Show RURAL HOSPITALITY 1 How to Entertain in a Country Home l LET SERVANTS DO THE CARVING I h A Shaded Veranda a Charming Place tc Breakfast If the Weather Is Warm Some Amusements For THE SSNTJAT HERALD Copyrighted We who love the country salute you who love the town I praise the rivulets the rocks overgrown with moss and the groves of the delightful de-lightful country And do you ask why I live and reign as soon as I have quitted those thing which you extol to the skies with joyful applause ap-plause and like a priests fugitive slave I reject re-ject luscious wafers I desire plain bread which is more agreeable than honied cakes HORACE Tenth Ode The poets have been in the habit of praising prais-Ing a country life since the days of Homer but the Americans have not as a people appreciated joys As soon as a countryman country-man was able to do it ho moved to the largest larg-est city near him presumably New York or perhaps Paris The position of opulence much desired by those who had been bred in poverty suggested at once the greater convenience of a town life and the busy workaday world to which most Americans Ameri-cans are born necessitates the nearness to Wall street to banks to people and to the town The city people were content formerly to give tbeir children six weeks of country air and old New Yorkers did not move out I of the then small city even in the hot months The idea of going to the country to live for pleasure a place In which to upend ones money and to entertain has been to the average American mind i A THING OF RECENT GROWTH a Perhaps our climate has much to do with this People bred in the country feared to meet that long cold winter of the north which even to the welltodo was filled with suffering Who does not remember the ice in the pitcher of a morning which must be broken before even faces were washed Tnerefore the furnaceheated city house the companionship the bustle the stir and convenience of a city has been naturally enough preferred to the loneliness of the i country As Hawthorne once said Americans Ameri-cans were not sufficiently civilized to live in the country 9 When he went to England and saw a different dif-ferent order of things he understood why England a small place with 2000 years of civilization with admirable roads with landed estates with a mild winter with a with a taste for sport with dogs horses and well traiaed servants was a very different dif-ferent place s It may be years before we make our country life as agreeable as it is in England We have got to conquer climate first But the love of country life growing in America 3 Amer-ica Those so fortunate as to be able to live in a climate like that of Southern Cali Cali y QUOTE HORACE WITH BTMPATHT a = Those who live so hear to a great city as to 0 j j I command at once city conveniences and I country air and freedom are amongst the fortunate of the earth And to hundreds and thousands of such in our delightfully prosperous new country the art of entertaining in a country house assumes a new interest And no better model for ahostess can be found than an Englishwoman There is when she receives her guests a quiet cor diality a sense of pleasurable expectancy an Inbred ease grace suavity composure and respect for her visitors which seems to come naturally to a well bred Englishwoman English-woman that is to say to the best types of the highest class To be sure they have had vast experience in the art of entertain Ing they have learned this useful accomplishment accom-plishment from a long line of welltrained predecessors They have no domestic cares to worry them At the head of her own house an Englishwoman is as near perfection perfec-tion as a human being can be There is the great advantage of the Eng lish climate to begin with It is loss excit ing than ours The nervous woman is almost al-most unknown Their ability to take exercise exer-cise the moist and soft air their good appetite appe-tite and healthy digestion place them in a physical condition almost always DENIED TO AX AMERICAN Here our climate drives us on by invisi ble whips we breathe oxygen more intoxicating intoxi-cating than champagne The great servant question bothers us from the cradle to the grave With an Englishwoman it has never entered Into her scheme of annoyances annoy-ances so there is a total absence of fussiness ness in an English hostess English women spend the greater part of the year in traveling or home in the country coun-try Town life is with them a matter of six weeks or three months at least They are fond of nature of riding of walking They share with the men a more vigorous physique than Is given to any other race A French or Italian woman dreads a long walk the companionship of a dozen dogs the yachting and the race course the hunt ing field days and the lawn tennis pursued with Indefatigable vigilance but the fair English girl with her blushing cheeks her dog her pony and her hands full of wildflowers I wild-flowers is a character worth crossing the I ocean to see She is a product of the highest high-est civilization and as such is still near th6 divine model which nature furnishes she has the underlying charm of simplicity She is the very rose of perfect womanhood She may seem shy awkward and reserved but > what the world calls pride or coldness may turn out to be hidden virtue or reserve serve or modesty English home education is a seminary of infinite importance a girl learns to control her speech to be always calm and well bred I SHE HAS BEEN TONED DOWN from her youth She has been carefully taught to respect the duties of her high I position She has this advantage to counterbalance coun-terbalance the disadvantage which we freeborn free-born citizens think may come with an over pride of birth she has learned the motto