We had tea, fish, and balivas (gip. for bacon) for dinner. Sugar was a source of difficulty. In putting the sugar first into each pannikin before the tea was poured out, Zachariah was not considered an example of economy. Not that we were inclined to limit very strictly his penchant for it, but we were not sure where we might be able to get more when our stock was finished.
Esmeralda was busy. We were writing. Noah therefore officiated, whilst Zachariah, with a look of injured innocence, stood by, and said--
“I shall not have anything more to do with the goodlo” (gip. for sugar); a resolution we entirely agreed to.
Still Zachariah often had more than any of us, which he would occasionally acknowledge with “Thank you, sir,” “God bless you,” “Quite enough, sir,” as he stirred it up in his pannikin with an air of extreme satisfaction.
The bacon and fish at dinner were excellent; we hardly knew which was best. A peasant boy brought us a bundle of sticks for our fire. The sun became exceedingly hot. Esmeralda and myself went and sat in some shade near our tents. Zachariah found a shady corner under some rocks. Noah first looked out a few things in his tent for Esmeralda to wash. Then he afterwards stood in the shade of a birch tree, blacking his boots, and observed to Esmeralda--
“I shall not help my wife as Mr. Smith does you.”
“Well,” said Esmeralda, “what is a wife for?”
“For?” retorted Noah sharply, giving his boot an extra brush, “why, to wait upon her husband.”
“And what,” said Esmeralda, “is a husband for?”
“What’s a husband for?” exclaimed Noah, with a look of profound pity for his sister’s ignorance, “why, to eat and drink, and look on.”
It would seem to us that the more rude energy a man has in his composition, the more a woman will be made take her position as helpmate. It is always a mark of great civilization, and the effeminacy of a people, when women obtain the undue mastery of men.[42] When Noah had finished blacking his boots, he went with Zachariah to take the donkeys for water along the road towards Listad As they turned, Noah and Zachariah astonished the peasants by racing along the road mounted on the donkeys, with their faces to their tails. Noah and Zachariah afterwards went fishing.