Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-01-16
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SOME GUESTS AND THEIR WAYS.
The Formal Guest, the SIiPShod Guest
the Person Whose Temper Is Thin, Etc

The Formal Guest, the SIipshod Guest,
the Person Whose Temper Is Thin. Etc.
Ii would be hard to find two guests who
behave in precisely the same manner when
they stay at another persons house Some
are too formal for comfort and some are
too familiar for dignity. Some are SO rx-
acting there is no pleasing them, do what
you viii, and some are so slipShOd in their
easy content you feel as il any extra effort
was work OF supererOgatiOn and so much
energy thrown away. We hardly know
what to expect when we ask friend to
come and stay with us for a fortnight-a
friend whom we think we know pretty
well and unaifcctcdly admire As n dinner
guest, n caller, a companion to the theater
etc, this friend is ali we could desire. She
is pretty, intelligent well dressed and has
apparently an ineXhaustible fund of anna
bility. Surely she will be a delightful
guest for a week or fortnight.
Your charming friend comes to stay.
She is not an early riser: you are. When
she does come down she is slipshod, tact
turn and half alive She picks at her
breakfast in "A way Inaddening to a hostess:
is convinced that there is chicory in the
coffee or that the water boiled when the
tea was made. In short, she is ''crusty."
and not till afternoon does she shell otf''
her ugly husk and begin TO appear some
what as you have known her
The formal guest is something between
an iceberg and a poker. She comes into
the drawing room with n bit of fancy work,
and sits tight, expecting TO be amused and
attended to. She keeps military time. II
you are a couple OF minutes late she makes
you understand your crime by significant
glance at the clock, which you weakly af-
firm is too fast Il think not says your
friend, cOldly and severely accurate 1T
is exactly the right timc-five and twenty
minutes to g" You dine nominally at the
half hour, and You understand the com
meDtary
Then there is the breezy person who
treats your hous, like Il hotel; is out for a
long walk before breakfast and comes
back when the toast has turned To leather,
the coffee is lukewarm and the whole meal
uneatable. She has her favorite sauces
and dishes unknown to your cook and
makes no scruple to ask for them She
| tells you how you ought to do this and
that, and will rearrange you from garnet
| to basement, if you will but consent.
Though good natured, she has not q
thought for the convenience of the house
hold and is truly dreadful guest.
Then there is the guest whose temper is
| thin. She snubs you when she can; she
argues with you and always takes the
other side; does not agree with you on
| church matters and hates your fayorite
authors. She is all spikes after a short
| time of wear, and you are glad when the
| day arrives which sees her leave your door.
The guest who follows you about the
house Us if she were u little dog is again
! not one of the most desirable kind. Nor is
she who comes to the country SO finely
dressed that you feel she ought to have a
! glass case over her. Nor is she who comes
from country to town so soiied and frayed
rs to provoke comments from your servants
| and establishment from your intimateS.
| To be a good guest demands a certain
| amount Of raining added to grace and
natural instinct. The ideal guest is the
one who strikes the exact point between
formality and inforlnality, who under
stands what she may do and what she nay
not do IN her friends home, and that
delightful person is more common than
! might be imagined.