The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1890-07-25
HOW TO ENTERTAIN.
Safe Rules to Observe in Order to Be Rea
sonabIy Successful.

|
4 sonabIy Successful.
! 1t is not infrequently said that the
art of hospitality is dead, just as it is
from time to time said that every other
good thing which ever blessed the race
of mankind is likewise dead and de-
parted. There are those who excuse
themselves from entertaining by saying
that guests nowadays demand SO much
that it is not possible to satisfy them
unless one has resources such as are
possessed by only two or three persons
| in a generation, and that if one can not
come up to the standard set by people OF
enormous wealth, it is idle to attempt to
do any thing
That all this is the most arrant nom
sense is probably known to the inmost
hearts of the very persons who proclaim
it, and it is one of the many plausible
| excuses that selfishness is fond of max
! ing rather than to take the trouble
needed to do any thing for others. The
spirit of hospitality is as much alive now
/ as it ever was and it is one of the bless
ings for which all men should join in
thankfulness to the gods that it is i'm
mortal. The men and women of to-day
are as ready to be entertained simply as
| they ever were, but they are as ready as
they ever have. been to perceive when
they are entertained i'll a perfunctory
manner, and are ready TO respond to
genuine kindness.
The secret of entertaining now, as it
| always has been, is to have the guests
! pleased If one gives an entertainment
for the purpose of showing his ingenuity
| it is as futile as if he gave it to display
his wealth and only little less vulgar
Given the true spirit of hospitality, the
real wish that the guests shall be happy
as first principle, then all other things
may be added to the improvement OF
the delightrulness of the occasion, but
this is the essential.
One of the chief practical difficulties
with entertaining is that hosts do not
give the right sort of care to their enter
tainments. They do certain things,
usually in the way of providing what
shall be eaten and what shall be drank,
and unless in the case of musicale this
is ant to be the extent of their cares.
How many hosts or hostesses follow the
! example of that clever French woman
who said: ''My Dime rs are famous be-
cause | never give one without having
! fully planned out the lines of converse
ton with reference to showing each
guest at his best?'' A famous Spanish
! dinner-g yer is said to have been in the
habit of secluding h mself for a fortnight
before one of his dinners for the pur-
pose of studying up clever bon-mots;
but such a course could hardly result in
any thing but display of wit in which
the guests were merely the audience,
and the ideal entertaining is where the
host makes no display of himself or his
cleverness beyond what is needful to
/ keep things in motion.
1t is one of the safest and most i'm
portant rules of successful entertaining
to leave nothing to chance. 1t is well
to plan beforehand every thing which
is to I'LL up the measure of the time al
1 loted to the guests II something else
comes in to crowd out part of the pro-
gramme there is no harm done, and the
doleful possibility of empty time is
avoided it is of still more Importance
! that the guests be selected with a view
to fitting well together, whether it be
upon the principle of likeness or of con-
| trast- Many a prom Using dinner has
been spoiled by the introduction Of a
single homogeneous guest who has
thrown the company out of harmony
and rendered all the efforts of the host
useless to effect pleasant whole.
It is difficult not to conclude that tho
genuine entertainer, like the genuine
| poet, is rather born than made by edu-
cation or precept, and yet even the poet
needs education and experience, and
the way to learn to entertain is to en-
tertain. He or she who is beginning
should write in letters of light upon the
memory, "Never un dertake to do what
one can not do we1f," and Never labor
for the glory of the host at the expense
OF the pleasure OF the guest" and then
II one has friendly heart and due re-
gard for simplicity, the rest is not So
dificuit-Boston Courier