The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1906-02-24

of servants and murders. One naturally leads to the
other
And, at the start, want to say that totally dis
approve of servants subject of conversation The
trials of housekeepers should be taboOed topic And
l will say the same of murder trials.
For myself, make it point never to read about
murders. l can get all l want from the headlines.
TO be sure there exceptions to every rule there
Robin Graves who murdered his great-grand-
mother on dare from his fellow-medical students.
| didn't read anything about it, but heard people
discussing it, and it had elements of interest in it.
And I always thought that ProbynClew far
from dull. You may remember that Probyn sent
Cew poisoned caramel on the very day that Cew
sent PrObyn poisoned peppermint, and tn, papers
were full OF it. L gathered enough to enable me to
hold my end up when l encountered person with
bad enough taste to discuss the subject. 1t de-
plorable the way people harped on that case
Then take the affair of the landlady who muir
dered all her boarders because they resented raise
in the price of board. What mine of wealth that
was for the reporters My paper had six columns
day for twenty days, and just had to read that
because there nothing else, but politics. in the
paper; but felt that it was subject for person
of any refinement. Yet knew man who makes
quite prtense of being up in the English classics,
and he knew every point in the trial l could not
trip him up on single bit of evidence. That ex-
perience just about destroyed my faith in humanity
My brother said that talked of nothing else but
that trial, and he was quite right. completely
absorbed in trying to find some person who knew
nothing of it. And at last did find an old lady
who never reads the papers, She had not even heard
about it. She wanted to discuss of Fishes books
evolution, but l said, "See here, Mrs. Delaney,
you're a rara avis You're the first person I've met
who has not heard about this unique series of
ders, and Pm just going to tell you the whole story
so that you may see for yourself what it is that fills
peoples minds these degenerate days" And so told
her the whole story, and she listened breathess this
cultivated was positively as interested if
she had been policeman, off Tor on) duty, and dis
cussing shop with brother officer. Oh, was sick
ened
After while she wanted to shift off to evolution
that she wouldn't dream of the horrible murders,
but looked at my watch and saw that had a train
to catch, and again Fiske sidetracked. Fiske
with his ucidty and logic and sweet reasonabeness,
was sidetracked for a horrible murder.
just as was coming away l asked my hostess,
casually, if she remembered the Bond Street MURDER
and she did remember that, for her father lived
the very same block at the time it was committed
l actually missed my train because l sat down to
hear her talk about it. 1t like bit out of Aims
worth. was not born when it happened, and she
was but girl but her father had the bad habit of
discussing such things in the presence of his children
and it had made such impression upon her infant
mind that here she retailing it to me. As bit
of local history contemporaneous with the days of
Irving and Cooper, it had certain value; and that
is what appealed to me.
But to return to servants. There is absolutely
no excuse for talking about the Brdgets and Chris
tinas and Maries and Dnahs that come and CO.
Mind you, am not narrow-minded; there are cir
cumstances that alter cases. Ii there is servant
who excites your interest in humanity, it is allow
able to talk about her. Now we had maid for
couple of days last week who had evidently seen bet
ter days and many of them. The way she broke
crockery showed that she did not do it with malice
prepense yet out of sheer carelessness ord
nary maid would have done. She had evidently been
used to being waited upon and had no manual dex-
terity whatever. In fact she told me that she had
never lived out before. Her was Mamie Bran
ngan
We had one girl who refused to 60 when her day
up. She was absolutely worthless as cook, but
she liked her room, and she wanted to board with
My mother wanted me to eject her forcbly, but am
not bouncer-and she Anyway, felt 1t was
sort of compliment to house that she wanted
to stay and so we allowed her to keep the rOom She
paid board and we handed her money over as wages
to her successors
Servants queer any way you look at them;
but this everlasting talking about them when we are
surrounded by art and literature and the good deeds
of philanthrOpists, makes me wonder what we are
coming to. 1 think that almost as bad as
women in this matter A man is just as likely to be