said Mr. George. "I don't think that we shall have any great
difficulty about that. But then it would be pleasanter to go in a little
larger party. Two people are apt to get tired of each other, when there is
nobody else that they can speak a single word to for a whole fortnight. I
don't think that I should get tired of you. What I am afraid of is, that
you would get tired of me."
There was a lurking smile on Mr. George's face as he said this.
"O, uncle George!" said Rollo, "that is only your politeness. But then if
you really think that we ought to have some more company, perhaps
the Parkmans are going to Holland, and we might go with them."
"I would not make a journey with the Parkmans," said Mr. George, "if
they would pay all my expenses, and give me five sovereigns a day."
"Why, uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo; "I thought you liked Mr.
Parkman very much."
"So I do," said Mr. George. "It is his wife that I would not go with."
"O, uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo again.
Rollo was very much surprised at hearing this declaration; and it was
very natural that he should be surprised, for Mrs. Parkman was a young
and beautiful lady, and she was very kindhearted and very amiable in
her disposition. Mr. Parkman, too, was very young. He had been one of
Mr. George's college classmates. He had been married only a short time
before he left America, and he was now making his bridal tour.
Mr. George thought that Mrs. Parkman was very beautiful and very
intelligent, but he considered her a very uncomfortable travelling
companion. I think he judged her somewhat too harshly. But this was
one of Mr. George's faults. He did not like the ladies very much, and
the faults which he observed in them, from time to time, he was prone
to condemn much too harshly.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER II.
A BAD TRAVELLING COMPANION.
The reason why Mr. George did not like his friend Mr. Parkman's
young wife was not because of any want of natural attractiveness in her
person, or of amiableness in her disposition,--for she was beautiful,
accomplished, and kindhearted. But for all this, from a want of
consideration not uncommon among young ladies who are not much
experienced in the world, she was a very uncomfortable travelling
companion.
It is the duty of a gentleman who has a lady under his charge, in
making a journey, to consult her wishes, and to conform to them so far
as it is possible, in determining where to go, and in making all the
general arrangements of the journey. But when these points are decided
upon, every thing in respect to the practical carrying into effect of the
plans thus formed should be left to the gentleman, as the executive
officer of the party; just as in respect to affairs relating to housekeeping,
or any thing else relating to a lady's department, the lady should be left
free to act according to her own judgment and taste in arranging details,
while in the general plans she conforms to the wishes of her husband.
For a lady, when travelling, to be continually making suggestions and
proposals about the baggage or the conveyances, and expressing
dissatisfaction, or wish for changes in this, that, or the other, is as much
a violation of propriety as it would be for the gentleman to go into the
kitchen, and there propose petty changes in respect to the mode of
cooking the dinner--or to stand by his wife at her work table, and wish
to have her thread changed from this place to that--or to have some
different stitch to be used in making a seam. A lady very naturally feels
disturbed if she finds that her husband does not have confidence
enough in her to trust her with such details.
"I will make or mend for you whatever you may desire," she might say,
"and I will get for your dinner any thing that you ask for; but in the way
of doing it you ought to leave every thing to my direction. It is better to
let me have my own way, even if your way is better than mine. For in
matters of direction there ought always to be only one head, even if it is
not a very good one."
And in the same manner a gentleman might say when travelling with a
lady,--
"I will arrange the journey to suit your wishes as far as is practicable,
and will go at such times and by such conveyances as you may desire. I
will also, at all the places where we stop, take you to visit such objects
of interest and curiosity as
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