Various

“ How much wiser and kinder would it be if friends and relatives played the part of cheerful peacemakers, instead of grave-faced watchers and doubters! How really sensible it would be to teach the children that they ought to be grateful to her who comes to console their father, and to take upon herself the dead mother’s duties. In a multitude of cases, this truth ought to be emphatically inculcated; for we suppose there are few women whose ideal of happiness is marrying a widower with children. ”

“ We wonder if young mothers, with their children still around them, speculate on the swiftly passing years which will change the scene! In a single decade, what alterations may there not be in the domestic circle, and how naturally may it come to pass that the daughter-in-law of to-day shall become the mother-in-law of the future. ”

“ People of position resorting to the seaside for a few weeks never expect the luxuries and elegances they enjoy at home; but as they generally pay liberally for the accommodation they receive, they do require ordinary comforts. It would be greatly to the interest of all parties if lodging-house keepers would bear this in mind. Not only should bedding be faultless in point of purity, but as men do exist of six feet high and upwards, provision should be made to receive a tall inmate who could sleep without doubling himself up like a carpenter’s rule. ”

“ Presently, a noise of wheels was faintly audible, which momentarily grew louder and more distinct. A long dark cloak, the collar of which effectually muffled the lower part of his face, was hastily thrown over Karavich’s shoulders, while a wide-brimmed soft felt hat was placed on his head. This done, he was conducted by two of the men from the room, and I heard all three descend the stairs. By this time, the vehicle, whatever it might be, the noise of which we had heard, had drawn up opposite the house. ”

“ In the cottager, the character stands out in the coarsest relief; in the cottager, you get to ‘bed-rock,’ as the Americans say; there’s the foundation. Character runs upwards, not downwards. It is not the nature of the aristocrat that permeates the cottager, but the nature of the cottager that permeates the aristocrat. The best of us are polished cottagers. Scratch deep enough, and you come to that; so that to know a people, go to the cottage, and not to the mansion. The labouring man cannot quickly alter his ways. ”

“ If I lived in a cottage of three rooms, and earned my bread by dint of arm and hand under the sun of summer and the frost of winter; if I lived on hard fare, and, most powerful of all, if I had no hope for the future, no improvement to look forward to, I should feel just the same. ”

“ Legros took me by the hand and guided me the way I was to go. Some one—Jean, I take it to have been—stood by the outer door, and opened it silently as we drew near; and so, without a word, we three passed out into the street. The fog had thinned somewhat, but not to any great extent. The light of a lamp on the opposite side of the street showed like a faint blurred point of flame seen from afar. A vehicle, which by that dim light had all the appearance of an ordinary London four-wheeled cab, with a man seated on the box, was drawn up close to the kerb. ”

“ Sometimes the lodging-house keeper is a decayed gentlewoman, but more generally she belongs to a class socially inferior to that of her tenants. In either case, a little kindly consideration for the feelings and interests of the householder will often be amply requited. The decayed gentlewoman will keenly appreciate a manner of speaking and bargaining which seems to recognise her true position; and the ordinary lodging-house keeper is quick to distinguish ‘real gentlefolks’ from ‘stuck-up people,’ by signs which the latter rarely comprehend. ”

“ There is another unpopular personage for whom we desire to say a good word; not that, as a rule, she is immaculate, or even as nearly so as we should like to see her—we mean the Lodging-house Keeper. She, too, has long been a favourite theme of the caricaturist, and no doubt her vocation leads up to many humorous incidents. What a life it is, if we think of it seriously for a moment! Homely but shrewd women who let lodgings often acquire a surprising knowledge of character ”

“ That was natural, and we were prepared for it; but no sooner had we got to the latitude of the Cape itself, than the wind had shifted, and we had it day after day, night after night, a hard gale right in our teeth. Bitter cold it was too, with tearing storms of snow and hail—heavy thundering seas sweeping us fore and aft, bursting in upon our weather-bow, and covering us with spray, that froze ere it fell upon our decks. Up aloft, everything frozen hard—running rigging as stiff and unmanageable as a steel hawser; blocks jammed with ice and snow ”

“ To be lowly of spirit before clay clad in broadcloth—a species of idolatry—to beat down and destroy those inward feelings of independence natural to all. Anything more opposed to that onward movement in which the hopes of the human race are bound up, it would be impossible to conceive. ”

“ In proving a will, the executor may now either employ a solicitor to prepare the affidavits and take all trouble off his hands, as mentioned above, or he may apply personally at the registry for probate. Facilities for so doing are provided by law, and the grant is obtained at a lower charge than would have to be paid if the services of a professional man were engaged. The modus operandi is as follows: The executor himself lodges the will in the probate registry, and furnishes to the officers there the particulars already enumerated as to the testator, himself, and the property. ”

“ We are afraid, however, that it is mainly when she is a widow and poor, that the mother-in-law becomes the butt of inconsiderate satirists, who fail to see the pathetic side of her position. Yet, to the honour of human nature, it may be said that there are multitudes of households in which the wife or husband’s mother, wholly dependent on her children, is treated with the respect and affection proper to the circumstances, and without{295} any associations that can recall the paltry witticisms of the comic writers. ”

“ We fear there are quite as many people who, convalescent after infectious diseases, take apartments in the country or at the seaside without apprising the householders of their condition; as there are lodging-house keepers who receive fresh tenants{296} after having housed fever patients without having taken due precautions against the propagation of disease. In short, lodgers and tenants belong to the same human nature that is corrupted by evil influences, and falls but too often, each individual under his own special temptations. ”