noblesse oblige The English fireside is a beacon light forever to the soldier In the Crimea to the colonist In Australia to the grave official In India to the missionary in the south seas to the English boy wherever where-ver he may be It sustains and ennobles the Englishwoman at home and abroad As a hostess the Englishwoman is sure to mold her house to look like home She has soft low couches for those who like hem highbacked tall chairs for the tall low chairs for the lowly She has her bookcases and pretty china scattered everywhere she has work baskets and writing tables and flowers particularly wild ones which look as if she had tossed them In the vases herself Her house look cheerful and cultivated I use the word advisedly for all taste must be cultivated A state apartment Inn In-n old English grand house can be INEXPRESSIBLY DREARY High ceilings stiff old girandoles pictures I of ancestors miles of mirors and the Lao I a Z coon or specimens of Grecian art which none one cares for except in the Vatican the ceramic and historical horrors of some old collector who had no taste are enough to frighten a visitor But when a young oran or-an experienced English hostess has smiled on such a house there will be some delightful delight-ful lumber strewn around no end of pretty brackets and baskets and curtains and screens and couches piled high with cushions cush-ions and then the quaint carvings the rather affected riches the mantel piece neatly up to the ceiling as in Hogarth1 ouch all these become humanized by her touch The spirit of a hostess should aim at the combination of use and beauty Some finer spirits command both as Michael Mich-ael Angelo who hung the dome at Florence high in air made a thing of beauty which is a joy forever but did not forget to build under it a convenient church as well As for the bed rooms in an English country coun-try house they transcend description they are the very apotheosis of comfort The dinners are excellent the breakfast and lunch comfortable informal and easy the horses are at your disposiuon the lawn and gardens are yours for a stroll the chapel lies near at hand where you can study architecture and ancient brass There are pleasant people In the house you are lot alone you are not BEING ENTERTAINED that most dreadful of sensations that somebody has you on his mind and must show you photographs and lift off your ennui you seem to be in Paradise i But English people will tell you that house parties are dull not that all are but some are No doubt the jaded senses lose the power of being pleased A visit to an English house to an American who brings with her a fresh sense of enjoyment and who remembers the limitations of a new country one who loves antiquity history old pictures and all that time can do one who is hungry for old world refinements to such a one a visit to an English country house is delightful to a worn out English set whose business it has been for a quarter quar-ter of a century to go from one house to another an-other no doubt it is dull Some unusual distraction is craved To relieve the monotony and silence and the dull depressing cloud which sometimes settles on tho most admirably arranged English dinner party even an American savage would be welcomed says a modern novel writer How much more then is a pretty young woman who with a true enthusiasm thusiasm and a wild liberty has found her opportunity and uses it plays the banjo tells fortunes by the hand has no fear of rank Is in her sot a glacier of freshness with a heart of fire LIKE ROMAN PUNCH How much more gladly is a young American Amer-ican woman welcomed in such a house and how soon her head is turned She is popular popu-lar until she carries off the eldest son and then she is severely criticised and by her spoiled capracies becomes a heroine for Ouida to rejoice in and the foundation for a novel But the glory is departing from many a stately English oountry house Fortune Is failing them they are many of them for rent Rich Americans are buying their old picturesthe Gainsborough the Joshua Reynolds the Rembrandts which have been the pride of English country houses are coming down charmed by the silver music of almighty dollar The old fairytale fairy-tale is coming true Even the furniture dances So we have the money and we have the vivacity according to even our severest critics We have now to cultivate the repose re-pose of an English hostess if we would make our country houses as agreeable as she does We cannot improvise the antiquity or the old chapel or the brasses we cannot make our roads as fine as those which enable an English house party to drive sixteen niles to a dinner in fact we must admit that they have been 900 years making a lawn even Bat we must try to do things i A tit o our own way and use our own advantages so that we can MAKE OUR GUESTS COMFORTABLE The American autumn is tho most glorious glori-ous of seasons for entertaining in the country coun-try house Nature bangs our hillsides then with a tapestry that has no equal even at Windsor The weather that article which in America is apt to be so good that if it is bad we apologize for It is more apt to be good in October makes the duties a hostess host-ess easy in October for nature helps to entertain en-tertain anybody It is to be feared that we have not yet learned to be guests trusting to that boundless American hospitality which has been apt to say Come when you please and stay as long as you can we decline an Invitation for the 6th saying we can come on the 9th This cannot be dono when people begin to give house parties We must go on the 6th or not at all We should also define the limits of a visit as in England one is asked on Wednesday Wed-nesday to arrive at 5 to leave at 11 on Saturday Then one does not