The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1858-10-21

or if not busy, each accepting tie other
nth the freedom of true friendship.
In cities and thickly populated neigh
bo.hoods this calling becomes reaI op-
preston, and many people. unable to
keep up with its requirements, are drop
ped out of society and are scarce known
as living, breathing members Of the crcat
body. TO those who cannot reiin0uish
the pleasure Of the social circle, who fud
no friend they want to lose, aud whose
mode Of life increases the number daily,
It soon becomes a serious affair, and con
sumeg SO much time rs to leave them lit
tie for anything else. II have 50 much
company" is the exclamation of nearly
every agreeable well to Do wife and house
keeper in the country.
81 vas just ready to set about house
cleaning Or washing bed clothes, o. had
everything prepared to can my fruit,
wha1 who should come but neighbor
Smith and his vile and two girls. was
very glai to see them. Mrs Smith is SO
Agreeable, and 3Ir. Smith IS perfect en-
cyclopedia. But then coming i0 at such
a time, just spoiled the whole visit"
Now IS there no. some way to avoid all
this, or most oft? Say each la1y agrees
upon reception d9y, once a week or
once in two weeks, rs she ca3 a1ord, and
lets it be known that upon that day she
will receive her friends, not to feast them
with good dinners and exquisite teas. but
to pour out upon them the thoughts aud
feelings she had been gathering up as
she walked with steady steps, through
tie intervening days of duty il the house
wifes department. and receive from their
experiences during the same interval.
1t is higl time that our social relations
should be based on something less ami
nal tlan eating and drinking. Many a
social evening would thus be spent by
IcongcDiai minds with both pleasure and
profit, enlivenjng and beautifying life, il
persons could be released from the drudg-
cry Of cooking, table-settng, dressing,
and the irksomeness Of waiting on large
company.
ooh but" you ezclaim, at is not al
ways convenient to receive company just
such day, or TO go abroad just such q
day"
It is not always convenient to have
Sunday come, and yet who you'd do with
ont it, even ifthere was no duty attached
to it. It is the central point of the week,
the time when most well regulated fami-
lies square up The household arrange
monts, put new polish on the spoons,
let in new light, open the windows, clear
OF. the old cupboards, dispose of all
mould, dust and cobwebs, and wake Sab
bath morning clean and new, with bread
enough cooked, and 81 the wheels fresh
oiled and cleaned, so that they viii rrn
smooth and quiet through al the day,
and the body, released from It's tCilings
and moiIings, gives strength to the up
ward soaring pinions of the truly relig-
ious spirit, those that seek God from the
innermost Of their being, as the source Of
';ght and strength, to enter into ard
dwell with him and le with them.
So wculd it be with these set times
Tor social intercourse. They wouId orig
mate hope and energy, induce order ana
throw kind Of halo ovec the various 2r.
raugements Of the week, make the heart
beat lighter, call the mind awav from the
mere detail Of business, and more than
all make us think, compel us to arrange
Something TO s2y, to make ourselves IN
teresting to those that come, and those
we 90 to meet. And the strife in a NEIGH
b0rhood would soon come to be, not wlO
can get up the most luxuriant and exten-
siye supper, but who makes all guests
feel the most happy, and sends theu away
with the most new ideas to cogitate upon
in the weeks to come. Dis5imilar minds
would be brought together, and perhaps
to the astonishment Of all parties they
would find there was not after all so wide
gulf between them, and that idle Eos-
sip had gwen poor pictures ct botk icac-
tions, quite unjust to the originals. In
this social communion, these common re-
ceptions, by aIl means let the young and
ole visit tcgcther. 1t is fact past dis
pute that young people 90 yit&lize and
keep warm and fresh the life currents Of
the old. while the old harmonize and cool
down the over-heated emotions and i'm
pulses OF the young.
The manners OF all would b. improved.
The jolly man brought in contact with
the sober, the nervous and excitabIe with
the phlegmatie; the man or woman who
has the blues with their enthusiastic
neighbors, who see sunbeams and rain
bows all the year round, and are quite
sure that, as the sun always shines, there
is no need Of being in hurry to make
nay.
But, above all other advantages, would
We place that arising from the association
of men and women In common convcrsa-
t;on Nouy 1-icitiDoa and oallinpQ are