CHAPTER XL VIII 



MAIDS AND MALLARDS 



WE have so rarely entered our house with 

 the reader that he knows little of its domestic 

 machinery. So much depends upon this machin- 

 ery that one must always take it into considera- 

 tion when reckoning the pleasures and even the 

 comforts of life anywhere, and this is especially 

 true in the country. We have such a lot of 

 people about that our servants cannot sing the 

 song of lonesomeness that makes dolor for most 

 suburbanites. They are " churched " as often as 

 they wish, and we pay city wages ; but still it is 

 not all clear sailing in this quarter of Polly's 

 realm. I fancy that we get on better than some 

 of our neighbors ; but we do not brag, and I 

 usually feel that I am smoking my pipe in a 

 powder magazine. There is something essentially 

 wrong in the working-girl world, and I am glad 

 that I was not born to set it right. We cannot 

 down the spirit of unrest and improvidence that 

 holds possession of cooks and waitresses, and we 

 needs must suffer it with such patience as we 

 can. 



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