Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-02-15
George Eliot ON Seryanss.

Servants are rich IN satastious. They
have u vast number of eartaintses which
are deep by reason of their graandless,
ness. The pessmaa brings a letter Tor
Maria; she was sure he woata--shs
dion>s know from wha,a il weuld come.
and it yen were to knock her dawn, she
couldn't tell yon Why but this morning
when she got out of bed and drew up
the blind and saw the wind blowing the
ieAyes about, she SCENE d to see the
postman oaming With tina letter in his
hand. You make great mistake II You
suggest certain conditions which might
have given rise to the expectation. She
rejects such iow.minded analysis of her
certainty. . No. there was no reason
why shes should eSepet u letter this
morning. more thaa any other; but so 1t
was-and it was the same once before
when the dishcover fell and got bruised;
she had said at breakfast Something
would happen that day, she knew.
eBat as 10 your certsinties, for which
YOU allega arguments, the same Maria
considers them offensive unless they
are to be. overcome hy her assertion.
if you wi!5 not believe that o looking
glass is cloudy and spotty in spite OF
daily diligent rubbing, or that the steel
OF all your variously procured stoves
happens TO he OF so pecui r a quality
that it will not "take" a polish, she
thinks she has a right to feel offended,
II, however, she happens to be in q good
numor, she Mln tssI..SSsS GGSS-c~"c ";s-"-
nos of the steel that at one pace where
SHE lived there was u ur,S. .t ioi.aS.. -'i'h
sharp edge anu the nurse let the child
fall On it and cu herself; and when she
has told you all The circumstance. at
tendant on this event, the name of the
doctor who was calleu in and what be
said, she will feel that she has read
lusted her position rs polisher oil
stoves.
On tho whole servants are little dis.
posed to think that the opinion of gen
tl-fosks can have any practical value for
explanations, are like the drapery and
respond to the supposed scale of our in
come; but servants, for their part get
their stufs and their cews from other
quarters. The cure for q 2entleman's
toothache IS not likely to suit Sallv's mo-
lar so we'll as the cure recommended by
the grocer's boy on the authority of his
first cousin, who went about with a blue
handkerchief round his head for weeks
amt weeks. And for the probabilities
concerning the dryness Of the coming
summer or the guilt OF the man last taxi
Ell up for murder, the person to be con.
suited with the most difference is the
aundress who serves very good famil-
les. and whose husband Is in the carry
ing line.
The moral Of all this is that wise mas
ters and mistresses will not argue with
their eervants, and not give them rea-
sons, will not consult them. A mild yet
firm authority, which vigorously de-
nlands that certain things he done with
out urging motives or entering into ex-
plantations, is both preferred oy the SER
wants themselves. and is the best means
of educating them into any improve
ment of their methods and habits
Authority and tradition are the chief,
almost the only safe guides Of the unin-
structed-are the chief means Of devel-
opiDg the crude mind, whether childish
or adult. Reason abour everything with
your Child you make him monster,
without reverence, without affections.
Re son about things with your servants,
consult them, give them the suffrage,
and you produce no other effect in them
than Il sense of anarchy in the house, q
suspicion Of ilreso!u,eness in you, the
most opposed to that spirit of order and
prom pt'tu ie which can alone enable
them to fill their places we'll, and make
their lives reSDectaOle