Swell's, which is more than you know yourself. Mrs. Swell
explained the matter to a few friends over her lunch-table
recently, and the butler told your maid that same evening, who was
laughing at the story as she put on your slippers!
Before we blame them too much, however, let us remember that they
have it in their power to make great trouble if they choose. And
considering the little that is made in this way, we must conclude
that, on the whole, they are better than we give them credit for
being, and fill a trying situation with much good humor and
kindliness. The lady who is astonished that they take so little
interest in her, will perhaps feel differently if she reflects how
little trouble she has given herself to find out their anxieties
and griefs, their temptations and heart-burnings; their material
situation; whom they support with their slowly earned wages, what
claims they have on them from outside. If she will also reflect on
the number of days in a year when she is "not herself," when
headaches or disappointments ruffle her charming temper, she may
come to the conclusion that it is too much to expect all the
virtues for twenty dollars a month.
A little more human interest, my good friends, a little more
indulgence, and you will not risk finding yourself in the position
of the lady who wrote me that last summer she had been obliged to
keep open house for "'Cook' tourists!"
CHAPTER 22 - An English Invasion of the Riviera
WHEN sixty years ago Lord Brougham, EN ROUTE for Italy, was thrown
from his travelling berline and his leg was broken, near the
Italian hamlet of Cannes, the Riviera was as unknown to the polite
world as the centre of China.
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