nd neighbors inside her
doors at all. She may feel that she has neither the taste nor the
talent for constant small reunions. Such things, she may feel, require
a social tact which she has not. She would be utterly at a loss how to
conduct them. Each one would cost her as much anxiety and thought as
her annual gathering, and prove a failure after all; whereas the
annual demonstration can be put wholly into the hands of the caterer,
who comes in force, with flowers, silver, china, servants, and, taking
the house into his own hands, gives her entertainment for her, leaving
to her no responsibility but the payment of the bills; and if Mr.
Bogus does not quarrel with them, we know no reason why any one else
should; and I think Mrs. Bogus merits well of the republic, for doing
what she can do towards the hospitalities of the season. I'm sure I
never cursed her in my heart, even when her strong coffee has held
mine eyes open till morning, and her superlative lobster salads have
given me the very darkest views of human life that ever dyspepsia and
east wind could engender. Mrs. Bogus is the Eve who offers the apple;
but after all, I am the foolish Adam who take and eat what I know is
going to hurt me, and I am too gallant to visit my sins on the head of
my too obliging tempter. In country places in particular, where little
is going on and life is apt to stagnate, a good, large, generous
party, which brings the whole neighborhood into one house to have a
jolly time, to eat, drink, and be merry, is really quite a work of
love and mercy. People see one another in their best clothes, and that
is something; the elders exchange all manner of simple pleasantries
and civilities, and talk over their domestic affairs, while the young
people flirt, in that wholesome manner which is one of the safest of
youthful follies. A country party, in fact, may be set down as a work
of benevolence, and the money expended thereon fairly charged to the
account of the great cause of peace and good will on earth."

"But don't you think," said my wife, "that, if the charge of providing
the entertainment were less laborious, these gatherings could be more
frequent? You see, if a woman feels that she must have five kinds of
cake, and six kinds of preserves, and even ice-cream and jellies in a
region where no confectioner comes in to abbreviate her labors, she
will sit with closed doors, and do nothing towards the general
exchange of life, because she canno