Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-21
AT A COUNTRY HOME.
The Most Charming Place to Gve'the
Invited Guest Pleasure.
HOW ENGLISH W0MEH MANAGE.
LsShsded Versnds Is Delightful Nook II
Take the Breakfast
IDEAS IN THE WAY OF AMUsENENTs
rwRrrrEN yoKrH1 prsrAfW.1

WRITTEN YoRTH1 DrsrkroH.1
The poets have, been In the habit oi
praising country life since the days OF
Homer, but the Americans have not as q
people appreciated its joys As soon as
country man was able to do It he moved to
the largest city near him, presumably New
York, or perhaps Paris Tho c1ty people
were content formerly to give their chill.
dren six weeks of country air, and old New
Workers did not move out of the then small
city, even in the hot month"; The idea Of
going to the country to live, for pleasure,
place in which to spend ones money and tt
entertain, has been to the average American
mind thing of recent growth Perhaps
our climate has much to do with this.
People bred in the country feared to meet
that long, cold winter of the North, which
even to the well-to-do was filed with suf.
fering. Who docs not remember the loo In
the pitcher Of morning, which must be
broken before even faces were washed.
Therefore, the furnace-heated city house,
the companionship, the hustle, the stir and
convenience of q city, have been, naturally
enough, preferred to the loneliness Of the
country. As Hawthorne once said, Ameri-
cans were not sufficiently civilized to live
in the country. When he went to England
and saw different order of things he under
| stood why. England, a small place with
| 1000 years of civilization, with admirable
roads, with landed estates, with mild win
ter, with taste for sport, with dogs, horses
and well trained servants, was q very differ
ent place.
Some Difficulties in the Way.
It may be years before we make our coun-
try life as agreeable as it is in England.
We have got to conquer climate first. But
| the love of country life is growing in
America. Those 30 fortunate as to be able
| to live in a climate like that of Southern
California can certainly quote Horace with
| sympathy. Those who live so near to a
| great city as to command at once city con-
veniences and country air and freedom, arc
| among the fortunate of the earth. And to
hundreds, thousands of such, in our delight
fully prosperous new country, the art OF
entertaining in country house assumes .
| new interest.
And no better model for o hostess can be
found than an Englishwoman. There 10
when she receives her guests quiet cordial
| ity, sense of pleasurable expectancy, an
inbred ease, grace, suavity, cemposure and
respect for her visitors, which seems to
come naturally to well-bred English
woman, that is to say, to the best types Of
the highest class. To be sure, they have
had vast experience in the art Of enter
tanning; they have learned this useful ac-
| compGshment from long line Of we'll
trained predecessors. They have no do
mestic cares to worry them. Atthe head Of
har so
perfection as human being can be. There
is the great advantage of the English
climate to begin with. It is less exciting
than ours The nervous woman is almost
unknown. Their ability to take exercise.
the moist and soft air, their good appetite
and healthy digestion place them in 3
physical condition almost always denied to
an American.
Comfort the Great Desideratum.
As hostess, the Englishwoman Is sure
to mold her house to look like homo. She
has soft low couches for those who like
them, high backed tall chairs for the tail,
low chairs for the lowly. She has her book
cases and pretty china scattered everywhere,
she has work-baskets and writing tables and
flowers, particularly wild ones, which look
as if she had tossed them in the vases her
self. Her house looks cheerful and "culti-
vated."
use the word advisedly, for all taste
must be cultivated. A state apartment in
an old English grand house can be mex
girandoles, pictures Of ancestors, miles Of
mirrors and the LAGOON or specimens of
Grecian art, which no one cares for except
In the Vatican, the ceramic and historical
horrors of some old collector, who had no
taste, are enough to frighten a visitor.
But when young or an exper-
fenced English hostess has smiled on
such house, there will be some delightful
lumber strewn around, no end of pretty
brackets and baskets and curtains and
screens, and couches piled high with cush-
ions, and then the quaint carvings, the
rather affected riches, the mantel piece
nearly up to the ceiling, as in Hogarth's
picture, all these become humanized by her
the combination of use and beauty. Some
finer spirits command both, as Michael An
gelo, who hung the dome at Florence, high
in air, made thing of beauty, which is
Joy forever, but did not forget to build un-
der 1t convenient church as well
They Never Entertain.
As for the bedrooms in an English coun-
try house, they transcend description, they
are the very apotheosis of comfort The
dinners are excellent, the breakfast and
lunch comfortable, informal and easy, the
horses are at your disposition, the lawn and
gardens are yours for stroll, the chapel
lies near at hand where you can study archi-
lecture and ancient brass. There are pleas
ant people in the house, you are let alone,
you are not being entertained u
that most dreadful of sensations that
somebody has you on his mind and must
show you photographs and lift off your en-
nui:
But English people will tell you that
house parties are dull, not that all are, but |
some are. No doubt the jaded senses lose
the power of being pleased. A visit to an |
English house to an American who brings |
with her a fresh sense of enjoyment. and |
who remembers the limitations of a new
country, one who loves antiquity, history,
old pictures, and all that time can do, one |
who is hungry for Old World refnements, to |
such a one visit to an English country |
house is delightful; to worn-out English |
set whose business it has been for quarter |
of century to 20 from one house to another |
no doubt it is dull Some unusual distrac-
ton is craved 'To relieve the monotony
and silence and the dull, depressing cloud |
which sometimes settles on the most admir- |
ably arranged English dinner party, even an
American savage would be welcomed" says
q modern novel writer.
American Beauties in England.
How much more, then, is q pretty young |
woman who, with a true enthusiasm and |
wild liberty, has found her opportunity and |
uses it, plays the banjo, tells fortunes by the |
hand, has no fear of rank, is in her set |
glacier of freshness with a heart of fire