said Mrs. Tweedie, severely, "there are others to be consulted in this matter." She was provoked, not so much by Fanny's suggestion, as by the titter it caused. "Why, ma," Fanny continued, "you know that we talked it over at home, and--" a warning glance from her mother told Fanny that she had said too much, and she suddenly subsided. At a word from Mrs. Tweedie, Miss Sawyer continued: "There is the balcony scene from 'Romeo and Juliet,' and in 'As You Like It' there are many beautiful--" "Oh!" exclaimed Mrs. Jones, "let's give the scene in the forest where Rosalind, or somebody, hangs valentines on the bushes--it's lovely." "Very beautiful," murmured Miss Sawyer. "And in the 'Merry Wives of Windsor' there are many amusing--" "I didn't know that Shakespeare was funny," blurted Mrs. Stout. "Not funny," corrected Mrs. Tweedie, "amusing; his wit is of the keenest." "Same thing, ain't it?" said Mrs. Stout. "Ain't there a play about the taming of somebody?" "The 'Taming of the Shrew,'" Miss Sawyer responded, quickly. "That's it. Why wouldn't that be a good play for us?" laughed Mrs. Stout. "I don't like the name," Mrs. Tweedie replied. "It savours too much of the domineering of the _other sex_." "Well," said Mrs. Stout, "we might change the name." "Change the name!" exclaimed the horrified ladies. "Change the name of one of Shakespeare's plays!" groaned Miss Sawyer. "What name, may I ask," said Mrs. Tweedie, majestically, "would you substitute?" Mrs. Stout was thoroughly enjoying the discomfiture that she had caused, and was laughing in a most provoking manner. "We might call it the 'Un-taming of the Shrews,'" she replied, and then added: "See here, I don't see any terrible harm in changin' the name of anything. You changed yours, Mis' Tweedie, didn't you?"