The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories By English Authors: London, by Various

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Title: Stories By English Authors: London

Author: Various

Release Date: March 25, 2006 [EBook #2135]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES BY ENGLISH AUTHORS: LONDON ***

Produced by Dagny and John Bickers

STORIES BY ENGLISH AUTHORS

LONDON

CONTENTS:

THE INCONSIDERATE WAITER, J. M. Barrie
THE BLACK POODLE, F. Anstey
THAT BRUTE SIMMONS, Arthur Morrison
A ROSE OF THE GHETTO, I. Zangwill
AN IDYL OF LONDON, Beatrice Harraden
THE OMNIBUS, "Q" [Quiller-Couch]
THE HIRED BABY, Marie Correlli

THE INCONSIDERATE WAITER, By J. M. BARRIE

Frequently I have to ask myself in the street for the name of the man I
bowed to just now, and then, before I can answer, the wind of the first
corner blows him from my memory. I have a theory, however, that those
puzzling faces, which pass before I can see who cut the coat, all belong
to club waiters.

Until William forced his affairs upon me that was all I did know of
the private life of waiters, though I have been in the club for twenty
years. I was even unaware whether they slept downstairs or had their own
homes; nor had I the interest to inquire of other members, nor they the
knowledge to inform me. I hold that this sort of people should be fed
and clothed and given airing and wives and children, and I subscribe
yearly, I believe for these purposes; but to come into closer relation
with waiters is bad form; they are club fittings, and William should
have kept his distress to himself, or taken it away and patched it up
like a rent in one of the chairs. His inconsiderateness has been a pair
of spectacles to me for months.

It is not correct taste to know the name of a club waiter, so I must
apologise for knowing William's, and still more for not forgetting it.
If, again, to speak of a waiter is bad form, to speak bitterly is the
comic degree of it. But William has disappointed me sorely. There were
years when I would defer dining several minutes that he might wait
on me. H