The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-01-08
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SOME GUESTS AND THEIR WAYS.
The Formal Guest the Slipshod Guest.
the Person Whose Temper Is Thin, Etc.

The Formal Guest, the Slipshod Guest,
the Person Whose Temper Is Thin, Etc.
1t would be hard to find two guests WIN
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 their
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 to
come and stay with us for a fortnight-a
friend whom we think we know pretty
well and unaffectedly admire. As dinner
guest, a caller, a companion to the theater,
etc, this friend is all we could desire She
is pretty, intelligent, well dressed and has
apparently an inexhaustble fund of anna
bility. Surely she will be delightful
guest for 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 way maddening 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 off,
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 bit of fancy work,
and sits tight, expecting to be amused and
attended to. She keeps military time. If
you are a couple of minutes late she makes
you understand your crime by a significant
glance at the clock, which you weakly af-
firm is too fast 81 think not" says your
friend, coldly and severely accurate. at
is exactly the right time-five and twenty
minutes to s." You dine nominally at the
half hour, and you understand the com
mentary.
Then there is the breezy person who
treats your house like a 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
UNBEATABLE. 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
thought for the convenience of the house
nOiu ana Is Truly uTtduAu vi SuCSb-
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 favorite
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 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 establishment from your intimates. |
To be a good guest demands a 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 may |
not do in her friends home, and that |
delightful person is more common than |
might be imagined.