The Carrollton sun. (City of Carrollton, Parish of Jefferson, La.) 185?-1???, 1860-06-30
'The Freedom Of she House.

PleaSanC company, DuC very 1eWpeople
know how to make their company feel
themselves at home. A great deal is
said on the subject of ospitality, and
great exertions are frequently made to
prove ones richness in this regard.
But, as general thing, the more extra
effort and expense make, especially
the more form and, gentility you get
up for the OCCASION. the more i'll at
ease and unnatural in manner you rem
| der your guests.
True hospitality, we. opine, consists
in the warm and Hearty welcome of
one's friands, far more than in all the
fuss and show which is madesfor their
entertainment. Feed them well of
course, if you have anything to eat
yourselves; but tbs to be pres uned that
your own daily fare is apon the things
that are pleasant to- the taste dnd good
for food, also that your board isscleanly
and well ordered, even when M1a are
alone; and if these presump ton Re
correct, what is the use of an extra
display.
Any one who has mingled much in
! society, who has tasted the curious
| economy of households, knows very
well that he always experiences the
truest comfort and pleasure when visit
ing those families which allow him to
enter as one of themselves, and to par
take of s. the freedom of the house,
with their own members.
What limbo of vanity" lis that
house in which one, when upon II visit,
must be always upon his best behavior,
where he must be continually enter
tanning or entertained; where he has
no feeling of freedom in moving about,
but must continue i'll the parlors, though
he shiver with cold, when there is q
genial fire IN the basement or nursery;
where he must sit bolt upright when
he longs to lounge, and where he feels
constrained to say '.cannot'' and s.will
not' when he wants to say ''can't"
and "wCnt t." not to mention feeling
expected to interlard his conversation
with what Il certain learned young
lady called :. technical phrases" and
D smattering of French or Italian,
when he would rather confine himself
fto simple yernacular; where he1nust
mcommode, and annoy himself by ridic-
uloustable ferms, which are of no
possible benefit to anybody, in which,
as .a3sensiblcF elderly woman once re-
marked, ''there hain't no moral princi-
pie whatever"
The very heart and soul Of comfort is
dry as n mummy in such hous ehod as
this, and truly it seems that those persons
whose desire and aim it is to form such an
one, can have no warmth or deptts of heart
or intellect. They are like tinsel orna-
ments-otten bright and snowy, but hol-
low as Il bubble.
On the other hand, what a region Of de-
lights is the house where the visitor is
under no otheF restraint than that imposed
by true kindness aud courtesy. w mere
Chesterfield is not despised but where he
does not take the place of the Bible; where
he is studied and practiced according to
common sense and comfort. In such a
house one can, in measure, feel Sat
home,' and as he is aware that he need
not tEy to be extraordinary polished or
agreeable, he will very likely be able to
act up to the full measure Of social excel
lence which nature bestowed upon him.
Let none make a mistake in thinking
that the courtesies, large or small, of life
are unimpoitant. This is not true ; po-
lteness is just as much a Scripture COM
mand as is honesty; but forms of polite
ness in which are no soul, into which no
soul can possibly be infused--these are