The Topeka state journal., 1905-10-01

lack of the true hospitality which,
united to grace and tact and ready con-
versation, should make every guest feel
that his or her presence is valuable and
welcome. A small private dinner, at
which the company are some six or
eight persons at most is sometimes
(though not by any means always,
quite pleasant affair, but a big din
ner in the big sense of the word, is
generally the most painful and dismal
Of functions, except to those for whom
silent gorging and after-repletion are
the essence of all mental and physical
joy.
remember-and of a truth it would
be impossible to fOrget-one of these
dinners which took place last season in
a very "swagger'' house-the house of
a member OF that old British nobility
whose forbears and titles always excite
a gentle flow Of saliva IN the mouths Of
snobs. The tables-there were two
were, to use the formal phrase, 'Iaid
for forty covers'-that is to say that
each table accommodated twenty guests.
The 1oveliest flowers, the most priceless
silver, the daintiest glass, adorned the
festive boards-everything that taste
could suggest or wealth supply had its
share in the general effect of design
and colOr-the host was at the head of
one table-the hostess at the other
and DetWeen-W1ileS a fine string band
discoursed the sweetest music. But
with it all there was no real hospitality.
We might as well have been seated at
some extra-luxurious table d'hote in one
of the ''KuF'' houses of Austria or Ger
many, paying SO much Per day for our
entertainment. Any touch Of warm and
kindly feeling was altogether lacking;
and to make matters worse, a heavy
demon brooded over the brave outward
show of the feaSt-a demon with sOdden
grey wings that refused to rise and soar
the demon of a hopeless, irremediable
stupidity! Out and alas!-here was the
core of the mischief! For sad as it is
to lack Heart in the entertaining of our
friends it doubles the calamity to lack
Brain as WeIii Our host was stupid
dull to a degree unimaginable by those
who do not know what some 1ordly
British aristocrats can be at their own
tables-our hostess, a beautiful woman,
was equally stupid; being entirely en-
crossed with herself and her own bodily
charms. to the utter oblivion Of the
ease and well-being of her guests. What
a meal it was! How interminably it
dragged its slow length alongi What
small hydraulic bursts of meaningless
talk sDurted out between the entries
and the gamei-talk to be either check
ed by walters prOffering more food, or
drowned in the musical growing Of the
band! I believe one man hazarded a
joke-but It was not heard-and I know
that a witty old Irish peer told an anec-
dote which was promptly "quashed' by
dish of asparagus being thrust before
him Just as he was, in the richest
brogue, arriving at the point" But as
nobody listened to him it did not matter.
Nobody does listen to anybody or any
thing nowadays at social functions. Esv-
erybody talks with insane. babbling
eagerness. apparently Indifferent as to
whether they are heard or not. Any
amount OF people ask questions and
never think of waiting for the answers.
Should any matters. small or great. re-
quire explanation, scarce soul has the
patience or courtesy to attend to such
explanation or follow it with any IUcidi-
" or comorehension. It is all hurry
skurry, helter-skelter, and bad, shock
ing3y bad, manners.
am given to understand that Amer-