The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-12-29


 her head and sighs, as is her wont when she is seeing deeply into the causes of things) "And as I've said to Jane many and many's the time, if gentle folks constitutions are of that sort, it's no wonder what come. said so only yesterday, when was draining the rice, and the cat eating the white sauce all the while, and me not knowing. It's true what speak-every word" Here Sally sets down the vessel of stock emphati- cally, and tapping the outside of it with her finger ends, looks hard out of the windows. Mrs. Queasy is nonplussed. If she says more, Sally will give warning she draws her dress round her crinoline and rustles upstairs again.
 i Servants are rich in munitions. They /, have vast number of certainties ~hich are deep by reason of their groundless- ness. The postman brings a letter for i Maria she was sure he would-she didn't know from whom it would come, and if you were to knock her down she couldn't tell you why; but this morning when she go, out of bed and drew up the blind and saw the wind blowing the leaves about, she seemed to see the postman coming with the letter in his hand. You make a great mistake if you suggest certain con- ditions which might have given rise to the expectation. She rejects such low minded analysis of her certainty. No :; there was no reason why she should ex- pcct letter this morning more than any other 1; but so il was-and il was the same once before, when the dish cover fell and got bruised , she had said at breakfast something would happen that day, she knew. But as 10 your certaintles, for which you allege arguments, the same Maria considers them offensive, unless they are to be overcome by her assertion If you will not believe that looking glass is cloudy and spotty in spite of daily, diligent rubbing, or that the steel of all your variously-pIocured stoves happens to be of so peculiar a quality that 1t will not take" A polish, she thinks she has right to feel offended If, however, she happens to be in d good humor, she will perhaps observe, apro- pos of the steel, that at one place where she lived there WAS bright fender with d sharp edge, and the nurse let the child fall on Il and cut itself; and when she has given you all the circumstances attend ant on this event, the name of the doctor who was called in and what he said. she "ll feel that she has readlusted her posi- ,lon IS polisher of stoves.
 On the whole, servants are little dis posed to think that the opinions of gentle folks can have any practical value for them. Our remedies, our methods. our explanations, are like the drapery and tailoring we pay so much for: they cor respond to the supposed scale of our in- come but servants, for their part, get their stutts and their views from other quarters. The cure for gentleman toothache IS not likely to suit Sally's molar so we'll as the cure recommended by the groeet's boy on the authority of his tfs; cousin, who went about with a blue handkerchief round his head for weeks and weeks. And for the probabil- ties concerning the dryness of the com. ing summer or the guilt of the man las, taken up for murder, the person to be consulted with the most deference IS the iaundress who serves very good families, and whose husband Is in the carving line.
 The moral of all this is. that wise masters md mlstreSses will not argue wiih thelr servants. will not give them reasons. Will not consult them. \ mild yet htm authority which vigorously de- mands that certain things be done, with out urging motives or entering into ex- plantations. Is both preferred by the ser wants themselves, and is the best means of educating them into any improvement, of their methods and habits. Authority nd tradition are the chief. a!:ncs. .he only safe guides of the unins,ructed- are the chief means Of developing the crude mind, whether childish or adult Reason about everything with your child. you make him a monster. without reverence. without aii, etions. Reason about things with your servants. consult them, give them the suffrage, and you produce no other effect in them than sense of an- aiohy in the house, suspicion of ,rresoluteness in you. the most opposed 10 that spirit of order and promplitude which can alone enable them to fil their places we'll and make their lives respect able
 Foolish Questions at the Pos, Ofhee.
 New York Judge,
 beg pardon, sr. said foo,man. whose master was SC ,lding him for some neglect oi duty. but do you expect all the virtues ot the Decalogue tol thirty dollars a month :" A similar question might be asked by the clerks in the United States postal service, whose duty compels them 10 stand as butts for the speerings of the pubic Hundreds of foolish questions are asked them every day in the year; yet they are expected |. be as amiable and communicative as though they did not share in the frailty of human nature. Here is sample:
 '" How much are the Rev iwo-cent stampsT This question was asked by young lrishman.
 Can use three-cent stamp on this letter, instead of ,~o-eent stamp :" Ihis from very pretty girl.
 Do you mail letters here ?" This was asked by an anxious old woman who seemed to be lost.
 :" Do you make any reduction when a man buys a quantity Sav a d,,l,r's