Connecticut western news., 1873-03-28
Henry Ward Beecher on Hospitality.

Most of us, having arrived at years of ing and dread visitors. Yet we are not therefore misanthropists. Rather, we love our kind, and our favorite read ing is doubtless biography, table-talk, and the personal columns i'll the news rapers. But visitors and visiting com monly imply temporary representation of old garments, and, of the ample wardrobe of these investitures which every man hath, none fit so comfortably and are so sorrowfully banished as old habits. If, therefore, Wednesdays s corned beef and cabbage must be sup pressed, and not fit for company; if Thursdays beef steak and onions, and Fridays humble firsh-ball must be translated into unfamiliar birds and beasts, which Bridget jlly cooks and queerly serves if the dear house-moth- CT must move on restless legs from dawn till dark lest some imperceptible pin should drop from the household machinery if all things must be little finer than their wont and their capacity, it is not strange that the ordinary householder shrinks from the perturba- tions, which, as host, he undergoes in his own house, or, as a guest, intro- duces to another.
 Pity 'tis, however, that we are not more social, because, in the long run, men and women are more interesting and D more valuable study than books, and no subtle discovery of science nor progress of invention has yet found ill the world anything better than human affection. Each of us is the poorer by every lofty friendship that he neglect, to take from opportunity. Women, es- pecially, whose cares are pettier and far more absorbing than mems, need the of fresh ideas, witty talk, and friendly propinquity. Yet it is chiefly they who hinder this pleasure, and in whose hands it rests to make visiting the most brilliant and enticing of occupations. First, however, the whole theory of hospitality needs revis- ion. It was very we'll for the Hebrew gentlemen to kill the fatted calf in honor of their guest. It involved little trouble and no expense, and if one had an ap- petite for warm veal nothing could be more agreeable to all concerned-ex- cept the calf. But we follow the pre- cedent by spending half our substance at the butchers stall for the festive joint and half the remaining moiety in cook ing and serving it, trembling meanwhile lest the stranger that is within our gates be not satisfied with our bounty. Than this painful feasting better to leave the fatted calf afeld and to dine on 8 crack CT and careless cheerfulness.
 The whole trouble is that the hostess arranges her household not as it shall best forward the business of life, but as-it shall make the most effective spec tacle. She orders affairs not as she prefers, but as she fancies that her guest expects. It is spacious mis- of the golden rule. After Apicius and Calba, it is really quite inn possible to be distinguished as private caterers. After Crassus and Lucullus, no table-service can be remarkable. After Paulina, making her morning calls in $200,000 worth of jewels, the richest toilet seems to fall little short of it's high possibilities. And after Heliogabalus, there is certainly very feeble incentive to the pursuit of dis in furniture. We might wise- ly, therefore, abandon the striving after these goods, strengthened in that re-
 
 only people who were pre-eminent in their possession sacrificed everything else to get them. After all, freedom and self-culture are the costliest objects ever offered to the acquisition of man, and if he takes them he must be con- tent to forego much else.
 We confess that VIC have more than once fancied that we saw the soul of good in that thing evil-the modern servant. We have never found fault with her instability. Master and mis- tress spend their days and nights in the effort to "better themselves" to get more money for the same work, or more society for the same servi- tude. Bridget and Dinah are of the same blood, as we remember on Sun days and forget through the week, and, afar off, they follow us. But this very fugacity and thriftlessness and want of are possibly the limit that heaven sets to our dishonest housekeep- ing. We would like to have it supposed that we were born to the purple and should not be in the least discomposed on being bidden to dine at Chatsworth, having the elegance, though not the vastness, of Chatsworth under our own roof. And in comes blundering candid Bridget, with wrecked ambition in the shape of an onaellet sou6ie, and unwit- tingly reveals to the visitor that we never had one before. It is our deep hope, as it is our conviction, that these ministers of truth and simplicity will never cease to plague us with the pictorial exhibition of our small sins against those divinities until every household in the land is willing to lead life no more showy than it can easily afford, and to attempt no difficult and unfamiliar pretenses to impress visitors. So shall we gain profit by losing of our prayers.
 The air is full of rumors of public and private corruption and disgraceful getting and keeping of gold. We must purify our legislation, it is said. We must winnow our civil service. We must insist on virtue in high places. But reform must begin far back-at the fresides. By example our boys and girls must learn that money is not the supreme good of life. They must grow up in homes so simply and finely order ed, that not furniture and not viands, but the quality of master and mistress, draws many noble guests thereto, con. tact with whom is the children's best education. "The ornament of n home is the friends who frequent it." And as we learn simplicity, we shall have love and leisure for the highest friend. ships. It is this home life, and only this, cheap, possible to all, the source
 of robust manhood and sincere culture
 that will keep the republic sweet. With out it, though we pile up our millions and double our territory, and open ou1
 gates to all nations, we shall bring up
 at last, whither we seem to be tending
 in general almshouse for souls.-
 Christian Union.
 RELIGIOUS Baptist Year Bool
 for 1873 gives the statistics of the Bap
 -l Il r. Y-.k k..