Richland beacon., 1873-06-21
Host and Guest.


We Americans are by no means such a
visiting people a. our cousins over the
water. In those great f'udal houses of
England. each one Oi which is Il stack of
villages in itself, il i >uppo>aOlr that the
dwrllrrS might lust fail short of death by
loneliness without rhci circle of guests,
while i'm our little ious, We more frequent
IL fall short of death by the guests. And
whether it j. the fault of the house or the
fault Of the guest is an open question
among us still.
Ii is possible, however, that the diili-
Guilty may be quite equally distributed,
for there are three things that maAe hos
pitality "A burdcn-a little house, churl-
iSh host. an exacting guest. And there
are unbearabr varieties of all these.
There is the guest who comes days after
the appointed time; the CUES, who en-
croachtS on the time of the next guest;
the wrctchcd guest who dareS 10 tall i'll;
the guest who demands all there Is and
NOR. too. There j. the host who well
comes the coming. but forgets To speed
the parting gue-t; the host who VeXeS
the patience of his visitors with his atten-
tionS the host who cries. Good Lord,
here comes that terrible Queen of Sheba
with her conundrums All. my dear
Sheba. how glad AN To see YOU
Of late years Il gre At disposition 10
adopt all the English ways in our power
has been evincing itself among us, rang
ing from ecclesioloey to ragged schools;
and we have become quite unwilling to
let the sea and the distance filter away
such portions as it might be to our advan-
taye TO lose. Because oar cousin, Use the
word nasty for every variety OF un-
pleasant thing, and the word " nice for
every variety of the pleasant thing. our
whole conversational vocabulary bids fair
10 simmer itself down 10 these two adlec-
| tives. We hear Of nice men and nice
manners. and nice dogs and nice daintles,
and we hear Of "A nasty day and nasty
sermon. Mrs. Mayfair" said young
lad, who affected this style, the other day,
! speaking of person whose mouth was
never Soiled with any thing worse than
The cutting repartee just given to the
young lady" Mrs. Mayfair does say the
naStiest things
Among all these Anglican affectatiOns
there is one which is Il way OF receiving
guests, and according TO which we let
| them severely alone. Having heard that
our foreign cousins. when their houses
are full of people. pursue their previous
avocatiOns uninterruDtedly, and leave
their company to follow their own sweet
wills. we at once think that nothing can
be more elegant than similar proceed
ing; and having invited our solitary guest,
we leave her. as ifit were honor and de-
,;ght enough to be in our house at all, to
take care of herself rs she can. Our house
consists of drawing-room. a dining room
and kitchen. and the sleeping apartments.
Perhaps We live in the city, and have no
grounds about the house: perhaps we
live i'm the country where people can
: stroll across the fields if they will, and il
they are not afraid OF the cattle there. We
have a piano; We have few bOOks-nOt-
it is probable, the very newest. Our
, pictures are soon exhausted: and when
we coolly inform our friends that we are
fl TO a committee meeting of the Society
for Supplying the Talitians with Para
! soils. and hope she will enj0y herself III
! our absence. or leiSurely walk up stair-
D for our afternoon nap, or withdraw Win
I our favOrte book, we simply leave her IN
A condition where she might almost a;
well be i'm the Desert of Sahara.
The natural cOrollary of this demon
stratiOn is not thar in order to have the
pleasure of entertaining company ONT
! must have suits of rooms tor various en-
I joymerts, a library. Il billiardroom,
. Ira Wing-rOom. retinue OF servants,
: half dozen ofhorses. and a dozen guests a
g once: but that. having guest at all. Oul
house and we ourselves are hers as Ions
as she stays: and if we have invited int
our house a person accustomed to rlch
and better order of things than that pre-
e wiling there. it is all the more imperative
J, upon us to accord her the absolute devo
u ton of ourselves.
, But, on the other hand, we must adml
+ that guests have some duties of their owl
r .s vell which, frequently as they are a
e ,ured of it, it will do no harm to reiterat
'e i'm few words. And the first lesson
q that it is a duty not to be guests at all ui
n less they are very sure of their grOunC
IL always remembering when invited tina
: anv day means 70 day.
II But, once guests. although their nos
e. NAV serve them with Oriental hospitality
and be at their feet with all that host
ly should render. il is their place to remen
he Der that. when all is done, they still al
ur not i'm a hotel: that il is a necessary pOllt'
<; ness TO ascertain the household hours
n possible: that it is no property If the
~ part to set up hours of their own tor rlsiIl
of or retiring. feasting or fasting; and, OF
his things. that il is their role to so cOndu'
e themselves that every servant i'm the hou'
in shall not give warning on account
he them-yery simple directions on the
n, face, but, Judging from the general faiiul
%. TO follow them, very impossible to Pra
he tice. Indeed. a guest can do nothin? pe
ter than to understand that in receiving
cordial welcome the gates OF the inh'
nentralium of anOther's home have bee
set open to them. and that so great acol
pliment deserves at least the acknOwled
ment of an attempt at assimilation vii
of the family, and of a modest and unexac
g, hoh H0,.ncr's R1zHr.