Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-25
THE BANE OF ovEREAT|NG
PRESENT SOCIAL LIFE CALLS
FOR TOO MUCH FEEDING.
Hospitality Demands That Enter
tanners Furnish Food-The Crime
Of Dropping in at Meal Time.

From the Northwestern Christian Advocate
And it is alarming when one considers
how much eating must be done in order
to keep the social and political and
church and lodge life in healthy condi-
ton nowadays. The time was when hos
pitality was a pleasure, but now il is a
burden under which the women are sink
ing by hundreds every day. The average
housekeeper of the land wants to keep
pace with the procession and have her
children enjoy many advantages as
possible so she drives her tired body to
the work and undertakes tasks far be-
yond her time and strength. If the
neighbors serve refreshments 50 must
she and if the neighbors children have
little parties and picnics and taffy
scrapes. SO must her children. II Is
cat eat, on every occasion till one Won
dcrS If In time the three meals a day of
the family will not be abolished because
people have no appetites for them
Wed all he glad to do away with the
useless eating. but we can't do it, said
a weary housekeeper- LAS il is. we have
to do the best we can and hope for bet
ter times.
Give-and-Take System.
Real hospitality suffers from this ex-
cessre eating. Everything is reduced
to the give and-take system that rigidly
keeps account of each entertainment and
pays 1t back promptly as possible
We cannot ask our friends because I'VE
are not indebted to them" and when We
do entertain We try to take In as many
as possible to whom We are indebted and
have 1t over with. The guest who dares
to drop i'm unannounced is a very cour
ageous person, and even near relatives
are forming the habit of eating at hotels
and restaurants rather than expect a
welcome If they happen to be in time for
meals. but cannot announce their coming.
They have learned that it is the only safe
plan. The hostess who uncOmplainingly
provides waters and ices for forty per-
SONS dislikes to have a friend drop in
without warning at meal time, and few
people are guilty of such a thing nova
days. We cheerfully do wholesale
business along the line of hospitality. but
will have nothing to do with the retail
part of it. In church of 800 members
the committee appointed to ind entertain
ment for over Sunday for the new pastor
almost gave up in despair in hunting a
hostess. Just as they were about to
give up and send the minister to a hotel
one woman came forward with a doubt
full statement that she would take him
if she had to, but would not be imposed
upon again. This sounds strange when
one remembers the Prophets chamber
of a generation or two back when the
minister was an honored and welcome
guest in almost every home.
Eating Between Meals.
Eating between meals and late at night
only heaps up trouble for the individual
who INDUCES. and for his family as we'll
In the days gone by children were sup
posed to be In bed by O'Clock and to
give their waking hours to school and
work and play, but at present the chill
dren act very much like their elders.
They have their clubs their social at
| fairs and their church organizations. but
| the mothers are the ones who prepare
the refreshments for all the meetings.
| and the mothers who nurse them through
| trouble brought on by too much eating
and losing sleep. The woman who takes