Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-06-07

| well-known gentleman gave private circus
| entertainment in.the barn of his country
| seat, the performers being well-known so
| ciety men. The hostess of the future who
can best entertain her guests will be she
who is most fertile in originating new iii
versions"
MRS. WILLIAM K. VANDERBILT DEEMS CON
| 6ESIALITY ESSENTIAL.
ITO entertain well two Of the most es-
sential points are to combine harmonious
elements in our guests, and then to pro-
vide those guests with that form of enter
tainment best suited to their tastes ard
prejudices." The speaker was Mrs. Will
lam K. Vanderbilt. Say. for instance,
one wishes 10 give a dinner, where people
must sit together for a long time wholly de-
pendent for their pleasure, aside from the
merely physical ones Of eating and drinking,
upon the conversation OF each other. To
make such an entertainment really enter
tanning 10 those who participate in it you
must first be particular TO invite men and
women who can talk, and, second, men
and women who can and will talk of sub
jectS mutually interesting and agreeable.
1t viii never do to pair at the dinner table,
for example, Miss Prayhard, who devotes
herself to church work and gives all her
cast-off gowns and parasolS to the mission
aries, with young Mr.. Racetrach, whose
only thought is for horses and horse racing,
and who will PROBABLY open conversation
with her by asking what she thinks of the
odds on the Suburban.
Having brought congenial people TO-
gether, our next care should be TO provide
them with suitable amusement Here
again we must be careful to secure con-
geniality. We cannot expect the bishop of
white gown TO participate in a round game
at cards, or the Rev. Elder Sniffies to dance
the polka. Congeniality and harmony be-
tween guests and the amusement provided
for them may be summed up as the sine
qua non of entertaining that really does en-
tertain.'
MRS. PARAN STEVENS SAYS A HOSTESS MUST
BE NATURAL.
''To entertain WE'LL said Mrs. Paran
Stevens, "a hostess must be natural and I'M
affected. She must be perfectly at ease
herself or she cannot make her guests feel
so. No matter now numerous her guests
or how many of them may arrive at one
and the same time she must never seem
hurried, yet each and all must feel that
they have her individual attention. She
must have something pleasing and cheerful
TO say to every one, but she must not say or
do too much. She should never forget that
remark of Lord Chesterfield, The nature of
things is always and everywhere the same,
but the modes OF them vary more or less in
every country; but good breeding consists
in an easy and genteel conformity to them,
or rather the assuming of them at proper
times and in proper Places"
MRS. ARMOUR Defends CODES OF ETIQUETTE.
ITO entertain WELL" said Mrs. Philip d.
Armour of Chicago, "a knowledge of the
laws of etiquette is essential. Many we'll
meaning people are accustomed to sheer at
all forms of etiquette and to ask, why can
not we be simple and natural in making
calls, in marrying, and giving in marriage.
and in all the other affairs of social life!'
These same good people forget that were
there no established and generally recog-
nized forms of etiquette to regulate our
social functions they might all-even our
weddings-be greatly marred by confusion,
fOrgstfulncSS, and even irritation among
the persons most intimately concerned in
them. To be civil with ease constitutes
good breeding, and the laws of etiquette,
because they teEd to prevent mistakes. i'll
action unintentionally, certainly come under
the head of how to be civil with ease"
MRS. JAMES Nj MILAN SAYS A HOSTESS SHOULD
NEVER BE oBTRUsIvE.
''Hostesses should shUn obtrusiveness.'
said Mrs. james Mcmillan, wife of the
United States senator from Michigan.
They should never force pleasures upon
their guests. 4 hostess may say. would
YOU like to do this or that?' or would YOU
like to visit such and such place.? but she
must never say 1 want you TO do so and so
to-day or i am going to take you here or
there this morning. The guest must al
ways be left perfectly free to consult his
or her own tastes and wishes in the matter
of any proposed diversion.
''E'orgetfulness of self in the desire and
effort to please ones guests is the first
principle TO be remembered by those who
desire to entertain. The test of good breed
ing in a hostess is often a severe one.
Guests may be late, or perhaps, worst mar
tyrdom of all, servants may be late in an
dinner The hostess may chafe
inwardly, but like the Spartan boy with the
fox gnawning him under his robe, she must
not betray her annoyance in a single facial
Nothing must apparently go
wrong with her. Be it ever really so wrong
she must not seem to notice it,"
WHAT MRS. SENATOR STANFORD THINKS.
s'When one has determined to give an en-
said Mrs. Leland Stanford, |
wife of the senior senator from California,
She should first be particular to select |
day when there will be no other AFFAIR of |
general interest to keep her guests away. |
That settled. comes the important question, |
how many shall be invited If the proposed |
is ball. she should remem- |
Der that any number over one hundred con- !
stitutes u large ball. below that number |
simply a ball. and under fifty a dance |
larger the number of guests the more brill |
ant the ball will be- and the smaller the |
number the more enjoyable it will be. This |
rule applies not only to balls, but to social |
gatherings of any and every kind.
"fit audience, though few was Cicero's |
iesire, and it should also be that of the |
hostess who desires hsr guests to derive |
he greatest possible amount of enjoyment |
from her entertainments.
'.While L think that in the case of a ball |
/ reception or a wedding the number of |
guests should be proportional to the size of
your rooms, yet if those entertainments, as
)ften happens, are given as mere formali-
les and the rooms are small, it may be bet
er to sacrifice comfort and have the pres
ige of a crush. Gentlemen who fail to get
nto the drawing room and young ladies
whose dresses are wrecked will execrate
out still remember you, and in view of So
,iety's ingratitude it is something to be
,ver remembered by ones guests whether
veil or ILL.,
GEoFFREY WILLIsToN CHRISTINE.