The Van Buren press., 1895-12-14
SERVANTS THAT ARE SERVANTS
Good Service One of the characteristics oi
EngIlsh CIVILIZATION.

English Civilization.
Notwithstanding the eockneys 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
lmpudence of the English kind, Eng
land is a charming place to loiter in
the summer season. II | were asked
however, to say what is one of its dis.
tinctions, l should say, seriously, that
1t is a place where the traveller can
have his boots BACKED. do not mean
aaubed over with stiekey compound,
and uncleaned and dim in an hour, but
permanently polished. In the smallest
and most out-of-the-way inn in Eng,
land land | 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 very low and unim'
portant matter to mention. 1t Is, how
ever, a note of good service and one oil
the characteristics of the high civiliza'
ton of our British friends, as much SC
as their habit of travelling about with
trees for their boots. 1t 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
comfortable; and l am not sure but
we'll brushed clothes and polished
boots are as much part OF the English
constitution as the 5 o'clock cup o.
| tea Nobody knows exactly what the
constitution is; but Mr.. Balfour, wher
| he rises in the house of commons and
says that such and such a proceeding
violates it, is not surer he is right thar
the humbest subject is when he ap
peals to it in matter of his individual
comfort.
The idea of the average Britishei
is to get the most satisfaction possible
out of his daily life, in little things a,
we'll as in large, and he will not put uI
with slack service, among other an
noyances; and the servants, who are
in turn served by other servants, fee
in the same way. This means, take
| it, subordination and order, or, in other
words, civilization. And a sense o.
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 uneasiness
And l am pleased to bear my testi
mony to one thing, at least, among the
class who travel for business or pleas
ure, and some who travel rarely, thai
they know enough to lie abed in the
morning. We got the raw idea from
the English that "early to bed anc
early to rise makes a man happy
healthy and wise" but they seem to
have given up this notion pretty gen.
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 i noticed in the great prison o.
Dartmoor 1,400 feet above the sea, or
desolate and cloud covered moor, thai
the convicts were required to hustle
out at o'clock in the morning. Blu
these examples do not interfere with
my general conclusion, for fancy tha'
these compelled classes, these early
| -. . l. L..
piest, and probably not the wisest
Another version of the adage is tha'
getting up at daylight makes a mar
healthy, wealthy and wise. do no
see, however, that the wealthiest il
England are the class that get up frs
in the morning. And speaking still o
civilized way of living, one can not
but see, in spite of the democratic tall
and the labor agitations and the pov
srty and the liberal use of spirits, tha
there is a good deal of solid content il
England, even when the country Il
stirred-as it rarely is stirred other
wise-bya general election. One mark
general disposition TO mind one'
own business, and to wait in a conserv
alive sort of way for time to right ex
isting hardships, - Charles Dudley
Warner, in Harper's Magazine.
Speaking without Introduction.
We envy neither the men nor th'
women who can not speak to fellow
creature of their own circle or to any
body without the formality of an in
PRODUCTION. There is no computing tn,
amount of profit as well as pleasure
such persons lose by hedging them
selves in with this stupid fence of fas
tidiousness We have always founC
more of this feeling among person
who were more touchy of their socia
position than among those self-respeet
ing persons who thought nothing
about it. A great deal of intelligence
is floating around the world withou
being labeled, and those men or won
en- who have the good sense to recog
nize the fact and act upon it not onl,
are educating themselves, but con
ferring that pleasure which we are al
bound by the common ties of humanit.
to exchange with one another
seems to us that it is only the snol
| and pretender who takes a ditferen