Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1876-03-15
Hospitality.
HOW TO ENTERTAIN GUESTS.

Emerson says: Il pray you. oh excel
lent wife, do not cumber yourself and
me to get rich dinner for this man or
this woman who has alighted at your
gate, nor bed chamber made ready at
too great cost. These things, if they
are curious in, they can get for price
at a village inn. But let this stranger
see,i be will, in your looks. in your ac-
tions, in your accents and behavior,
your heart and earnestness, what he
cannot buy at any price at any vii
lage or city, and which he may well
travel fifty miles and dine sparely and
sleep hardly to behold. Certainly let
the board be spread. and the bed
dressed for the traveller, but let not
the emphasis of hospitality be in these
things. Honor to the housewife where
they are simple, SO that the intellect is
aware and sees the laws of the Uni
verse; the soul worships truth and
love, and honor and courtesy How into
all deeds"
The most obtuse must see in this
quotation the whole philosophy of hos
pitality. One of the greatest delights
of having a home of our own is to have
a place in it for friends and strangers.
We do not build a house simply to
meet the wants of our own families.
We have one or more guest chambers,
and the extension table, to which we
may welcome our friends, The larger
our means. the more liberal provision
we make for hospitality. They are
greatly to be pitied who can barely
supply their own physical wants, who
dwell always in narrow quarters, who
have no pillow or plate for friend or
stranger. There are some homes that
we wOt of, that have room enough for
ali, and an indefinite power of expan-
sion. There is always room for one
more, and where the welcome is SO
hearty, the one more sends his regrets
for absence and comes next time.
There are others with houses rOOmy
enough, but unblest with friends the
year round. No one breathes the frag :
rance of their rOses,O or wipes the bloom
from the clusters that are supposed to
grace their tables. They live to them
selves very elegantly and comfortably,
it may be, but very narrowly and sell
fishly. The doorstep is always clean
and the lawn always sborn. 1t is kept
for the eyes and not the feet. No chill
dren play there, and the dogs are not
at home. We hope the folks are happy
and enjoy it.
There are others that would like to
make their friends welcome, but spoil
their pleasure by over-exertiOn. The
guests are made to feel uneasy by the
visible effort put forth to entertain
them. The whole secret of putting
our friends at their ease, is to be at
ease ourselves and in order to be thus
we must not misinterpret their visit.
hnx h.,x Mi IN a m n rsa
our surroundings, our dress, but our
selves. Courtesy, then, rather de-
mands our society and conversation
than our silverware and crockery.
There is no objection, of course, to the
best tea-urn, and cups and saucers to
match, but they should be set upon the
table as if they were everyday ware.
By all means kill the turkey if that is
your humor, but do not tell your guest
that the bird has been waiting his COM
ing a month. Let the rare dish be
served up with as much ease as if it
were always upon your table. Keep
your art, whatever it may be, out of
sight. Do not let your guests suspect
that you are making an effort to enter
tain him, lest he go away PANIED with
the feeling that he has been a burden
to you, and never come again.
Nor should we turn aside wholly
from the routine of our daily life to
make our guests welcome. Every one
worthy to sit at your table knows that
life has its necessary duties. Do not
burden them with the thought that
your business is suffering arrangement
and loss by their coming. Your inter-
course will be all the sweeter and more
profitable for coming in the intervals
of your regular cares. Give them to-
day only that which you have to spare
to-day, that there may be no strain to-
morrow for your lost possessions, and
no wish in your heart that they had not
come at all, or at least when they did.