i ventured eager to continue the conversation because of its novelty it s a nice little he went on but i would n t call it a tub i really did not know how to reply to this last it took me so by surprise � a child of five in little breeches scarcely larger than my two hands making this fine distinction we surely live and learn i thought and went on my way smiling this house interested me from so many other points of view being particularly english and new that i was never weary of it i had a conversation with the gardener one morning concerning his duties and found that he had an exact of the family which covered every day in the year first i believe he got hold of the boots delivered to him by the maid and did those and then he brought up his coal and wood and built the fires and then he had some steps and paths to look after and then some errands to do i forget what there was the riding pony to and saddle the stable to clean � oh quite a long list of things which he did over and over day after day he talked with such an air of responsibility as so many english servants do that i was led to reflect upon the of english servants in general and he dropped his h s where they occurred of course and added them where they should n t have been he told me how much he received how much he had received how he managed to live on it how and some people were they don t know ow to get along sir he informed me with the same solemn air of responsibility they just doesn t know ow to sir i it some people doesn t sir they gets sixteen or s the same as me sir but they goes and five or six g i thought he said guns � he actually said o beer in the week there t much left fer other things is there sir now that s no sir is it sir i you i had to smile at the rural accent he was so simple minded � so innocent apparently every one called him � not mr as his might in america or john or jack or some but just he was to every one � the master the maid the children the maid was to every one and the nurse it was all interesting to me because it was so utterly new and then this landscape round about the feel of the country was refreshing i knew absolutely nothing about it and yet i could see and feel that we were in a a at forty region of comfortable life i could hear the of guns all day long here � and � this being the open season for shooting not hunting as my host informed me there was no such thing as hunting i could see men strolling here and there together guns under their arms caps on their heads in knee breeches and leather i could see from my writing desk in the drawing room window english girls bounding by on light moving horses and in my limited walks i saw plenty of places � homes i was told by a friend of mine that this was rather a pleasant country section but that i might see considerable of the same thing anywhere about london at this distance the maid interested me very much she was so quiet so silent and so pretty the door would open any time during the day when i was writing and in she would come to look after the fire to open or close the windows to draw the curtains light the candles and serve the tea or to call me to luncheon or dinner usually i ate my luncheon and drank my four o clock tea alone i ate my evening meal all alone once it made no difference � my eating alone the service was quite the same the same candles were lighted � several on different parts of the table the fire built in the there were four or five courses and wine stood behind me watching me eat in silence and i confess i felt very queer it was all so solemn so stately i felt like some old gray baron or bachelor shut away from the world and given to contemplating the follies of his youth when through with nuts and wine � the final glass of port � it was the custom of the house to retire to the drawing room and drink the small cup of black coffee which was served there and on this night although i was quite alone it was the same the coffee the family was served just as promptly and as though there were eight or ten present it interested me greatly all of it and pleased me more than i can say personally i shall always be glad that i saw some rural aspects of england first for they are the most and to me significant london is an amazing city and thoroughly english but the rural districts are more suggestive in what respects do the people of one country differ from those of another since they eat sleep rise dress go to work return love hate and alike in little � mechanically speaking but and even materially they differ in almost every way england is a mood i take it a combination of dull colors and atmosphere it expresses heaven only knows what feeling for order simplicity it is highly individual � more so almost than italy france or germany it is vital � and yet vital in an intellectual way only you would say the feel of the air that england is all mind with convictions prejudices notions poetic terribly the most nation 