The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-01-07
HER POINT OF VIEW.

HEX PUlNl OF VIEW.
People have no business to say |
things when they are grumpy, much |
less to write things which lot of
other people are expected to read. Its
bad enough to inliict troubles ON some |
intimate friend who can do likewise !
when she gets chance, but it is really |
too much To affect an entire commune
ity with a pcssmistiC view of life be-
cause one happens to feel blue at the
particular time a column in the news
paper is to be filled.
one day wrote the heathenish query
Does anybody really enjoy Christ
mas these days." \ little lady whose
life is chiefly spent N making other
lives sunny and bright. assured me
that she deeply resented this unor-
thodoX idea. She. for one, thoroughly
enjoyed the beautiful holiday, and it
was the happicst day in the year.
There is no sort of doubt that when
one sets out to make Christmas lovely
for dozens of poor children who have
seldom known a really happy day that
one is reasonably sure of considering
the holiday one of delight. 1t is a good
recipe to use in most cases of general
mugwumpery against the world, and |
am glad to be called back to a realiZ-
ing sense that | was cross and dis
| agreeable again. Hence the above as
! sertion that one has no business to
! weary others with a tired. grumpy per-
| sonal view of generalities. Life is too
| short and contains too many actually
| gloomy days to insist that one bright
| day shall be shadOwed for the whole
world by a mist that lies before ones
! own eyes alone. Christmas is too prec-
ious "a season to be treated with such
disrespect that one is untitled to enjoy
| it.
Femninity i'm general in Scranton
| has begun to relax the Vigilencc
which has been scrupulously practiced
for the fortnight which has elapsed
since the last burglary. once again
| the front door is occasionally found
| unlatched and the second story cham
! Der windows are neglected. while the
head of the house is occasionally able
to find his heavy top coat or his new
est umbrella, a feat impossible during
the period when the spasmOdic system
OF watchfulness was in vogue and the
articles in question were hidden in a
new spot daily.
Once again you can see my lady's
diamond rings reposing on the draw
ing room mantel or ON a marble slab
in the bath room. She has grown tired
of concealing her jewels and whatever
money she has been able to hoard
since Christmas, i'm some impossible
place and has already reverted to her
usual custom OF leaving valuables
around to tempt the dOmestics and
| any weak minded burglar who may
chance to appear. Indeed l don't be-
lieve we half appreciate the down.
right unswerVing honesty of those who,
for hire, render such faithful service
in our homes. Few indeed are the dis
honest servants in the thousands em-
| plOyed in the residences where master
and mistress are frequently most care
less with their belongings. 1t is the
habit with many housewives to leave
change about in plain sight, to send
a maid for the purse, to constantly for
get where il has been laid down, and
with money no less than with jewels
to conduct themselves as if their SER
wants were utterly ignorant as to either
value or charm of these treasures.
The infleXible honesty of the great
mass of domestics is something mar
velous, considering their opportunities
for taking things and leaving abso-
lutely no clue to their disappearance.
Not long ago a little maid servant
recently arrived in this country came
to her mistress holding a five-dollar
bill in her hand. This is money, isn't
it?" she asked with smiling frank
ness. 81 wasn't exactly sure how
much it meant, but | found it on the
porch as l swept away the leaves this
morning, and if it didn't look like q
brown leaf itselfw The lady remcm-
bered opening her pocketbook the eve
ming before and pulling samples and
other things out in search of her latch
key, when, doubtless, the money had
dropped down, but it isn't at all likely
that as she restored the bill to it's place
that she gave much thought to the
little maids temptation to keep the
amount, which by no possible means
could be traced to her possession. They
deserve far more credit than they get,
these stranger people, whom we take
into our homes, and before whose eyes
we fiaunt so persstently our possess
| sions which, whether few or many, are
| naturally far greater than theirs.
"Other peoples things mean naught 10
me-" said a brusque, heaVy-faced cook
in a fine household. "They are not
mine, and / never think how I'd like
'em, so 1 never want to keep 'em,"
she added, and her simple role of hon
esty held an ethical value not too fire.
quently found in some who are often
termed her betters.
But 10 return to the house mistresses,
who stralghtway began to hide their
treasurers after the Matthews robbery,
and others Of similar boldness had
startled the community, They put
things I'm the most irresponsible places
and suffered untold Inconvenience when
memory played tricks and refused to
divulge the spot Of concealment.
one lady missed the thsstAr the other