FEBRUARY 193 



lived) they all got up early. We are certainly not the 

 worst among the nations, but I do think that late rising 

 amounts almost to a national fault. These things are 

 greatly the result of climate ; but to insist on maids getting 

 up in the dark, when there is very little to do, and to give 

 the order that the kitchen fire is to be lit at 6.30, when 

 the family do not breakfast till nine or half-past, seems 

 to me almost tyrannical, though we have a perfect right 

 to expect that the water should be hot and the breakfast 

 ready at whatever time we choose to order it. For two 

 months in the winter I always postpone the breakfast 

 hour from eight to half -past, and I always use for health 

 reasons cold water all the year round ; but I never have 

 the slightest difficulty in getting breakfast punctually at 

 eight, though I feel quite sure of one thing, that if I did 

 not get up early no one else would. It seems a relief to 

 some people's consciences to insist on the early rising of 

 others when they lie in bed late themselves. Servants 

 are the first to remember that they can go to bed early 

 when very often their masters and mistresses cannot. I 

 think all of us shorten our living hours by taking more 

 sleep than is at all necessary. As an example of the 

 strength of some men, Mr. Max Miiller mentions that the 

 great Baron Humboldt complained that as he got old he 

 wanted more sleep ' four hours at least. When I was 

 young,' he continued, ' two hours of sleep was enough for 

 me.' Mr. Max Miiller ventured to express his doubts, 

 apologising for differing from him on any physiological 

 fact. ' It is quite a mistake,' said Humboldt, ' though it 

 is a very widely spread one, to think that we want seven 

 or eight hours' sleep. When I was your age I simply lay 

 down on the sofa, turned down my lamp, and after two 

 hours' sleep was as fresh as ever.' 



Of all servants that I have known in my life, the ones 

 I have admired and respected most are the children's 



o 