overystay his welcome Host and hostess and truest must thoroughly thor-oughly understand one another on this point and then punctuality is the only thing to be considered The opulent who have butler footman and French cooks need read no further in this chapter the rest of which will be directed di-rected to the larger class who have neither and who have to help themselves NO LADT SHOULD ATTEMPT TO ENTERTAIN in the country who has not a good cook and one or two attending maids who can wait well and perform other duties about the house With these three and with a good deal of knowledge herself a hostess can make a country house attractive The dining room should be the most agreeable room in the house shaded in tho morning and cool in the afternoon a large room with hard wood floor and mats if possible as these are clean and cool If possible a round table or an oval one set in a bay window If not possible try the portico for out of door dining and breakfasting break-fasting in warm weather The tablecloth should be of snowy damask dam-ask and the chairs easy cane cheap articles both cleaner and cooler than heavily upholstered uphol-stered things A wide veranda shaded with vines is the most agreeable of places for a summer breakfast or lunch If there aro long windows win-dows into the dining room the servant can use the dining room for her reserves of knives forks and spoons Maid servants should be taught by the mistress how to carve in order to save time and trouble Soup for a country dinner should be clear bcuillon or cromo dAsper gel or mutton or chicken broth as heavy soups are unreasonable in summer In very hot weather Iced bouillon Is preferred by many A country hostess should have cold ham cold tongue and all sorts of salads as a reserve In case the cook leaves as she generally does JUST AS COMPANY IS UIPZCTED And a garden full of fresh vegetables should be the belonging of every country house A clear soup a slice of fresh boiled salmon a bit of spring lamb with mint sauce fresh peas a salad of letuce or cold potatoes sliced with a bit of onion a cus tard cold and well flavored a bit of cheese a cup of coffee is a good dinner So Is a steak well broiled with a baked potato a salad and the rest of it A famous epicure said that all he asked was a bit of broiled salt pork and fresh vegetables with five strawberries Most hostesses in the country can give this and more The service is the thing There must be nothing neglected nothing at all slovenly Carafes of ice water a silver dish for ice a pair of ice tongs should be put on the table for summer with cream and fresh butter and then with a patent Joe cream freezer in the kitchen closet with a knowledge of the delicatelyflavored things which can be < made from gelatine corn starch and eggs a country hostess can reasonably succeed with small means and few servants in making mak-ing every one very comfortable It is not in good taste to make an ostentatious display dis-play of silver or expensive china in a country coun-try house AT NEWPORT and in many a fine place elsewhere the opulent make a boast that they use plate ware so that burglars will not breakthrough break-through and steal Nowadays the china and glass is so very pretty and so very cheap that it can be bought and used and left in the house all winter without much risk If people are living in the country all winter a different style of furnishing i and a different style of entertaining is no doubt In order It is well to have very easy laws about breakfast and allow a guest to descend when he wishes If possible give jour guest an opportunity to breakfast in his room So many people nowadays want simply a cup of tea and to wait until noon before eating a heavy meal so many desire to eat steaks chops toast eggs hot cakes and coffee at 9 oclock that it is difficult for a hostess to know what to do Her best plan perhaps is to have an elastic hour and let her people come down when they feel liko it In England the maid enters wltn tea excellent black tea a toasted muffin muf-fin and two boiled eggs at S oclock a pitcher of hot water for the washstand and a bath No ono is obliged to appear until luncheon nor even then if indisposed to do soBut dinner at whatever hour is a formal meal and everyone should come freshly dressed and in good form as the English say TilE ARAB LAW of hospitality should be printed over every lintel in a country house Welcome the coming speed the parting guest He who tastes my salt is sacred neither I nor my household shall attack him nor shall ono word be said against him Bring corn wine and fruit for the passing stranger Give the one who departs from thy tents the fastest horse Let him who would go from thee take the fleet dromedary reserve the lama one for thyself If these momentous hints were carried out in America and if these children of the desert with their grave faces composed manners and noble creed could be literally obeyed we fear country house visiting would become almost too popular But if we cannot give them the fleet dromedary wo can drive them to the fast train which is much bettor than any dromedary drom-edary We can make them comfortable and enable them to do as they like And unless we can do that we should not invite anybody Unless a guest has been rude it is the worst taste to criticise him He has come at your request Ho has entered your house as an altar of safety an ark of refuge ref-uge He has laid his armor down Your kInd welcome has unlocked his reserve le has spoken freely and felt that ho was in the presence of friends If in this careless care-less hour you have discovered his weak spot DO careful how you attack it The intimate unreserve of a guest should be respected And upon the guest an equal nay a superior super-ior conscientiousness should