rs our knocking says she
"will see." There is a scuffling of feet, a murmur of hushed voices, a
swift opening and closing of doors. We are shown into the drawing-room,
the maid, breathless from her search, one supposes, having discovered
that her mistress _is_ at home. We stand upon the hearthrug, clinging to
our hat and stick as to things friendly and sympathetic: the suggestion
forcing itself upon us is that of a visit to the dentist.

Our hostess enters wreathed in smiles. Is she really pleased to see us,
or is she saying to herself, "Drat the man! Why must he choose the very
morning I had intended to fix up the clean curtains?"

But she has to pretend to be delighted, and ask us to stay to lunch. It
would save us hours of anxiety could we look beyond her smiling face to
her tail peeping out saucily from a placket-hole. Is it wagging, or is
it standing out rigid at right angles from her skirt?

But I fear by this time we should have taught our tails polite behaviour.
We should have schooled them to wag enthusiastically the while we were
growling savagely to ourselves. Man put on insincerity to hide his mind
when he made himself a garment of fig-leaves to hide his body.

One sometimes wonders whether he has gained so very much. A small
acquaintance of mine is being brought up on strange principles. Whether
his parents are mad or not is a matter of opinion. Their ideas are
certainly peculiar. They encourage him rather than otherwise to tell the
truth on all occasions. I am watching the experiment with interest. If
you ask him what he thinks of you, he tells you. Some people don't ask
him a second time. They say:

"What a very rude little boy you are!"

"But you insisted upon it," he explains; "I told you I'd rather not say."

It does not comfort them in the least. Yet the result is, he is already
an influence. People who have braved the ordeal, and emerged
successfully, go about with swelled head.

And little Boys would always tell the Truth!

Politeness would seem to have been invented for the comfort of the
undeserving. We let fall our rain of compliments upon the unjust and the
just without distinction. Every hostess has provided us with the most
charming evening of our life. Every guest has conferred a like blessing
upon us by accepting our invitation. I remember a dear good lady in a
small south German town organizing for one winter's day a sleighing party
to the woods. A slei