OUR HELP 159 



be done by herself. She can usually cook 

 fairly well after the somewhat greasy fashion 

 prevalent in her class ; for she is more often 

 than not the relict of a railroad man, and 

 anyone who has been let behind the scenes 

 of that profession knows that the majority of 

 these workers put what they earn into the 

 mouths of self and family, or on the family 

 back. Also you must expect to have diamond 

 earrings dangled before your eyes once or 

 twice a week, and to be informed at each 

 proud display what they cost. As these 

 diamonds are generally quite ordinary, and 

 mounted in the worst possible taste, you will 

 not suffer acute pangs of envy. Allowed, 

 then, that she is a tolerable cook, her want 

 of neatness her complete ignorance of the 

 discrepancy existing between her ' I will 

 keep your house as I keep my own ' and ' I 

 will keep your house as a lady's should be 

 kept ' is rather harrowing ; in fact, she con- 

 descends to take your money on her own 

 conditions. She associates with you as your 

 equal or, better still, your superior though 

 you are fain to acknowledge that in many 

 respects she is greatly inferior to the English 



