The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1880-09-09

From the Philadelphia Times
A man knows well enough that, il
on Monday he invites another man to
come and take dinner with him the
ensuing Thursday, the other man will
consider himself an injured being il
he is RECALLED with less than seven
courses and three sorts of wine. And
the other man, in taking this view
only shows that he knows about social
responsibilities and is aware that a
premeditated invitation to dinner
means 0 willingness to incur serious
responsibilities. But when q man
meets another man down town in the
morning and asks him to come To
dinner that evening, neither the per-
son offer the feast nor the person ac-
cepting it think about anything more
exalted than the everyday Joint, a
hottie Of sound claret, and perhaps a
few glasses Of u thOughtfully selected
dry sherry.
This is common sense, this way Of
looking at the two sorts Of dinners;
but 1t Is variety Of common sense
that six thousand years of masculine
expostulatiOn has not succeeded i'm
getting inside the head Of the female
woman. The woman il a good soul.
all know that, and we are all ready 10
bow down and worship her, and al.
init that We could not, under any cir
cumstances, get alOrg without her;
but when il comes to this matter Of
dinner giving We are forced To own up
that the dear thing has a great deal To
learn. When man comes home, saw
twenty minutes before dinner time,
tells the best wife that ever vet was
put into this sinful world that he has
brought another man home To dinner
with him. an expression Will come
over the face Of that excellent woman
that will make the man-even though
be he tough and seasOned-tremble.
There may not be word Of reprOof
administered, but somehow that wO-
man will cOntrive to make that man
feel so utterly dOwncast, So blighted,
sd miserable, that he will most cor
daily wish that he had never been
born. All that he will long for will
he an opportunity to flee into Tar
shish. or anywhere, to get rid Of the
respOns Utility that is sitting down
stairs in the person of the other man
who is waiting for this dinner to
which he never ought to have been
asked-at least not until the matter
had all been talked over beforehand and
sufficiently stupendOus preparations
made for RECALLING him with the fat
and sweet Of the lanI. When the
dinner comes on il is a good enough
dinner for anybody, and the other
man enjoys it, and says SO; but a train
of cars could not convince that woman
that he is telling the truth. Mere
pOliteness, she says, coldly, when the
fact that he ate three slices of beef,
was helped twice 10 pudding, and
made clean sweep Of things gener-
ally, is timidly presented to her con-
sideratiOn; and she adds that "he, at |
least, had some consideration for my
feelings" And when wOm-
an. when even the best of women, re- |
fuses to believe i'm three slices Of beef, |
what Is q man to do
Yes, il certainly is a queer kink that |
the dear creatures have in their heads |
about dinners; but II is utterly useless |
to argue with them about it. Nothing |
that you can say will ever convince
them that they are not eternaliy dis |
graced in the eyes of all the world if |
the man you bring up town with you
tO take pot luck does not find the pot |
running over with milk aud honey, as
il were-and so go away impressed
with the belief that you are in the
habit of wearing purple aud fine linen
and faring sumptuously every day,
when, AS u matter of fact, you are not |
in the habit Of doing anything of the
kind.