Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-08
PARTISAN AUTUMN HATS.

and without that air of hustle which is fatal
to repose At noon the children hurry in
from school and eat their luncheon with an
eye upon the clock.
AS most of our homes are constituted the
convenient time for leisurely lingering at
the table and for agreeable talk Is found at
the evening meal. dinner or supper as the
case may be. Here is the time of times for
exchanging condolences about what has
happened during the day. The mother has
had her engagements at home, the father
and brothers have been away at work. and
on each side there is sure to be something
| to relate which shall be a suitable peg on
which to hang discussion.
OF course, the family table Is not lee
ture platform, nor pedagogue's desk, nor
an arena for heated argument. There are
homes in which the law of self-preservation
has induced the reigning sovereign. who Is
the lady of the house. to lay down as an in
flexible rule. never bring politics to the
table. They provoke anger and bitterness.
Where any subject excites strongly con-
trasting opinions that may be Unexpectedly
maintained 1t is wise to prohibit II at an
hour sacred to domestic peace
Whatever we do. we should not quarrel
at the table. Dyspepsia is one of the
mics that We as a people need to fight, and
its presence is invoked by disputes over
food. Table talk should be light, CHEEKY,
bright and entertaining. IL anybody hears
good story during the day he should save
1t to tell at dinner If there is in the news
paper q report or some great discovery,
some new invention, some heroic deed. that
is fit topic for talk when the family are
assembled around the board.
In some houses the old motto, Children
should be seen and not heard, still holds
sway, and combined with 1t is another
equally harmful, to the effect that little
pitchers have big ears The plain truth of
the matter is that nothing should ever lie
said in the family circle which the little
pitchers ought not to hear; that every sort
of gossip, censure, criticism and bit OF
doubtful informant ton not intended for them
should be reserved for places and times
when and from which they are absent and
that well-bred children should be allowed
their proper share in family talk.
This does not mean that a forward child
should monopolize the attention of every
body; a precocious one make speeches at
which the family smile approvingly. nor an
obstinate one pound on the table till he gets
an answer to his question. Well-bred chill
dren taught not to interrupt and to wait
until there is an interval in the conversation
of older people before they press their
claims A family is not a penitentiary nor
a reformatory. 1t Is republic, in which
the rights of every member are, or ought TO
be, guaranteed One right of childhood Is
to learn, and much of the practical knowl-
edge which children may learn is acquired
outside of the school room and in the home.
If there Is one person more than another
to be regarded with dismay it is however,
the one who may be defined as the educa-
tional parent. He is SO imbued with a sense
of his responsibility to the rising generation
that he sidetracks everything that does not
have direct bearing on the instruction of
his children. With pedantry that would
be amusing if it were not so great bore he
takes time at the table, well on the
ferryboat, or in the street ear. or on the
walk home from church, to explain 10 his
boys and girls the exact meaning of every
word they 90 not understand. to tell them
where Manchnria is. and all about the ISL
and of Sakhalin, to give them an insight
into political economy, and to convince them
of the ethical distinctions that obtain in the
civilized world. All this and much more our
children are to lie taught. but while the
educational parent is doing his duty to them
table talk languishes grown people suffer
from tedium, and his home becomes a wear
isome place. from which the children them
selves are glad TO fly.
Very much of home culture for old and
young must be indirect Incidental atmos-
pheric, suggested, rather than inculcated by
method. The difference between real cul-
ture and the straining after facts and theo-
ries which may be called examining is ex-
ceedingly marked. 1t is really the differ
ence between the forcing process of the not
house and the warmth and radiance of the
summer sun.
Perhaps nothing advances the culture of a
family to high-water mark more rapidly and
effectually than the frequent coming TO q
house of interesting guests. A family should
not live In isolation Exclusiveness, II car
ried too far, becomes a bane and a blight.
Our homes should be receptive to the best
influences obtatnable from the outside world.
Ministers frequently are obliged almost to
keep open house. particularly in towns and
villages where hotels are few, and where IL
Is not the custom to send visitors to hired
quarters. The children of the ministers
profit by their parents hospitality. and
polite, affable and keen-witted beyond 9TH
ers OF their age. Every welcome guest
brings to a household a pleasant air OF nov
city, SO that his coming is like the touching
at the coasts of home of ship from an
other part OF the globe. Homes which fire.
luently receive people of distinction become
themselves distinguished for all that Is best
and most elevating In social intercourse.
Should a theme be mentioned in common
table talk which requires calculation that
cannot at the moment be given, 1t should
not be dropped out of sight and forgotten
The encyclopedia, the atlas or the volume
OF foreign travel may be consulted TO good
purpose In that expansive half hour which
should always follow the pleasant function
Of the evening meal One OF the most YER
satile and original men of letters Amerfca
ever produced encouraged what he called
the encyclopedia habit In his children. and
his family almost always grouped Itself
around the evening lamp in an earnest ef-
fort to finish some story or topic Wnicn WAS
sure to have been preached at dinner. They
grew up exceptionally thorough. - wsil a.
exceptionally clever.