Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1910-07-28
How 70 Care for the Sumner Guest.

How to Care for the Sumner Guest
An easy way to amass a fortune, lift
mortgage from the farm or add a bay
window and an octagon piazza to a vii
lsge residence, is to open ones doors to
the city stranger and take him in TO the
fullest extent. He will be a yawning re-
ceptacle for all the products of the farm
and them at the best market
prices with no trouble and expense in
freight and express shipment, as the
goods can be delivered right on the din
ing room table to satisfy an appetite
s%harpened by country air and exercise.
No sumptuous house or furnishings are
necessary in order to entertain the strang-
er, but comforts are essential. Put your
grandmother's counterpart on the spare
bed but keep the "album quilt" out Of
sight; for that would give a Rip Van
Wrinkle insomnia. A long clock some
where near the stairs will set the guest to
quoting Longfellow and feeling pleasant
" poeticaI as be hears il strike y while
the hands point to a quarter to 3 at 10:30
in the forenoon. Have a few old
fashioned straight-backed chairs around
with a plenty Of soft, easy rockers to sit
in. Hang a brass warming par in his
room; il will be ornamental il not useful
during July and August. Although your
guest wants everything simple and caun-
tryfed, he will be almost sure to prefer
Mattress and springs to q straw tick On a
rope bedstead after he has tried the latter
combination one night.
Let him have plenty Of air; it is both
cheap and abundant. Don't tuck him
away under the caves with only a port
hole for ventilation, and don't be fraid to
open the parlor blinds and windows. The
reds, blues and yellows in the ingram
parlor carpet need to fade to more pastel
shades in order to be endurable. Don't
pin the tides on, and do nail the rugs
down so he won't be all the time tripping
over them to the peril OF bis temper and
his limbs.
City people naturally expect the coun-.
try to be a riot of flowers and to find
country houses in q perpetual state Of
decoration suitable for a wedding or q
funeral occasion. It is a light and pretty
task for the hostess to regarnish her
rooms every morning with blossoms
picked before the dew is cd the erase or
the rest OF the household astir. This
necessitates, Of course, a large flower gar
den to be weeded and watered and offers
the lady keeping boarders and doing her
own housework an opportunity to kill
some of the leisure time that hangs so
heavily on her hands. Still more OF q
necessity is well-stocked vegetable gar
den for though a bowl OF nasturtiums on
the dinner table may satisfy an aestheti-
cal hunger for the beautiful, it does not
appease a physical yesrning for green peas
and string beans cooked in cream.
Al good, wholesome country fare is
what the boarder is after, he ought TO be
fed richly on johnny cake, fried salt
pork, creamed Goldfish, slapjacks and ma
pie syrup, twisted doughnuts, onions and
aprles fried together In pork fat, beans
and brownbread, potatoes boiled with
their jackets on and any other dainty,
both tempting and filing. The wise
cook will begin as she can hold out and
let it be surmised from the very first that
chicken salad and ice cream are not the
main articles OF diet on a Vermont farm.
Milk should be about as plenty as water
and can be If it is kept down to the city
standard test and the taste of the boarder
not impaired so that he will make trouble
for the city milk dealers when he returns
to Gotham in the fall.
The real secret OF keeping a boarder
eontented aud happy undoubtedly con-
sists in making him feel perfectly at
home; so much so indeed, that in a few
days he will begin to find fault with the
y~ictuals just like n of the family. His
critical remarks should make a hostess
gleeful instead Of fearful and should not
disturb the even tenor Of her way of do
ing things; for she is evidently succeed
ing in giving him all the comforts OF a
home in a chance to growl, and she proba-
bly, couldn't do better any way If she
tried.
Anot her aid to mutual happiness is for