The weak point about Sir Edward's idea as a financial expedient is that so
few of our vanities would survive the attention of the tax-collector.
Personally, I should have the name-plate off my gate at once. Indeed, I'm
not sure I'll not have it off as it is. It was there when I came, and I
have always been a little ashamed of its foppery, and have long used only
the number. Now the name seems rather more absurd than ever. Its
pretentiousness is out of tune with these times. I think many of us are
getting ashamed of our little vanities without the help of the
tax-collector.




ON THOUGHTS AT FIFTY


Stevenson, it will be remembered, once assigned his birthday to a little
girl--or was it a boy?--of his acquaintance. The child was fond of
birthdays, while he had reached a time of life when they had ceased to have
any interest for him. Most of us, if we live long enough, experience that
indifference. The birthday emotion vanishes with the toys that awaken it. I
remember when life was a journey from one birthday to another, the tedium
of which was only relieved by such agreeable incidents as Christmas,
Easter, and the school holidays. But for many years I have stumbled up
against my birthday, as it were, with a shock of surprise, have given it a
nod of recognition as one might greet an ancient acquaintance with whom one
has lost sympathy, and have passed on without a further thought about the
occasion.

But to-day it is different. One cannot pass over one's fiftieth birthday