On that day we were first waited upon at table by
soft-footed, white-robed, moon-faced Orientals. I find the
Chinese very agreeable as waiters. They put on no superior
Littimer airs, yet are so utterly removed from all interest
in you and your affairs, beyond the business in hand, that,
with half a dozen about you, you have a delightful sense of
privacy, and should no more think of dismissing Chinese
servants for better after-dinner freedom in conversation,
than of sending away the tea-tray, lest its painted mandarins
should listen and gossip. There is "no speculation" in their
eyes. "The sleeping and the dead and the Chinese are but as
pictures."
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