Conly colored and looked annoyed.
"There is no use in being too particular, Isadore," she said, "one can't
expect perfection; young men are very apt to be a little wild, and they
often settle down afterward into very good husbands."
"Really, I don't think any the worse of a young fellow for sowing a few
wild oats," remarked Virginia, with a toss of her head: "they're a great
deal more interesting than your _good_ young men."
"Such as Cal and Art," suggested Isa, smiling slightly. "Mamma, don't you
wish they'd be a little wild?"
"Nonsense, Isadore! your brothers are just what I would have them! I don't
_prefer_ wild young men, but I hope I have sense enough not to expect
everybody's sons to be as good as mine, and charity enough to overlook
the imperfections of those who are not."
"Well, mamma," said Isadore with great seriousness, "I have talked this
matter over with Cousin Elsie, and I think she takes the right view of it;
that the rule should be as strict for men as for women; that the sin which
makes a woman an outcast from decent society, should receive the same
condemnation when committed by a man; that a woman should require as
absolute moral purity in the man she marries, as men do in the women they
choose for wives; and so long as we are content with anything less, so
long as we smile on men whom we know to be immoral, we are in a measure
responsible for their vices.
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