oilets. But still there seems to be something
lacking, something wanting. They are too small, these towns; you so
soon know everyone by sight, and grow tired both of them and their
costumes. There is a good deal of stir and life about all the same.
There are bands, niggers, clairvoyantes, fire-eaters; plenty indeed
for you to see and hear when you are weary of strutting up and down
and nodding to your friends. And yet, in spite of all, you grow tired
of "London by the sea," after a few weeks, even in that dead season of
the year--November.

Have you ever visited one of these places in the midst of a tennis
week, when the grand tournaments take place? Lawn tennis is a
delightful recreation for a time, provided you have a good partner and
good antagonists, and you are playing under a moderately warm sun; but
when you hear, see, and play nothing else for a week, when the
conversation is "tennis," when no one appears without a racquet in his
hand, when all you have to listen to are criticisms on the courts and
balls, grumblings against the handicapping, imprecations on
"bisques"--well, you begin to hate the very name, and wish you could
injure the man who invented it. You grow tired of watching the same
thing day after day, the men who spend their lives in tossing balls
across to each other, the sea of faces; turning backwards and forwards
at each stroke with the regulation of a pendulum.

Yes, it takes a long time to decide on a watering place, and when at
last you do make up your mind you have to change it again very soon
because you find all your "sisters, cousins, and aunts" have chosen
the same resort; and really you have quite enough of your relations in
town without their following you wherever you go. You require a little
variety when you go away. An old lady I used to know always kept it a
profound secret where she intended spending her summer holiday,
"otherwise, my dear," she said, "I should have the whole family at my
heels!" A most disagreeable old lady she was; and I know for a fact
that her relatives always avoided her when possible (she was not
blessed with very great possessions!) so that her caution was quite
unnecessary. Oh, vanity of vanities, how little we know of the world's
true opinion of us!

When you have fixed on your locality, there is even a greater
difficulty to go through. You have to choose your residence; and this
takes up even more thought and time.

There are the lodging-houses, monot