New-York tribune., 1910-12-17
BELOW STAIRS
Humors of an American House in
London.

Our HOUSE AND. THE PEOPLE IN IT
T. Elizabeth Robins Pennell Emo, pp
S7S. Houghton Miff1in Company.
Mrs. Pennell's experiences with ser
wants in her cuaint old London house
have been varied and more or less ex-
citing, and she recites them in q vein
of humor and of sympathetic tolerance.
Whether French or English, each re-
tainer has provided vivid human docu-
ment, a sad or comic portrait of type.
There is drama in all OF them, evoking
a rule, the most valuable qualities in
their employer. A genuine bit of pathos
is the sketch of Trimmer the decent old
fashioned English servant, a miracle OF
cheerful unselfshness to whom work is
Joy and to whom comes tragedy in it's
heaviest form. In clever contrast is the
picture brighter but with its under
current of tragedy, too, of Louise, the
smiling daughter of the Midi. A sun
beam in the kitchen region whose cook
ing Is as perfect as her smile is a condi-
ton which Mrs. Pennell describes with
gusto. and it could not be spoiled even
by the presence Of NJ. August, the
Provencale's attendant husband. over
whom hung ever an atmosphere of mys-
terry and possible crime.
There are painful elements in most Of
these sketches-"the drain upon your
emotions" says the author, "is part Of the
penalty you pay for having a human
being and not a machine to work for
YOU Even more painful than are these
stories Of workers is the graphic chap
ter on the beggars who have drifted to
the door of the Americans. The powers
Of romantic narrative, the ingenuity and
invention displayed by these callers
might set up a dozen novelists in busi-
less Entertaining, too, are the au-
thor's notes on the fellow-tenants-ln
house wherein Pepys once dwelt; and
there are interesting passages in her de-
scription of the old-world Quarter on
which her windows iook-windows from
which Etty used to gaze. From that
coign of vantage half the kitchens In
| the Quarter are visible:
The things 1 witness In them might sur
prise or horrify more than one woman VINO
house | have assisted al the reception OF
guests she never invited: L understand, II
she does not, why her gas and electric
light bills reach such fabulous fgUes l
! could tell her what happens when her
motor car disappears round the. corner
Tor seedy and down at heel as the quar-
ter may appear. the private motor is by
/ no means the exception among the natives
Only the other day, when the literary
family, who are as unsuspicious as they
are fond of speed, started In their motor
for the weekend. they could have got no
further than the suburbs before the cloth
was laid in their dining ROOM their best
china silver and glass brought out. flow
ers bottles and siphons in place. and their
cook at the mead of their table enter
tanning her friends to luncheon" The
party were lingering over the fruit, when
suddenly q motor horn was heard In the
street There was a look of horror on
all their faces. one short second of hesi-
tation, and then a wild leap from the
table, and. in a flash. flowers, bottles and
siphons, china. glass and silver We're
spirited away, the cloth whisked off, chairs
set against the wall. AS the dining room
door closed on the last guest, the cook
| looked out of the window, the horn sound
| ed again and the motor was round the
corner in the next street. for 1t was some
| body else's and the literary family d1u
rot return until Monday.