=THE PERFECT TRAVELER=

One might say the perfect traveler is one whose digestion is perfect, whose disposition is cheerful, who can be enthusiastic under the most discouraging circumstances, to whom discomfort is of no moment, and who possesses at least a sense of the ridiculous, if not a real sense of humor!  The perfect traveler furthermore, is one who possesses the virtue of punctuality; one who has not forgotten something at the last minute, and whose bags are all packed and down at the hour for the start.  Those who fuss and flurry about being ready, or those whose disposition is easily upset or who are inclined to be gloomy, should not travel—­unless they go alone.  Nothing can spoil a journey more than some one who is easily put out of temper and who always wants to do something the others do not.  Whether traveling with your family or with comparative strangers, you must realize that your personal likes and dislikes have at least on occasion to be subordinated to the likes and dislikes of others; nor can you always be comfortable, or have good weather, or make perfect connections, or find everything to your personal satisfaction; and you only add to your own discomfort and chagrin, as well as to the discomfort of every one else, by refusing to be philosophical.  Those who are bad sailors should not go on yachting parties; they are always abjectly wretched, and are of no use to themselves or any one else.  Those who hate walking should not start out on a tramp that is much too far for them and expect others to turn back when they get tired.  They need not “start” to begin with, but having once started, they must see it through.

There is no greater test of a man’s (or a woman’s) “wearing” qualities than traveling with him.  He who is always keen and ready for anything, delighted with every amusing incident, willing to overlook shortcomings, and apparently oblivious of discomfort, is, needless to say, the one first included on the next trip.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

GROWTH OF GOOD TASTE IN AMERICA

Good taste or bad is revealed in everything we are, do, or have.  Our speech, manners, dress, and household goods—­and even our friends—­are evidences of the propriety of our taste, and all these have been the subject of this book.  Rules of etiquette are nothing more than sign-posts by which we are guided to the goal of good taste.

Whether we Americans are drifting toward or from finer perceptions, both mental and spiritual, is too profound a subject to be taken up except on a broader scope than that of the present volume.  Yet it is a commonplace remark that older people invariably feel that the younger generation is speeding swiftly on the road to perdition.  But whether the present younger generation is really any nearer to that frightful end than any previous one, is a question that we, of the present older generation, are scarcely qualified to answer.  To be sure,