This seemed to interest my friend
so much that I went on to tell him that many of the waitresses, whom he
saw standing there subject to the order of the guests, were country
school-mistresses in the winter.
"Ah, that is as it should be," he said; "that is the kind of thing I
expected to meet with in America."
"Yes," I responded, in my flattered national vanity, "if America means
anything at all it means the honor of work and the recognition of personal
worth everywhere. I hope you are going to make a long stay with us. We
like to have travelers visit us who can interpret the spirit of our
institutions as well as read their letter. As a rule Europeans never quite
get our point of view. Now a great many of these waitresses are ladies, in
the true sense of the word--selfrespectful, intelligent, refined, and fit
to grace--"
I was interrupted by the noise my friend made in suddenly pushing back his
chair and getting to his feet. "What's the matter?" I asked. "You're not
ill, I hope?"
But he did not hear me. He had run half down the dining-hall toward the
slender young girl who was bringing us our supper. I had ordered rather
generously, for my friend had owned to a good appetite, and I was hungry
myself with waiting for him, so that the tray the girl carried was piled
up with heavy dishes.
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