The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-02-09
SOME GUESTS AND THeIh WAYS
The Formal Guest, the SHpshod Guest
the Person Whose Temper Is Thin, Etc.

1t would be hard to find two guests whu
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 ex,
acting there is no pleasing them, do what
you will, and some are so slipshod in theil
easy content you feel as if any extra effort
was a work OF supererogation and so much
energy thrown away. We hardly know
what to expect when we ask a friend &C
come and stay with US for fortnight
friend whom we think we know pretty
well and unaffectedly admire. As dinner
guest, a caller. companion to the theater
ETC., this friend is all we could desire She
is pretty, intelligent, well dressed and has
apparently an inexhaustible fund of anlia
bility. Surely she VIII be delightful
guest for week or fortnight.
Your charming friend comes 10 stay
She Is not an early riser; you are. WheI
she does come down she is shpshod tac1
turn and half alive. She picks at hel
breakfast in a way maddening to hostess
is convinced that there is chicory in the
coffee or that the water boiled when this
tea was made. In short, she is 'crusty, q
and not till afternoon does she "shell off
her ugly husk and begin to appear some
what as you have known her.
The formal guest is something betwee-
an iceberg and poker. She comes int
the drawing room with a bit of fancy work
and sits tight, expecting TO be amused and
attended to. She keeps military tirae. II
you are 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 time-five and twenty
minutes to g." You dine nominally at the
half hour, and you understand the com
mentary.
Then there is the breezy person whc
treats your house like hotel; is out for =
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 VIII rearraDge you from garret
to basement, if you will but consent
Though good natured, she has not a
thought for the convenience Of the house
hod and is truly dreadful guest.
Then there is the guest whose temper Is
thin. She snabs 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 favorite
authors. She is all spikes after a short
time of wear, and you are glad when ths
day arrives which sees her leave your door.
The guest who follows you about the
house as if she were 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 soiled and frayed
as to provoke comments from your servants
and astonishment from your intimates.
To be good guest demands certain
amount of training added to grace and
natural instinct. The ideal guest is the
one who strikes the exact point between
formality and informality, who under
stands what she may do and what she MAJ
not do in her friends home, and that
delightful person is more common THAI
might be imagined.