A Traveler from Altruria | Page 3

I broke off; though I was not
altogether sorry to arrive after the porter had disposed of the baggage. I
dreaded another display of active sympathy on the part of my strange
companion; I have often felt sorry myself for the porters of hotels, but I
have never thought of offering to help them handle the heavy trunks
that they manage.
The Altrurian was delighted with the hotel; and in fact it did look
extremely pretty, with its branching piazzas full of well-dressed people,
and its green lawns where the children were playing. I led the way to
the room which I had taken for him next my own; it was simply
furnished, but it was sweet with matting, fresh linen, and pure
whitewashed walls. I flung open the window-blinds and let him get a
glimpse of the mountains purpling under the sunset, the lake beneath,
and the deeply foliaged shores.
"Glorious! glorious!" he sighed.
"Yes," I modestly assented. "We think that's rather fine." He stood
tranced before the window, and I thought I had better say: "Well, now I
can't give you much time to get the dust of travel off; the dining-room
doors close at eight, and we must hurry down."
"I'll be with you in a moment," he said, pulling off his coat.
I waited impatiently at the foot of the stairs, avoiding the question I met
on the lips and in the eyes of my acquaintance. The fame of my friend's
behavior at the station must have spread through the whole place; and
everybody wished to know who he was. I answered simply he was a

traveler from Altruria; and in some cases I went further and explained
that the Altrurians were peculiar.
In much less time than it seemed my friend found me; and then I had a
little compensation for my suffering in his behalf. I could see that,
whatever people said of him, they felt the same mysterious liking at
sight of him that I had felt. He had made a little change in his dress, and
I perceived that the women thought him not only good-looking but
well-dressed. They followed him with their eyes as we went into the
dining-room, and I was rather proud of being with him, as if I somehow
shared the credit of his clothes and good looks. The Altrurian himself
seemed most struck with the head-waiter, who showed us to our places,
and while we were waiting for our supper I found a chance to explain
that he was a divinity student from one of the fresh-water colleges, and
was serving here during his summer vacation. 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. To my dismay I saw, rather than heard
at that distance, the Altrurian enter into a polite controversy with her,
and then, as if overcoming all her scruples by sheer strength of will,
possess himself of the tray and make off with it toward our table. The
poor child followed him, blushing to her hair; the head-waiter stood
looking helplessly on; the guests, who at that late hour were fortunately
few, were simply aghast at the scandal; the Altrurian alone seemed to
think his conduct the most natural thing in the world. He put the tray on
the side-table near us, and in spite of our waitress's protests insisted
upon arranging the little bird-bath dishes before our plates. Then at