He did not, however, go so far as Ches, who kept
his tobacco, pipe, and cigarette papers in the stable, and was always
borrowing "the makings" from his men.
Ford also followed Mason's example in sterilizing his vocabulary
whenever he crossed that boundary between the masculine and feminine
element on the ranch, the bridge. Mrs. Kate did not approve of slang.
Ford found himself carefully eliminating from his speech certain
grammatical inaccuracies in her presence, and would not so much as split
an infinitive if he remembered in time. It was trying, to be sure. Ford
thanked God that he still retained a smattering of the rules he had
reluctantly memorized in school, and that he was not married (at least,
not uncomfortably so), and that he was not compelled to do more than eat
his meals in the house. Mrs. Kate was a nice woman; Ford would tell any
man so in perfect sincerity. He even considered her nice looking, with
her smooth, brown hair which was never disordered, her fine, clear skin,
her white teeth, her clear blue eyes, and her immaculate shirt-waists.
But she was not a comfortable woman to be with; an ordinary human
wearied of adjusting his speech, his manners, and his morals to her
standard of propriety.
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