they would have lived as simply as mennonites if they could , but the youngest , who was one year younger than shepherd , was pretty and knew it ( she had her grandmother 's more womanly figure ) , and therefore she tossed her golden locks coquettishly at an early age because boys flitted around her likes bees to a flower , and she had a head for worldly things and knew even at an early age that boys were a means to an end .