“ If the deceased has left a widow, she is the person entitled to administer; if no widow, then the children; and if no children, then the relative nearest in blood. The widow or relative applying for administration attends at the probate registry in the same way and furnishes the same particulars as an executor who applies for probate of a will, with this addition, that the applicant for administration must enter into bond, and provide two persons of full age, who are willing to become his or her sureties for the faithful distribution of the property. ”

“ It is as great a mistake to suppose that all tenants are true and just in their dealings, as that all landladies are grasping and untrustworthy. Imagine a small furnished house being let to a middle-aged couple for three years at a low rent, mainly because there were no children to add to the wear and tear of furniture. ”

“ Country girls are not all so shrewd as Louisa; we heard of two—this was some time since—who, being in service in London, paid ten shillings each to Madame Rachel for a bath to be made beautiful for ever. Half a sovereign out of their few coins! On the other hand, town servants are well dressed and have plenty of finery, but seldom have any reserve of good clothing, such as Louisa possessed. All who know the country, regret the change that has been gradually coming over the servants and the class from which they are supplied. ”

“ But, in reality, human happiness depends far more on harmonious social relations than on changes of dynasties or the aggrandisement of empires; and a philosophical consideration of the weaknesses of human nature in connection with home-life may be as profitable to us as poring over a description of those striking events which apparently led to the rise and fall of nations. ”

“ To me, it seems the most curious thing possible that well-to-do people should expect the poor to be delighted with their condition. I hope they never will be—an evil day that—if it ever came—for the Anglo-Saxon race. ”

“ The mother of grown-up sons and daughters is not generally the vulgar, ill-favoured shrew that caricaturists love to paint her; on the contrary, she is often a woman in the prime of life, very probably an influence in society, and with the wisdom that ought to come with experience of the world. She has not forgotten her own youth, and she sympathises with the young more than they quite believe. ”

“ The courts of Scotland, as a rule, decline to interfere with the administration of the estates of deceased foreigners, among whom Englishmen are included. It is a necessary condition to a Scotch court confirming an executor or appointing one that the domicile of the deceased shall have been in Scotland. Some of the English courts are guided by much more expansive ideas of their duty, and will take charge of the estate of any man, if it be large enough to promise remuneration to Chancery and Probate practitioners. ”

“ At the present time, if a man dies without a will leaving personal property not exceeding a hundred pounds, his widow or children can apply to the probate registry of the district—or if residing more than three miles from such a registry, to the registrar of the County Court of the district—for letters of administration; and the grant will cost only from five to thirteen shillings, according to the value of the property. The children of a widow are entitled to the same privilege. ”

“ But with all their shortcomings, we do not believe that, as a class, lodging-house keepers deserve the hard things which comic writers, for the sake of a joke, have said of them. Many a lodging-house keeper has a pathetic past, and a present that is a severe struggle for existence; and sometimes their worth is so appreciated that they make influential friends of their tenants. It is pleasant to hear a landlady say that she has little need to advertise ”

“ Whether it be the daughter’s husband or the son’s wife that has to be considered, so long as the choice be tolerably prudent, she is sure to rejoice at the prospect of happiness, and be grateful that the perils of unwise likings are over. ”

“ But events proved that there were little grandchildren who paid lengthened visits, on which occasions a perambulator was ruthlessly wheeled about the new dining-room carpet, and similar reckless destruction of property went on in many other ways. This is a true story, and we do not much wonder that the landlady lost temper, and not being able to turn out her tenants, tried to recoup herself by all legitimate methods—especially as she was wholly dependent on her house for the means of existence.
It ought to be remembered that people do not let lodgings for pleasure ”

“ Let us picture to ourselves a middle-class household, with perhaps four or five children of tender age, suddenly deprived of a mother’s care. Happy is it in one respect for the father, that his business avocations are imperative, and so in some measure distract him from his grief ”

“ In a few days afterwards, the probate of the will is issued to the executor, who can then proceed to deal with the property.
When a deceased person has made no will, but has left money, furniture, shares, or other property not being land or houses, the law steps in, and in effect makes a will for him, by dividing such property amongst his nearest kindred in certain proportions, which are pretty generally known. The instrument authorising a particular person to make the division is called Letters of Administration. ”

“ It is possible that the tenant sometimes forgets his duties as well as the landlady hers. It is as grasping to overreach on one side as on the other. Not long ago an inquiry for lodgings was made in a popular district—they were to be perfect in a sanitary point of view, and with householders where valuable property would be safe—but because the would-be tenant would often be away, the fair applicant hoped to obtain them for an ‘infinitesimal’ rent. ”

“ We, of course, in the midshipmen’s berth, careless and light-hearted from our extreme youth, laughed at the solemn tones of the old quartermasters, who employed their hours of midnight watch on deck in narrating to us similar instances of vessels which had been thus doomed to struggle with the storm until some unknown criminal had either confessed his crime, or had voluntarily paid the penalty of it. ”

“ Lodging-house pillows should be more ample, and blankets more numerous than they generally are; easy-chairs should deserve their name; footstools should be discoverable; and windows and blinds should be easily manageable. The lodging-house cooking is also often capable of improvement, though, if people are content with what is called ‘good plain cooking,’ they frequently have little reason to complain; especially is this the case when the lodging-house keepers are retired servants who have lived in good families. ”