The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1884-10-11


Every guest owes numeroun duties
10 his host which the majority fail to
recognize or discharge.
The common practice among visitors
is to make themselves thoroughly COM
Portable at any cost. II the hostess be
well or i'll it is all the same expected
That she will entertain her guest in the
highest style of the art. If she have
compe ent help or not cuts no. figure in
the matter, she must provide company
meals three times a day or be ceusured
as stingy thing who bcgrudges her
visitors what they eat.
We freqently call to mind the teach
ings of an eccentric schoolmaster Of our
youth who had his own views of hospi=
tally as well as everything else. Fil-
teen minutes after prayers each morn
ing he devoted to lectures on social
questions. As we have Just said, his
views were original. but in MANY case.
tney were more reasonable than the
= ,nmoner teachings we were aceus.
toned to At home And hook a deeper
hold On u.s. one, morning the ''profes-
sorh announced That they had had comr
pany at their .house; quite Az UNUSUAL
occurrences ty .hs way. Naturally we
were all curiosity to learn what this
oldest of men had to say about WISH
tors. Said he: II never knew much
of the man or cared much for him and
wondered at his visit. But 1t trans.
pin ed that he was travelling to kill time;
and chansed 10 PRs; this Way, %
thought he ID STOP"
Well, the first morning, the professor
said, he sat down to talk to him to sec
what he could learn that would do him
good. 1t was a maxim of the old man
to let no one be met escape without
adding ID his store of useful knowledge,
But occasionally II failed to wprk; shd
this was One At the times. He piled
him industriously for about an hour and
got for his pains only ..yes'' and no."
drawled at him at intervals. Dissatis-
fed with the success of his efforts he
informed the gentleman that 1t was
time for him 70 gtt to work, and ex-
pressed the hope that he would enter
tain himself with books, curiosities and
what not, to the best of his ability.
Then the professor hied him to his IL
brary, part of which was given up to
an extensive cabinet Of shells, where hs
employed every leisure moment he
could get, classifying and arranging
them with the greatest exactness. At
dinner they met again, and the hosts
endeayors to draw the guest out mot
with much the same success as the
mornings venture. After dinner he
said: II have some business down town
this afternoon, And as t0-mdrrow is ths
Sabbath. would you mind preparing
little wood against that day?" The
visitor could not we'll say no, and when
the man Of the house returned in the
evening the wood for Sundays use
was about prepared. A few
minutes OF his time suficed to carry it
into the summer kitchen and pile it up,
and the task was done. Now" said
the teacher, THAT man was no Use to
mo as visitor, nor did his leisure do
him any good. He would not read, or
do anything else that amounted to any
thing, 50 lie might as we'll save. me
that much time that l could Use to adj
vantage. Besides, guest at my house
must render some compensation for
entertainment. If he knows any
thing of Importance that he can tell me
l am always glad to have him there.
If not, then common justice requires
tint he should make himself useful ia
some other way. And I want you
scholars to remember this and know
that whether people are honest enough
to say so or not, that is just the way
they feel, and if ever any of you 60 Wis.,
iting, see that you make yourselves
useful in some way if you would be
really welcome to come again"
Now this, like many other quaint
things the old man said, has staid right
by us. And though we have never felt
as he did toward our company, we
have regarded 1t as a useful hint when
guest oursclf, and always tried in
some way to add to the comfort or hap
piness of the family, or friend with
whom we soiourned. This, however.
ought to be the desire of every visitor,
whether he had ever heard the peda-
gogue experience or not, and it will IL
he appreciates his entertainment.
But that all do not do this is evident
from their behavior. So far from seek
ing TO add ANYTHING to the comfort OF
the family, they sit down dead
weight, to be worked for and waited
upon, and moro than that ipect to be
kept happy by some one eise's exer.
ton.
1t is often problem to entertainers
to know just what to do with this class
of people We have wondered ourself
as we have seen our neighbors thus i'm
posed upon what would be best to do
under such circumstances, so yesterday
we got an idea. Our attention was at
tracted from a very interesting book
we were reading by a conversation in
the side yard. Little four-year-old
Bess hal been surprised out of the nap
she was trying to get in the hammock
by the arrival of friend, come to spend
the afternoon with her. For a while
they were happy as two kittens; then
two other little playmatcs whom Bess
admired very much put in an appear
ance to make visit also, and the first
ones nose was out of joint at once. But
so delighted was Bess with the new
corners and her impromptu reception
that she didn't notice what we saw
through the vines at our window. In
stead of getting into the hammock again
herself, she urged the little sisters to
get in, and she would pull the rope and
swing them. So in they tumbled, baby
fashion, and full Of glce, beside Vista.
But just one look at her face told them
they were not wanted, and dampened
their spirits considerably. Needless
Bess, however, intent on swinging