Consideration for the property of the hostess is too often disregarded. One would not think of destroying music or a book; yet so many of us do not hesitate to take a book from the library, and after reading leave it in another room, or at best put it back on the wrong shelf. The chances are that one who has a library loves books, and these books are friends, well cared for. Their misplacement is always a cause of wasted time and frequently an irritating annoyance.
There are few in the world who do not have a hobby of some sort. It may be fishing, or postage stamps, or flowers, or Greek vases, or sea tales.
Whatever it is, the surest way to the heart is through a sympathetic interest in the hobby. We need not emulate the typical life insurance agent and catalogue our host or hostess down to the last eyelet of the shoe. An open mind to realize what the personal interest is, and a sincere and friendly sharing of that interest—if only for the time being—are all that is necessary, and surely easy to acquire. Household pets we may class with hobbies, for they are of the same mature. Sometimes we must conc: al our dislikes. Even if we do think that a parrot is an annoying superfluity, we can tolerate him in the house of a friend. This is not hypocrisy. It is merely consideration.
Tue Instinct oF CHILDRE:
There is probably no surer way to a hostess's heart than through her children. The guest who is popular with the kiddies is one who "comes back." Incidentally the degree of favour which we find with children is a rather good gauge of our own character. There is something almost uncanny in the way a child intuitively senses the aura of a person. We see the same trait manifested in animals. Beware the man whom a dog will not approach. There seems to be some primitive, intuitive faculty that is most acutely evidenced in children and in the animals. And so we would say, cultivate the children if you would be a welcome guest. Tell them stories: entertain them: enter into their fun and frolic. Remember the days when you too were a child and loved the grownup who could drop his or her digni ity for the nonce and be a child among children.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.