The herald., 1913-03-13
TROUBLES OF HOSTESS
BY ELIZABETH CUNNINGHAM.

. WIS D'IoT' mahogany writing desk
heaped with torn note paper and 9th
/ er evidences of mental confusion.
NO. I'm not busy-at least Il will
do me good 10 get a brief rest ! say
brief. because I've got to get back to
my work and finish il today so that
/ can send out the invitations. Why.
/ I'm giving q dinner party! Those
torn up things are the party. I'm 60
/ ing TO have dozen people at time
and pay Off my social debts. and I
know it sounds perfectly simple until
you begin 10 consider the compiled
! lions. have the most intense fellow
| sympathy now for the man who makes
out the grand opera sChedule-he
must have mighty brain to get his
/ operas so shufled that there aren't
! any duplicates, and everybody is sat
| istied. If he can do that with a lot
! or muscle and nervous tcnOrs and So
| pranos it seems 10 me that | should
/ be able to accomplish the same re-
/ suits with a batch OF perfectly ordI-
I nary persons without artistic tempera-
ments 10 hamper them.
/ Il got my first list Of a dozen made
out in short order and then | began to
consider it. What do you suppose |
had done? Why. had asked the Ben
nings and the Simpsons, when every
/ body knows that the women of those
/ two families turn purple at sight of
/ each other and refuse to speak. I've
forgotten the original row, but know
Mrs. Renning would be quite capable
of getting up from the table and walk
/ ing away if she found Mrs. Simpson
across from her and she would believe
| that | had done il on purpose and
would hate me ever after. So ! shift
ed the Simpsons to my second dozen.
Then after staring some time at Mr..
/ Darwin's name because it reminded
me of something. / remembered what
it was his name reminded me of. and
cold chills shot over me. Mr.. Darwin
is the man who accused Mr. Benning
of bribery six years ago and. though
. Mr.. Benning proved his innocence, it
still would be ruinOus to his digestion
if Mr.. Darwin should sit at the same
table. So hastily put Mr.. Darwin on
the second list.
THAT is to say, got his name half
written before | recalled that his de-
| ceased wife was cousin OF Mrs.
| Simpsons and had been willed all the
family money that Mrs. Simpson had
counted on getting, and now that OAR
win has inherited his wife's fortune
Mrs. Simpson would just as soon sit
next a ella monster as next to Mr..
Darwin. He went on the third list.
81 was just congratulating myself
that the pretty Lake girl would lend
beauty to the affair when I remem-
bered that she had been engaged to
the son of the Philpotts and that Mrs.
Philpotts' meddling had broken off
the engagement, and didn't want the
Lake girl smiling and Mrs. Philpotts
glaring all evening. so | shifted the
Lake girl to list No. 2. Then ! recalled
that she had seemed to enjoy talking
to Mr.. Darwin at recent card party,
so moved her on list No. 3.
"By this time had settled down to
work in earnest. l crossed off the
Joneses because Mr. Jones is a fright
when he gets started talking politics,
and I simply won't have a dinner
spoiled by the men all saving the air
and not noticing what triumphs my
cook has achieved. You could feed
man sawdust in tomato sauce when
he is talking politics and he'd never
know the difference. / substituted the
Cranes and the Garlands, and every
human being knows that Mr.. Garland
once knocked Mr. Crane down in a
row over a golf game, and now IL
either of them walks down the street
where the other lives the latter sends
out a servant to sprinkle the walk
with formaldehyde and chloride of
lime. So / moved on the Garlands
and wrote down the Browns"
my goodness!" exclaimed the caller
in horror Didn't you know"
Eyes" YEARLY admitted the woman
at the desk. "Of course, I did. But
my mind was growing confused. I
suppose no one past eighteen is likely
to forget that Mrs. Crane said her
cook, who had once worked for the
Browns, said that the Browns were
so stingy they never had anything to
eat unless they had company and she
left because she was slowly starving
to death. l was there when Mrs.
Brown told Mrs. Crane what she
thought of her.
THE Boldens seemed harmless until
I recollected that the Griswolds were
on the list, too, and Mrs. Griswold had
been so mad about Mrs. Bolden's at
tending the charity ball in a gown the
exact duplicate Of one Mrs Griswold
had brought from Europe that she
hasn't spoken to her since. Besides,
Mr. Griswold was elected president of
a club that Mr.. Bolden wanted to be
president Of, and in consequence he
considered Mr.. Griswold a scoundrel
of the deepest dye. That's as far as
I had got in planning a pleasant little
party when you came in. What would
you suggest"
who, me?" asked her caller. why,
I'm naturally daring-Td ask the
whole bunch Of scrappers at once, and
then sic them on each other!"-Cht
cago Daily News.
Arabic 4 ettera