Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1895-12-05

SERVANTS THAT ARE SERVANTS
Good Service One Of the characteristics Of
English Civilixation.
Notwithstanding the cockneys who
are not content to stay in London, but
pervade the summer resorts, and some
other people, including cockneys born
in America, but without the educated
impudence of the English kind, Eng
land isa charming place to loiter in
the summer season. II were asked,
however, to say what is one of its dis
ftinctions, I should say, seriously, that
1t is place where the traveller can
have his shoots BACKED. do not mean
daubed over with stickey compound,
and nncleaned and dim in an hour, but
permanently polished. In the smallest
and most out-of-the-way inn in Eng
land (and I am glad to say that unpre-,
tending inns can still be, found
that preserve the old traditions
of comfort and civility) boots
are polished, highly polished. This
may seem q very low and unim-
portant matter to mention. tits, how
ever, note of good service and one of
the characteristics of the high civiliza-.
ton OF our British friends, as much SO
as their habit of travelling about with
trees for their boots. It means de-
termination to be comfortable and well
cared for throughout.
The whole of the society is built
upon this idea; the servants are ser.
wants for the sake Of making society
com fortable; and I am not sure but
well brushed clothes and polished
boots are as much part of the English
constitution as the o'clock cup Of
tea. Nobody knows exactly what the
constitution is; but Mr.. Balfour, when
he rises in the house of commons and
says that such and such proceeding
violates it, is not surer he is right than
the humblest subject is when he APP
peals to it in matter Of his individual
comfort.
The idea of the average Britisher
is to get the most satisfaction possible
out of his daily life, in little things as
well as in large, and he will not put up
with slack service, among other an
noyances; and the servants, who are
in turn served by other servants. feel
in the same way. This means, I take
1t, subordination and order, or, in other
words, civilization. And a sense of
some leisure goes with this enjoyment
Of the small things. have never heard
the English accused of lack Of enter
prise, or lack of sturdiness and dis
position to have their own way, but
they certainly have come to the idea
that life is too valuable to be frittered
away in perpetual uneasinesa
/. And am pleased to bear my tosti-
mony to one thing, at least, among the
class who travel for business or pleas
ure, and some who travel rarely, that
they know enough to lie abed in the
morning. We got tho raw idea from
the English that ''early to bed and
early to rise makes man happy.
healthy and wise" but they seem to
have given up this notion pretty gem
orally; and, if they are wise, and OBJ
viously healthy, and tolerably happy,
| they evidently now owe this blessing
to plenty of sleep in the most delicious
time for sleep. There is another rule
| for the workers in factories and mines,
and noticed in the great prison Of
Dartmoor, 1,400 feet above the sea, on
desolate and cloud covered moor, that
the convicts were required to hustle
out at o'clock in the morning. But
these examples do not interfere with
| my general conclusion, for fancy that
these compelled classes. these early
risers, are not the healthiest and hap
piest, and probably not the wisest.
Another version of the adage is that
getting up at daylight makes man
| healthy, wealthy and wise. LIDO not
see, however, that the wealthiest in
England are the class that get up first
in the morning. And speaking still OF
q civilized way Of living, one can not
| but see, in spite of the democratic talk
and the labor agitations and tho pow
erty and the liberal use Of spirits, that
there is a good deal Of solid content in
England, even when the country il
stirred-as it rarely is stirred other
wise-bya general election. One marks
q general disposition to mind one's
own business, and to wait in conserv.
alive sort Of way for time to right ex.
| listing hardships. = Charles Dudley
Warner, in Harper's Magazine
Weights Of British Coins
It IL not generally known that thu
bronze coins issued from the mint, like
a classical piece of furniture, "contriva
. double debt to pay" In addition ia
being coins Of the realm, they will
serve as weights and measures. A pen.
ny is one-third efan ayoirdupois ounce
the halfpenny one-fifth and the farthina