rest as to any revelation of what particular secrets he may have found out while he was a vial tor torNo person should go from house to house bearing tales We do not go to our friends bouse to find the skeleton in the closet NO CRITICISMS of the weaknesses of this member of the family or the eccentricities of that member should ever be heard from the lips of a guest uestWhose bread I have eaten he is heace forth my brother Is another Arab proverb pro-verb Speak always well of your entertainers but speak little of their domestic arrangements arrange-ments Do not violate the sanctity of Urn fireside or wrong the shelter of that rooftree roof-tree which has lent you its protection for even a night The decorations for a country ball room In a rural neighborhood have called forth many an unknown genius In that art which has become the wellknown profession oi internal decoration The favorite place in Lenox and at many a summer resort has been the large room of a new barn Before the equine tenants begin to champ their oats and to caracole the youths and maids assume the right to exercise the light fantastic toe on the large well laid hard floor The ornamentation at such a ball at Lenox were candles put in pine shields with tin holders and decorations decora-tions of corn and wheat sheaves tied with scarlet ribbons surrounding pumpkins which were laid in improvised brackets hastily cut out of pine with hatchets by the young men The magnificent autumn leaves were arranged with ferns and garlands gar-lands and many were the dodges to put candles and kerosene lamps behind these to give almost the effect of stained glass without with-out causing a general conflagration THE EFFECT OF A PUMPKIN surrounded by autumn leaves recalls tho gardens of Hesperides No suh apple was ever seen there as our golden apples which we call pumpkins To be sure they are rather large to throw to a goddess and might bowl her down but they look very handsome when tranquilly reposing A sort of Druidical procession might be improvised to help along this ball so that the hostess would amuse her company for a week with the preparations First get a negro fiddler to head it dressed like Brownings Pied Piper in gay colors and playing his fiddle Then have a procession of children dressed any gay costume Then two milkwhite oxen garlanded with wreaths of flowers and onsdriven by a boy in Swiss costume then a goat cart with the baby driving two goats also gze landed Then a lovely Alderney cow also decorated accompanied by a milkmaid carrying car-rying a milking stool and then another lone line of children then the youths and maids bearing the decorations for the ball room Let all these parade the village street and wind up at the ball room where the cow can be milked and the surprise of ice cream and cake given to the children This is a Sunday school picnic and a ball decoration all in one and the country lady who can give it will have earned the gratitude grati-tude of neighbors and friends It has been done In the spring the decorations of a ballroom ball-room might be early wild flowers and the delicate ground pine far more beautiful than smilax and also the treasures of tae nearest woodsferns REV EDWARD HALE f c 1 j who has said a great many good things m his life used to say that when girls went out to pluck wild flowers there should always al-ways be one left at home to arrange them as those who had gathered them were too fatigued and allowed them to wither There is a great deal in this But wild flowers ferns and grasses the ground pine the checkerberry and tho partridge par-tridge berry make the moat exquisite gar lends and it is only of late when a few great geniuses bars discovered that the field daisy Is the prettiest of flowers that the best beauty is that which is at our hand wherever we are tha the greatest rarity is the grass in the meadow that we have reached the true meaning of latermal decoration decor-ation Helen Hunt in one of her prettiest papers describes the beauty of Kia IklnnJcX a lovely vine which grows all over Colorado Although we have not that we caa even in winter find the hemlock boughs the mistletoe mistle-toe the holly TOR QUB ISTBRHAL DECORATIONS Of course ket BOOM flowers sad satllax Ie oJ n if they can be obtained are very beautiful and desirable but they are not within the reach of every purse or or every country house The sheaf of wheat tied with fine ribbons and placed at intervals around a room can be made to have the beauty of an armorial bearing These alternating with banners and hemlock boughs can be made a picture All these forms whIch nature gives us halt e suggested the Corinthian capitol the Ionic pillar the most graceful Greek carvings The acanthus leaf was the inspiration of the architect who built the Acropolis Vine leaves especially after they begin to turn are capable of infinite suggestion and we all remember tho recent worship of the sunflower Hop vines and clematis especially es-pecially after the last has gone to seed remain re-main long as ornaments As for the refreshments to be served the oyster stew the ice cream tho good homemade home-made cake coffee and tea these are within tho reach of every country housekeeper and are in their way unrivalled Of course sue can add chicken naiad boned turkey pate de foie gnu if she wishes And she can have punch hot or cold and let her not if It is in winter forget the coachmen outside Somo hot coffee and some hot oysters should be sent to the patient pa-tient sufferers for our coachmen are not dressed as are the Russians in fur from head to foot and our cold nights are as cold as Russia If possible there should be a good fire in the kitchen to which these attendants at-tendants on our pleasure could be admitted to thaw out MRS JOHN SHERWOOD |