The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1878-02-01
TIE ARTOF HOSPITALITY.
The welcome and CnwelcOnle Guests
and the Way 10 Make Them Feel at
Hama.

and the Way 10 Make Them Feel TAT
Home.
To be amlstress Of herself though
China fall" has loRg been chronicled and
quoted as the acme of housewifely self
control; yet none the less does it argue a
still higher degree of composure and
good breeding to De mistress OF ones
self when company arrives unexpectedly
and at inconvenlent season. The model
housekeeper, perhaps, is never disconcer.
ted; she sleeps, SO TO speak, with her back
hair done up, and never relapses into a
wrapper. But less exemplary women
have occasional moments OF deShG5itte
for themselves and for their establish
ments. In such q moment, perhaps,
arrives their husbands aunt from the
country, who has no children and whose
own house is always in order from gar
ret TO cellar. She has come, with bag
and baggage, to spend week. Calmly
disappearing, though silently, she takes
first impression, never stterward to be
shaken; nothing will ever pursusde her
that disorder is not the normal state Of
the household, order sham worn for
company, and hencetorth she pities her
nephew as the husband of totally in
efficient wife, The best of husbands is
apt to forget washing days and Blddy's
"day out" and TO bring home with him
friend to stake pot luck" Especially
Is this apt TO be the case if the dinner
has been SKINNED TO meet the domestic
emergency. Like good wife, you, my
dear madam, have provided some little
dainty for your lord aud master, but
being, like most women, destitute OF the
outrageous hospitality which prompts a
man to ask halt dozen men to eat one
and the same egg, you remember now
small q portion that same dainty IS TO d.
vide between two people. Possibly you
may be able hastily TO add to your din
ner, possibly not; at all events the guest
is fixed fact. Remember then that
true hospitality will not let him perceive
that his presence is inconvenient, not to
SAY unwelcome. Do the best you CAM
giving him at least welcome, and set
what you have before him, served as
daintily as may be, with word, perhaps
of explsnstion-but without profuse ap-
pologies. Warm over the pie left from
sundays dinner, and remembering that
q good cup of coffee rejoiceth the heart of
man, add that TO the repast. He-the
guest-msy, nay, probably will, take
away the impression that your washdsy
dinners are by no means sumptuous ban
queLs; but he will also regard you as q
pleasant and cordial entertainer, while
your husband will have no great cause
for modification. Colonel Sellers, press
ing raw turnips and cold water on his re-
Iuctsnt guest, is an exaggerated type, yet
still type of true hospitality. No man
would invite quest TO dinner with the
cupboard so bare; yet Sellers is not a
prudent man, and, having invited him,
he could only strive by cordlslity TO
make up for sll Deficiencies. An ordi.
nary woman would, we fear, in Mrs. Sell
lers' place, have gone to bed with q
headache, so that all together the two de-
serve TO be ranked among the heroes Of
hospitality.
Doubtless we are less hospitable than
were our forefathers, and this is largely
due TO tho increased expense which COM
pany entails We are not content to en-
tortain simply, nor is the guest content
with homel fare and housing, and so we
DO net open our homes to outsiders un-
less we can afford TO be lavish. Yet
even where the will and the means 20
together, it is not every one who knowa
how to make house place to which
persons shall like to come. Cordially Is
a great part of the secret, it is truej the
salt without which the feast shall, to 8
sensitive palate, be tasteless. Yet one
cannot make dinner upon salt alone
So, also, to carry out the same idea, the
quest must bring an APPETITE to the meal
! There are people whom you cannot en-
tertsin, who never seem satisfied what
ever you may do for their comfort, and
who render it difficult TO carry out toe
fully the last duty of hospitality and
'spoed the parting guest" with too mucf
slacrity. 1t Is not easy to over
estimate the amount OF inconvenience
and discomfort which an exscting
dissatisfied visitor can cause in u house
hold. A person perpetual!y on the look
out for Sights will keep the whole house
hold in not water, and tax p0liteness t,
tho utmost,on the part of the host ant
hostess. Most dissgreeable of visitors
however is she Qior it is usually femal
relatively who considers herself privileges
TO find taul. with all your arrangements
servants included, and who is perpetual,
telling you how nice things are u
As, and what model housekeepe
is Mrs. B.. Man is II gregarious AM
NAL, and most of US are more or less Ton
of society, yet many of us are often for
gettul of our duty TO our neighbor bot
in our own house as hosts and as guest
in the houses of others. To amuse an,
interest people, or what is sill more dill
cult, TO put them in good humor wit
themselves, is an art which require
talent Us basis for its exercise. An,
all people are not spprecistive, or per
bsps have not learned the secret whlcI
helps one so much in society-the art o
making pretend; the fichons which ar
not fslsehoods, and which are 80 ncces
sary-sel.-ssCrifces in fact to the comior
of others. Hoods hostess breaking dowr
wholly under dali things dissgreelng,"
in one extreme, while the other may b
represented BY the lady of the house sit
ting quietly and selt.composedly q. tn
hesd of her table 81 dinnor-psrty, Will
her husband, mad with liquor, was yell
ing out of doors-giving mo sign cav
a whispered order to one of the waiter
to summon the coachmsn and take hi
master 10 his room. Fortunately sucI
emergencies SIS the lsst are rare. To b
bored may be inevitable, yet good-oreed
ing demands that We shall not show II
it is selfish 10 care fer our own p.essur
only. The host must thin K OF the CUES
the guest crafty the host by enjoymen
of his entertainers hospitality.
4 wafer Hallway.