20 Living on Next to 



course, and the talk of music, books, and art, 

 than that there should be ten courses, together 

 with inane twaddle. I once knew a family in 

 which there were many children, where the 

 cardinal rule at meals was that nothing must be 

 said about the food upon the table, about the 

 petty concerns of the house and garden, or of 

 the people in the neighborhood. So far as 

 possible the conversation was to be directed to 

 some book in hand at the time, or some matter 

 of public interest of the day. If the children 

 were too young to take part in such talk, they 

 were to say nothing. Of course there is a 

 ridiculous side to any such scheme, and reminis- 

 cences of Doctor Blimber, with his maddening 

 "The Romans, Mr. Feeder," will occur to 

 most people. Nevertheless, there are good 

 points about such a practice, even if it now 

 and then leads to absurdity. If we adults are 

 talking of woman suffrage, when Arthur, aged 

 six years, interrupts with the remark that his 

 goat swallowed a tennis-ball that morning, the 

 conversation may not be so consecutive as it 

 might be ; nevertheless, it is far better to have 

 woman suffrage up for debate than the quality 



