To return to her of the tiara and the breakfast-shawl. One did wonder what illusion she laboured under when she fastened that diamond structure to the thin bandeaux of her faded hair, where it swayed insecurely. Did some one send the poor soul away from home and tell her she looked lovely, and as she trundled off in her brougham did fifty years slide temporarily from her old shoulders? After all, soft-soap has its virtues; it is just the thing for the aged!
What are illusions but soft-soap self-administered, and what would life be without illusions? Show me the heroic soul who can look into a mirror and who sees what she really sees! O self-administered soft-soap! what does she really see?
Upon my word, I have come to the conclusion that a certain measure of soft-soap is not only a social necessity, it is more, it is a social duty; only one would like to offer a plea, just a little plea, for a fair division of labour! It issohard always to say delightful things, especially if you don't mean them! It is being a thirsty Ganymede at the feast of the gods.
O, great humourist of soft-soap, you made two mistakes when you invented your wonderful lubricator of social intercourse; not only, like patent medicine, does the dose require to be constantly increased, but you forgot to insist on what is most vital—a periodic change of parts.
My plea is that the soft-soaped one should occasionally be obliged to step down from his pedestal and turn his own insincere admiration, his surface enthusiasm, and the countless and well-meant lies with which he helps to make the existence of the soft-soaped so pleasant, upon that unwearied and energetic prevaricator, whose mission it is to praise, no matter how untruthfully.
Yes, even "little tin gods on wheels" should be made to step down from high Olympus and, in turn, serve their thirsting and patient Ganymede.
With numerous illustrations by Albert Sterner, Howard Pyle, and George Wharton Edwards.
SOME PRESS OPINIONS
"Mrs. Lane has succeeded to admiration, and chiefly by reason of being so much interested in her theme herself that she makes no conscious effort to please. She just tells her tales with no more artifice than one might use in narrative by word of mouth, and she keeps the reader's interest as keenly alive as if he were really listening to an amusing story of what had once actually happened. Every one who seeks to be diverted will read 'Kitwyk' for its obvious qualities of entertainment."—Times.
"Dip where one will into her startling pages one is certain to find entertainment, and the charm is much assisted by the delightful illustrations."—Daily Telegraph.
"'Kitwyk' is destined to be in fiction what an old Dutch master painter is in painting—a work at once typical of kind, unique of entity. The design of this charming book is original. All the people are alive in the not wonderful but strangely engrossing story, which is so comical and pathetic, so quaint and 'racy of the soil,' so wide in sympathy, so narrow of stage. All the drawings are excellent."—World.
"Very charming. Admirers will say, not without reason, that 'Kitwyk' recalls 'Cranford.'"—Standard.
"A charming book; resting to read. It has style, and is written with a whimsical humour which gives it distinction."—Westminster Gazette.
"There is delicious humor, not only of incident, but of phrase and expression. We should be glad of a second series."—Literary World.
"'Kitwyk' is the daintiest morsel of idyllic fiction we have had since Mr. Barrie opened that wonderful window in 'Thrums.' Few books are so exquisitely wrought; so cunningly polished."—Mr. James Douglas in The Star.
"The Dutch kingdom is enchanting, and Mrs. John Lane's charming book will help to make the fact more widely known."—Gentlewoman.
"We have only faintly indicated what a vein of jest and humour Mrs. John Lane possesses."—The Echo.
"This is a most graceful and altogether charming Dutch version of Auld Licht Idylls. If such a village and such people, and such quaint causes of laughter and of tears do indeed exist, then Kitwyk were well worth visiting, but the next best thing is to read Mrs. John Lane's prettily bound and illustrated little volume."—Scotsman.
Translated from the German of Ossip Schubin
With numerous illustrations by T. COTTINGTON TAYLOR and DONALD MAXWELL