The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-09-29
Aiscellanerus
AMERICAN HOSPITALITY.
BY REBECCA HARDING DAVIS

columns in American news. ap9rS DC
voted to the Art OF Entertaining, or TO
Dinners and Lunaheons, to iiud how
much alike all efforts at hospitality
are throughout this county.
A fashionable leader in New York
who Ventured twelve years ago out TO
Chicago wrote back: Il assure you
that the dinners here are ser cd pre-
cisely as at homo, and tue chefs and
wines are quite as good as ours IN New
York"
If she were asked to dine now in q
farmhouse in Alaska or ii ranch III
New Mexico, she would proba bly, tind
on the table the trailing roses, the
luminous lily lamps and the last i.ew
thing in entrees which she had jdsf
left behind her in New York. \ new
fashion IN table effects, rs in hats.
sweeps over the country from sea TO
sea, much faster than the hot and cold
waves about which the weather
Bureaus daily veX our souls. Teas"
in the flaInboyant American style have
reached Porto Rico, and | have heard
of kaffee klatsches on Pixies Peak.
This universal habit of imitation in
the ways of entertaining j. due to us
women, who always are foremost il
the great social scramble upward. We
are afraid to be original eveu in our
soups. Your regular diner-out in the
cities eats the same meal, from oysters
to liqueurs, every night in the winter
in q different house, until bis stomach,
if not his soul, is weary within him.
1t is refreshing 10 lock back upon
the old fashions of entertaining in this
country for q moment. The American,
during his three centuries OF national
life, has always Except in one ssction)
been given to hospitality. He is natur-
ally a good-humored, open-hGuded
fellow, and food as d rnle mas been
plentiful and cheap.
The first settlers in Virginia and
Pennsylvania, living in log cabins, i'll
the shadow of the great aud silent
wilderness, seized upon the excuse of
wedding or christening or b.s"I!-r4i.iu:
toinvite their ncighbors within wen!v
miles to feaSts which often iaataG FOR
dats. Huge quantities Of deer aUi
bear were Dc. Dared, aud barrels II
hone6ist;lled whisky we're GF;:I,ll.
There wert7 dancing ard races aud
leaping matches for masters aIt.i
slaves These barbarities, as we row
should call them. Were not confined to
ignorant Doors. The hosts were often
cadets of good families in England aud
Ireland, owners OF thousands Of slaves,
both black and white. They We're
often, too, men OF intelligence and
education who soon gained dcuiu&ilca
over their ignorant nelghhCls as sense
carriers for the comnunitY, accord
ing TO the expressive old term. Wash
ington himself WAS often Il guest at
these feasts when on service OF the
frontier. The sons of these pioneers
were educated and became the militia
ry leaders, the statesmen and jurists
of the republic during the early years.
The feasts OF those early years CON
tinued to be lavish rather thar
elegant. Talleyrand and the Orleans
princes complained that in the houses
in New York and Philadelphia in
which they were entertained they
were expect.d to gorge food and to
tipple from eight in the morning until
midnight. A French gourmet, writing
book on the cuisine of different
nations, called one chapter in the in
dex, Cookery in America" The
chapter consisted of but one figure
a O..
Another foreigner, writing appar-
emily cold facts, with 10 flavor of
malice, describes a dinner at the house
of President Washington. 1t consist
ed principally of hinge saddle of NUT
ton and some very good Madeira. Be
fore and after the meal the guests sat
in a solemn semi-circle, the President
in the center. Noone spoke unless he
was addressed by his host. At nine
o'clock the President rose, babe each
guest a formal good night, turned at
the door to bow again, and went to
bed.
There was no lack of variety in the
feasts of those times. We had not vet
learned to play the dull game OF Fol
low My Leader"
A woman who was in her old age
when l was u child once told Inc
"When l was u girl l lived in the
mountains of the western part of Nir-
ginia. We used frequently 20 have
dances at the planters houses. But
the roads were bad and the distances
great. l would set out on horseback
early in the afternoon, my negro maid
on another horse carrying my ball
dress pinned up in bundle. Old
Uncle Sim rode in front. We danced
all night and always stayed until
UT6dhIdbG. SOuu0liLu6S GllS eHbIIc
party. with their servants, adjourned
to another house land again to another.
The suppers were very elaborate. But
if people could not afford to give eX-
pensive entertainments, they asked
their friends to bread and cheese. Ask
them they would. l remember one
banquet made up entirely of water
melons. Each guest was given half OF
a melon and q spoon. 1t WAS the well
| come that gave seasoning to the
| feast"
AS time passed, good housekeeping
and cookery became fine arts among
| the better class of women il TIE south
ern States. Mistresses OF plantations
We'd with each other III the 'I&yiuE
| down" Of meats and il making ii
cakes, pickles and lucent jelli2S. The
| other branches of kitchens arts were j..
| the hands Of the negroes, who axe
cooks by nature. Tie ola auaty
| scotfed AZ patent brGi!s.rS and balm
maries; she worked nar miracles wit
a bed Of Goals and iron siitiiets. Bat
she had stores of game, fish, terraril
and crabs to draw on for her Jriumphs.
| Not Soyer, nor all France, ever pro
duced more delicious meals than those
which she served in Virginia and
| Maryland n generation ago.
A wedding brought out all the skill
| of these great black artists. The wed.