How do Mrs. Flowers and Mama get along?

Mrs. Flowers and Mama are cordial and exhibit mutual respect. Maya is embarrassed by her mother's familiarity in addressing the woman everyone considered an aristocrat. She didn't realize that the one difference between the two was found in their education, or should I say in her mother's lack of education. Maya says, "It didn't occur to me for many years that they were as alike as sisters, separated only by formal education."