supply. I would also have a little window cut out of the
door, through which food could be pushed in to the sufferer without him
having to tell the domestic that it is a fine day and that he hopes her
bunion's better. This little room would be devoted to those inmates of
the house who got up on the wrong side of the bed because both sides
were "wrong sides" that morning. There he, or she, would stay until
the world seemed to be bright again. And they would come forth in
their new and serener state of mind, blessing the idea with all their
hearts. For if, as they have to do now, they had come downstairs in
the mood in which they woke up, the whole house would have known of it
to curse it, and most of its members would not be on polite speaking
terms for days afterwards. Of course, the idea could be recommended
also for those people whose temper is always in a state of uproar. The
only difficulty, however, would be, then--they might live in the
silence room all their lives and die there--beloved, because _unseen_.
But that is the only thing to do with an habitually disagreeable
person--_lock him up_, and, if you be wise, _take away the key of the
dungeon with you_!

_Polite Masks_

You never really know anybody--until you have either lived with them,
travelled with them, or drunk a glass of port with them quietly over
the fireside. In almost every other instance, what you become
acquainted with is one of a variety of _masks_! And everyone has a
fine assortment of these, haven't they? For the most part you don them
unconsciously--or rather, you have got so used to assuming them
suddenly that you have lost all consciousness of effort. But they are
_masks_, nevertheless--and a mask always hides the truth, doesn't it?
Not that I am one of those, however, who dislike camouflage because it
_is_ camouflage. In fact, most of the time I thank Heaven for it--my
own and other people's! The "assumed" is so often so much more
agreeable than the natural, and nine times out of ten all you require
of men and women is that they should at least _look_ pleasant. You've
got to get through this life day after day somehow, and time passes
ever so much quicker for everyone if the hypocrite be a smiling
hypocrite at all times. At every moment of the everyday--preserve me
from the _sour_-visaged saint.

After all, only love and friendship and the law demand the truth and
nothing but the truth. Among acquaintances, among