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HOW TO ENTERTAIN A GUEST
By SUSAN ANNA BROWN
I
T is not in the finest houses, or in the gayest places, that guests always enjoy themselves the most. You must have something better than elegant rooms, or all the sights and sounds of a big city, to make your home attractive and pleasant. It is a very low grade of hospitality which trusts in good dinners and fine houses alone. l£ must be a more subtle charm than either of these which will make vour house a home to your friends.
All who have ever made visits themselves know this to be true. A cordial welcome, a readiness to oblige, a kind thought-fulness of the pleasure of others instead of your own, are three golden rules for a hostess to remember. Let us look at some of the smaller details.
The Guest's Room
In the first place, have the guest's room in readiness beforehand, so as not to be constantly supplying deficiencies after she comes. Put a few interesting books on the table, and writing materials, if it be only a common pencil, pen, and ink-bottle, with a few sheets of paper.
Try to make the room show your guest that she was expected, and that her coming was looked forward to with pleasure.
A few flowers on the bureau, an easy-chair by the pleasant-est window—these are some of the little touches which make the plainest room seem homelike.
If your visitors are strangers, or unaccustomed to traveling, try to meet them at the station, or to send some one for them. The sight of a familiar face among the crowd takes away that first homesick feeling which comes to young people as, tired and travel-worn, they step from the boat or cars into the sights
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