The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-25
MADE AN ART OF WAITING.
DRAMATIC STUDENTS VINO AMUSED
SUMMER BOARDERS.

The summer hotel waiter Is an uncertain
quantity In these days, and a considerate
guest experiences anguish Of soul In the effort
to assume q proper attitude toward the young
man or young woman who takes his orders.
When the waiter is OF a color deeper than sum-
mcr tan the path Is smooth. French walters
slip into their places naturally. Mary Jane.
who waits on the Vermont farmhouse table
and Joins cheerfully In the general CONVERSE
ton while she hands around the griddle cakes.
is a definite and Ineligible fact, One knows
not only how one might but also how one must
treat her. II Is when the walters are college
students that the well-meaning guest stumbles
In a maze OF perplexity.
They make excellent walters. these plucky.
clever boys and girls. They haven't quite the
professional dizziness. but what they lack in
technique they make up in intelligence: and
many n woman has gone home from a summer
resort signing because domestic service doesn't
attract the more intelligent class OF wage earn
ers, and abe will neverflnd n maid for her home
who will DO as intelligent as the pretty girl that
served her HM Summer AMI sSNIieH SlStSGy DC
tween times with rapt enthusiasm. The stu
dent who has courage enough to serve In a
hotel during the summer In order to go on with
his college studies In the winter usually has
courage enough to meet disagreeable phases
OF the work without tlinching. and 1t isn't
through any fault in the waiter that the aver
age guest feels n touch of embarrassment In
their relations.
The waiter may be the incarnation OF re-
spectful Difference: but when a man knows
that the good-looking girl beside him is a
junior at Radcliffe. say. and the best classical
student OF her class. he can't feel himself justi-
fed in explaining TO her anything so trivial as
the way in which he likes his eggs fried. He
knows that her lame il Sarah. The women at
the table call her that but he cant muster up
nerve to follow their example. He can't call
her miss and waitress" sounds odd. al
though 1t must be quite as correct as waiter.
He probably solves the problem BY not calling
her anything. aud struggling to win a glance
from her when he needs her attention.
As for the young woman who has an attractive
Harvard sophomore behind her chair. she isn't
quite so uncomfortable. She regards fetching
and carrying as the proper duty of all men;
and she doesn't hesitate to send the waiter
scurrying in her service any more than she
would hesitate to employ a man OF her own
set in the same way. Still. there is a differ
ence, and IL she Is a nice sort OF girl she feels
II and shows her recognition OF 1t by treating
the waiter a trile better than she would treat
the other man. and asking him very humbly
for what she would demand peremptorily from
one OF her dangling swains.
There's something disconcerting about a
conviction that your waiter knows the SansErit
name for the hash he is giving you. and that he
could give you appropriate quotations from
Theocritus. in the original Greek. when he
hands you the honey. One feels the necessity
Of keeping table conversation up TO the walters
level. and has an insane desire to ask his opinion
upon a new scientific theory that comes up for
discussion. When the summer girl 'Sanders on
into the woods. armed with a paper edition OF
a light novel. aud finds her favorite nook pre-
| empted by her waitress, who is absorbed in
| Herbert SJencer's Data of Ethics" she trails
home discouraged. and orders her dinner in q
But the lee problem is the most trying fea-
| ture OF the situation: and guests Of fine senst-
bilities 90 through agonieS OF embarrassment
when the time comes for a farewell to the
waiter. II u man has a wife. he always bolts
snd ~ leaves ENw s 5me ca aee do the 70 deed eeti f IN the Se0 most sSat% nns
obtrusive way. and bushes and stammers
during the act and hurries out 81 the dlhinE
herself. There are men and women whose
ideas OF social equality are based on money.
The loud-voiced man with the. diamond
stud in n, his ii nSSliGf ,s shirt , Sh9W W6en S iSe s siim
refined girl steps up to him he hands her a bill
with a flourish. She takes itquietly. but her
cheeks grow very red. and most persons within
sight Of the episode flush sympathetically and
devote themselves most attentiyely 70 their
| DlItlS. WIllle liz OlIf IltH ul lHS lt'l q
strong desire to follow the retreating guest
and punch his head, and the Young man VINO
hasn't q feminine re'ntiEe 10 },q &c on ms I nee y kn lnddaT
his plate and steal away like a thief by night.
The number OF students. who take hotel SER
vice during the summc increases each year
as the desire for education becomes more gen
erai. The work is light. The question Of eX;-
penses through the long. vacation is solved,
and a small sum is laid up FOR the school year.
The change to, mountain, or sea air Is benefl-
cial after a winter OF hard study. ana there ls
l.iSura for uny StuIyinR I hat must be done dur
ing the summer. Against these advantages +
the fact. that in democratic, America domestic
service IL considered mental and entails a loss
of caste. hut the work will he among strangers,
and an education is chenp al the expens" OF oc-
casional SnuOS from iIl-pTeu persons Whohl one
does not know.
The hotel proprictors say that tn" students
are intai mSsr s%rsa.Ss.s@oSnra0bbIEe. ' reppIy! to- do ali thni
should be expected Of them-that. in fact. they
may, be depended upon as no other class q,
minds to accept the unpleasant features OF the
situation. and their self-respcct makes them
do the work quietly and well
The guests at one Massachusetts hotel have
been tremendously. entertained this summel
by a continuousp performance FURNISHED by tho
dent, but with a difference. They are pupils o
a well, nr dEam 10 s sGho p3Ics af tbo tG ie yn roSS :
il an artist OF the first degree, Perhaps. in his
would furnish a more fitting field for his gen
Jus. but at present he is assigned the rYle o
neuu waiter. anu nb IluSl .lullll VII ~"
possibilities of the part. To see hin
standing at the dining room door. wait
the price Of admittance. No English butte.
was ever more awe-inspiring. more unap
prouchabIy naughty, more ,expresslonleSs III
stands tall. immaculate, imposing; calm; ye
reach the door he turns and precedes then
down the dining room with an, air that draw
admiring attention from all the diners H.
has a way OF walking like a procession, He in
dicatcs a seat with the deferential yet hauRht,
Urarn nf n lord high chamberlain. He RETURN
fothe door with no sign upon his impressive fac
Of the acknowledgment that mnSt reign ~ r.
part. and the real thing couldn't he half 81
perfect.
Early In the season several of tn" waiter
differed from him in dramatic theory. AM
there were hot discussions over his interpreta
ton Of tn" part. The critics said that Ia
wasn't sufficiently defercntial and insinunting
TINT hc should uuhrnd more. and show an uu
2btrusive but fntterinE interest in each guest
Like most members Of the profession he WASH
open to CONVICTION. He argued that they wer
taking the French u%gait.e dh6tel for z model
and he was playing the English character. ii,
had given the matter due consideration. an,