Essays on Life 



deaf and dumb waiter ; he had been born so, 

 and could neither write nor read. What 

 had he to do with words or words with him ? 

 Are we to say, then, that this most active, 

 amiable and intelligent fellow could neither 

 think nor reason? One day I had had my 

 dinner and had left the hotel. A friend came 

 in, and the waiter saw him look for me in 

 the place I generally occupied. He instantly 

 came up to my friend, and moved his two 

 forefingers in a way that suggested two 

 people going about together, this meant 

 " your friend " ; he then moved his forefingers 

 horizontally across his eyes, this meant, " who 

 wears divided spectacles " ; he made two 

 fierce marks over the sockets of his eyes, this 

 meant, " with the heavy eyebrows " ; he pulled 

 his chin, and then touched his white shirt, 

 to say that my beard was white. Having 

 thus identified me as a friend of the person 

 he was speaking to, and as having a white 

 beard, heavy eyebrows, and wearing divided 

 spectacles, he made a munching movement 

 with his jaws to say that I had had my dinner ; 

 and finally, by making two fingers imitate 



188 



