Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-11-15

GOOD CHEER At TABLE,.



From the London Daily Chronicle.
There are some homes in which the
evening gathering at the dinner table
is an incident of the day, looked for
ward to by all as a time when house.
hold and business worries can be
thrust upon one side to the indulgence
of bright n CHEEKY conversation that
acts like a tonic after a busy and pos
slbly tedious day. Breakfast is roo hur-
ried a meal for much in the way OF
intercourse, lunch and tea are partaker,
OF by the greater number of the family
outside the home, and thus ii is only
at the evening meal that there is the
time and opportunity for am enjoyable
family gathering, when the events OF
the day can be recorded and discussed
and the widely different personalities
of the household blended into one har.
moniouS whole.
But, unfortunately, there are many,
many homes wherein there is absolute
~ no effort made TO keep the mealtime.
hour Il period of mutual refreshment, in
which he mine gains equally us much
as the body. The members of the
household take little or no pains to
free themselves from business duties
or social obligations for this one hour
OF the day; neither do they exert them
selves to create a pleasant feeling
upon such occasions as chance brings
them together at the table.
No uuS IoF S~NCdGOteS.
In some cases the mealtime is a full
program of small disputes and sQuab-
bles. In other cases all are preoccu-
pied, silent and dun. too selfish to have
any hought of entertaining n an
other. or even of showing the little po-
litenesses. which they would never fail
to exhibit anywhere outside the home.
There is the unsociable. newspaper
reading father, the household worried
mother, and so many sons and daugh-
tiers all alike e%ngrossed in their own
affairs.
But such a state of matters is de-.
plorable in the extreme. In these times
of hustle and rush, when the members
of the family have so little time to ac-
quaint themselves with each others
life and work and interests, ii is a very
sad thing for these scanty moments of
family communion to be wasted. Only
Tor an noun at most is the family gath
cred together, and then each to her or
his niche in public or social affairs
hither, thither, everywhere, all moving
in their w particular orbits:
In Il certain HON with which I am
late and somewhat substantial tea-is
n of the ~jolliest gatherings that 1t
would be possible to imagine. On sum-
mer days it is partaken of i'm the gar
den in the shelter of the trees, n
when fresh and spruce and divorced
AAoAA liCii WOI NdutS ClollltS lIlS HAPPY
members of this busy but delightfully."-
organized household meet together for
a sweet Bohemian meal, taken picnic
fashion. with light hearts and merry
talk.
The Days Happiest Event.
Conversation can only be OF real
stimulation when it is perfectly sim
cere, when it is the expression, unfet-
tered by shyness. diplomacy or reserve,
OF the mind OF the speaker. That is
why free conversation within the fam
lily is a valuabl and precious some
thing that those who show indiffer-
ence to their own folk and rely upon
outsiders for entertainment and inter
est can never know. These friends of
mine store up all the little happenings
OF the day for narration at the evening
meal, and as the home atmosphere is
one of sympathy and good comrade-
ship, the conversation flows with rich
ness, wit ana force.
There are no books upon the table
TO cause the abstraction OF some and
the dizziness of the rest. There are nc
uncompl1mentary remarks about the
o to discourage the kindly mother-
cook and detract from the appetites
of her family. There is no ~vexation
shown for things that have gone wrong
or people who nave caused annoyance:
everything of an unpleasant nature is
held back until hungry holnecomers arc
fed and weary worker %enlivened and
refreshed.