Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-04-26

9ve tread the circuit of 4 l.arrow sphere
And call it broad. and. having ears to hear
Unwisely nearken; having eyes, we gaze
Beyond Truths tiueness to its paraphra Sc
Past rough sinceFeness towards fair insin
So. touch we hands, not hearts-touch lips.
not souls:
Give: and care not what each TO each de
MES,
Speak from the verge of Que distinctive
Know and cross not the gulf between
And. looking straight into each others
See not their anguish nor their unshea
tears. MARY Ashley Townsend
Ante Bellum Hospitality.
Writing in Success on Hospitality in
the South" Dorothy Dix says.
Southern hospitality still lives and
hourishes; but. as was natural. its finest
flower bloomed in the palmy days before
the war. The easiness of life then for
the well-to-do, the great mansion houses
with their endless retinues of trained
servants. who could not give notice and
leave If household arrangements failed
to suit them have the ideal conditions
which made entertaining an unmixed de-
light. There was no need to count the
cost where everything was supplied in
NuSlG1ul GDuuldute. Tor one ThlH0.
there was no occasion to worry over de-
tails that Were in the hands ef-seryants
themselves past masters and mistresses
of the art of entertaining. The lady OF
the house had nothing to do but give a
few orders, and relinquish herself to he
pleasure of the hour, herself the most
h0nored guest of all In the country. life
offered few eXcitements, and one depend
Ell 10 large extent on ones visitors for
amusement. So, when a planter erected
home he built it with twenty or thirty
guest chambers, and dispensed hospi-
tality as lavish as it was picturesoue
The door stood always open to friends
and the stranger knocking at it was TAX
en- in, fed, and welcomed with as simple
faith as dwells in an Arab tent. Indeed
had the stranger but a happy knack of
telling story or singing Il song, he car
rled his welcome ready-made with him.
and there is more than one authentic
tale or an unknown guest, stopping to
ask shelter for a night, who so enchant-
ed the host with his gift of conversation
that he was pressed to remain, and did
prolnng his visit until death cut it short
after lapse of over twenty years. Con
sanguinity is name to conjure with
i'll the South, where hinship is counted to
The forty-seyenth degree, and the man
sion house was never so gay. or the host
and hostess so happy as when Cousin
Clarissa and Cousin Letitia, and Cousin
Nancy, and all the rest of the clan gath
cred in, thirty and forty srrong for n
visit that stretched over weeks and
moaths.
They came driving through the COM
try in numbering family coaches. with
their trunks strapped on behind. a saucy
black maid sitting up beside the old
eoachman, and a grinning yellow boy
bringing up the rear with 'miiadi's' high
CT pisl 81 az
course, attended by her fayorite cavalier.
who was accompanied BIZ his valet, lead
ing an extra horse or two. But what
did it matterl If there was a warm well
come in the mansion for the mistress
and master, the quarter opened raDtur-
Gus arms to receive the servants, and
the more. the merrier' was the CAV
motto of the hour. The quiet of the
place became suddenly transformed into
busting activity.
Then, what feasting there was, when
every house mad dusky divinity of the
pots and pans, who laid heavy hand on
the seasoning, and was Gordon bleu--
what hirtations under the pink hedges Of
crepe myrtleLwhat fox-hunting through
the crisp dawn of the early morning.
what tournaments, when the. young
hloods masqueraded as Iyanhoe and Bots
de Guilbert, and all the rest of Scotts
heroes, and dared death on their fleet
footed thoroughbreelssa for the sake of
browning some maidens1neen of love and
beauty. Then at night the dining room
floor would be cleared. Old black Ben
and Sandy Ike would bring in the fiddle
and the banjo, and, after preliminary
flourish or two, would begin calling off
the figures of the dance to the sing-sorg
chant: AN now salute yo' partners, an
now salute yo' lef', give yo' lady yO'
right han an promenade all round ,
do hln,I-.J 1,.;.t D.,
a solid mass of grinning black faces,
while there tloated in, in subdued ejacu-
lations-made with the respectful fiji
miliarity that the negro alone can en-
compass: Oar now, | tell you, dey ain :
no young gem dat kin cut de pigeon
wing wild my young marsteF; followed
by woman's voice thankfully proclaim.
ing, Bless Cord, dey amt none de yuther
ladies got a foot dat kin match wild my
honey chile's. | kin hold it in de PAIN of
my hand, an have room to spar. Nor
was hospitality regarded solely in the
light of a pleasure. The old-time South
erner took very literally the command.
about entertaining that Is given III the
good book and many person moving
into new community, and many tray
eler, taken sick at Il waySide inn, Will tell
you. gratefully. how they were sent for.
and taken TO some mansion house, and
comforted and nursed, and had the way
made pleasant Tor them DY people on
whom they had no claim, save that they
were strangers in a strange land.
But people have less time 10 visit
now. and less money with which to en-
terrain. and still, whatever else he denies
himself the Southerner cannot omit the
pleasure of gathering his friends about
his board. This hospitality. no less
warm, il little less lavish, greets YOU
on every side In Louisiana. In the
cane grinding season, all the big sugar
planters keep open house at their planta-
lions, and life once more goes back
pretty much to the old conditions before
the war. In the old French quarter OF
New Orleans there still live. on constant
" narrowing incomes. women who were
the grandeSt DANES of the old regime,
and whose hospitality was famous
through two countries for its lavish
spiendor. Here they sit among the
wrecks of former grandeur, in rooms
that are artfully darkened. that you may
not see how faded the carpet is. nor how
tattered is the old brocade on the ma
hogany chairs Madame may not be
able to offer YOU now, when you 90 TO
see her. anything bGt a little eau sucree
in priceless old Bohemian goblet, but
she does it with a superb ignoring Of all
that was, and is, Of all the unpleasant
ness of life and conditions. and with the
air Of the grande dame still You are