Butler, Samuel, 1835-1902 -- Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.
But though papa and mamma are unconscious of the reflex action which has
been going on within their organisation, the kitchen-maid and the cells
in her immediate vicinity (that is to say her fellow-servants) will know
all about it. Perhaps the neighbours will think that nobody in the house
knows, and that because the master and mistress show no sign of
disturbance therefore there is no consciousness. They forget that the
scullery-maid becomes more and more conscious of the fits if they grow
upon her, as they probably will, and that Croesus and his lady do show
more signs of consciousness, if they are watched closely, than can be
detected on first inspection. There is not the same violent perturbation
that there was on the previous occasions, but the tone of the palace is
lowered. A dinner party has to be put off; the cooking is more
homogeneous and uncertain, it is less highly differentiated than when the
scullery-maid was well; and there is a grumble when the doctor has to be
paid and also when the smashed crockery has to be replaced.
If Croesus discharges his kitchen-maid and gets another, it is as though
he cut out a small piece of his finger and replaced it in due course by
growth. But even the slightest cut may lead to blood-poisoning, and so
even the dismissal of a kitchen-maid may be big with the fate of empires.
Thus the cook, a valued servant, may take the kitchen-maid’s part and go
too. The next cook may spoil the dinner and upset Croesus’s temper, and
from this all manner of consequences may be evolved, even to the
dethronement and death of the king himself. Nevertheless as a general
rule an injury to such a low part of a great monarch’s organism as a
kitchen-maid has no important results. It is only when we are attacked
in such vital organs as the solicitor or the banker that we need be
uneasy. A wound in the solicitor is a very serious thing, and many a man
has died from failure of his bank’s action.
It is certain, as we have seen, that when the kitchen-maid lights the
fire it is really Croesus who is lighting it, but it is less obvious that
when Croesus goes to a ball the scullery-maid goes also. Still this
should be held in the same way as it should be also held that she eats
vicariously when Croesus dines. For he must return the balls and the
dinner parties and this comes out in his requiring to keep a large
establishment whereby the scullery-maid retains her place as part of his
organism and is nourished and amused also.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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