Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-06-25

SeS s;:'s s's ;' st !; !:
illustrated by many
fine examples, as we'll as precepts, en-
Joining it, while the New Testament
affords both example and precepts, of
the most winning kind, Hospitality has
, thus been well-standing virtue; it has
been commended of all men, and prac-
ticed everywhere. In the early times
in this country our fathers established
hospitality in its noblest forms, and
adopted it as an American virtue. The
log cabin was open to the stranger,
with place at the fire and at the
table, while the neighbor had almost
all the privileges of the owner. In the
early farmhouse conditions were the
SEINE, and in the town and in the city
every one kept open house, according
to his means. In the south, especially,
this grew to immense proportions, un-
til 1t overshadowed all other virtues.
The homes of the rich, particularly,
were constantly crowded with neigh
bors and friends, so that life was one
continual round of entertainment and
being entertained. That state of things
has not altogether passed away; hospi-
tally has not been entirely dethroned,
or, at least, it has not become an out
cast; but we are compelled to believe
that the signs of the times indicate Its
decadence. This change started in cit
les, with the development of hotels;
city people began to consider the adj
visibility of having relatives and
friends from outlying places find lodg
ing at hostelries The city man began
to close his doors upon the host of
relatives and friends, who might make
convenience of him, in their tours
to the city. There was good reason for
discrimination here; the city man could
not very well entertain his whole ma
tive town or interrupt his business
hours for every Indifferent person. AS
our civilization lost simplicity it be-
came more and more necessary to draw
lines of classes, and to discriminate
according to character and attain
ments, so that one could not continue,
in city, to recognize his neighbor as
a guest simply because he lived next
door. Neighborliness lost it's meaning.
AS the struggle of life became more in
tense, the selfish qualities were de-
veloped. These reasons, working to
gether, modified the old idea of hospi-
tally. Then came the idea of enter
tanning as a means to an end; the old
idea of hospitality had been to share
ones home and loaf and heartiness
with others. The modification of it. in
cities, came to give it certain market
able power; one man would open his
home and spread his table and invite
his guests, expecting from them in re-
turn such social honor or prestige as
they could give; he expected that they
should invite him and his family to
their homes in return. He hoped to
win or hold place in good circle,
and when his entertainment surpassed
in splendor that of his friends, he ex-
pected to have credit in praise and
glory for that. So that hospitality,
generally speaking, in the cities has
now become an exchange Of social
honors; one does not give anything
without expecting something for it.
That there are many individuals who
maintain the old hearty hospitality is
true, but the standard is no longer uni
recognized. In the towns the
change has also been felt. The old
spirit has died away; even entertaining
for the sake Of receiving an equivalent
Is not so general as in larger places, so
that the social life of towns, with the
exception of exchange Of calls, has
largely fallen to pieces. There has
never been a time in the history of our
country where the life OF the people in
our towns has been SO much like that
OF isolated atoms as now, or when the
individual families have been like so
many creatures in their own lairs.
Men have never been so little gregar-
fous as now in our towns. In these
places, it is an exceptional thing for
even neighbors to eat in each others
houses; at least without spec!>l prep
aration and invitation. Whereas in
the olden times exchange of these hos
pitalities were OF the freest kind. Hos
pitality, however, has made its strong
hold in the country places, and particu-
larly in the south. The spirit of change
and selfshness has been felt there also,
but there still exists in the rural parts
more of that free hospitality that al
ways keeps place at table and bed
for a neighbor or friend than anywhere
else. In the south hospitality is still
recognized as a virtue, and its cere-
monies are Of the good old kind, and
ore might be led to conclude that the
south has not changed at all in this
respect; yet there are signs OF the
spread Of the new spirit even there. In
the olden time the scarcity OF inns and
hotels made necessary greater degree
of willingness to admit travellers and
friends to ones house than now. In
those times a travelling minister was
expected to put up with his resident
brother minister, as a matter of course.