OCR Text |
Show PRINCESS MARY'S GIFT BOOK A HOLIDAY IN BED Svnipntliy is what all the world is craving for, and sympathy is what the ordinary holiday-maker never gets. llow can we be expected to sympathise with you when we know you are 011' to l'crthshire to ‘She must simply see that you are "not yourself." \Vomen have an idea that unless men are "not themselves " they will not take to bed, and 2 ieoiisequeiice your wife is tenderly thoughtful of you. Every little while she will ask you it you are feeling any better now, and fish ? No; we say" we wish we were you. and lorget that your holiday is sure to be a hollow mockery; that your child will jam her linger in the railway carriage, and scream to the end of the journey; that you will lose your luggage: that the guard will notice your dog beneath the seat. and insist on its being paid for: that you will be caught in a Scotch mist on the top of a mountain. and he put on grncl for a fortnight; that. your wile will t'ret herself into a fever about the way 3 you can reply, with the old regard for truth, that you are "much about it." You may even (for your own pleasure) talk of getting up now, when she will earnestly urge you to stay in bed until you feel easier. You consent; indeed, you are ready to do anything to please her. _ . The ideal holiday in bed does not require the presence of a the servant. who has been lel't at home. is treating her cousins, the ministering angel in the room all day. inillunan, and the policeman: and that you will be had up for tres- passing. Yet. when you tell us you are oll' tomorrow, we have never alone, and point out to her that you cannot have her trifling With her health for your sake, and so she must go out for a walk. She‘ is the sympathy to say. " l'oor fellow. I hope you'll pull through some- how." If it is an exhibition you go to gaze at. we never picture you dragging your weary legs from one department to another, and wondering why your back aches. Should it he the seaside, we reluctant, but finally goes, protesting that you are the most unselfish of men, and only too good for her. This leaves a pleasant aroma You frequently prefer. to be talk heartlessly to you about the "briny." though we must know, it' we Would stop to think. that it' there is one holiday more miserable than all the others. it is that spent at the seaside. when you wander along the weary beach and fling pebbles at the sea. and wonder how long it will be till dinner-time. \Yere we to come down to see you. we should probably find you, not on the beach, but moving slowly through the village. lookingr in at the one milliner's window, or laboriously reading what the one grocer's labels say on the subject of pale ale, compressed beef. or vinegar. There was never an object that called aloud for sympathy more than you do, but you get not a jot of it. You should take the first train home and go to bed for three (lays. To enjoy your holiday in bed to the full, you should let it be \\ mm: vaguely understood that there is something amiss with you. Don't go into details. for they are not necessary; and. besides, you want to be dreamy more or less, and the dreamy state is not consistent with a definite ailment. The moment one takes to bed he gets sympathy. Ile maybe suffering from a tearing headache or a tooth that makes him cry out; but it' he goes about his business, or even flops in a chair, true sympathy is denied him. Let him take to bed with one of those illnesses of which he can say with accuracy that he is not quite certain what is the matter with him. and his wife, for instance, will want to bathe his brow. She must not be made too anxious. That would not only be cruel to her, but it would wake you from the dreamy state. And wonder how long it will be till dinner-time Mote" |