of a beautiful skin. One device is about as successful as the
other; quite pleasing unless brought into comparison with the real.

Mrs. Oldname, for instance, usually welcomes you with some such sentences
as, "I am very glad to see you" or "I am so glad you could come!" Or if it
is raining, she very likely tells you that you were very unselfish to
come out in the storm. But no matter what she says or whether anything at
all, she takes your hand with a firm pressure and her smile is really a
_smile_ of welcome, not a mechanical exercise of the facial muscles. She
gives you always--even if only for the moment--her complete attention; and
you go into her drawing-room with a distinct feeling that you are under
the roof, not of a mere acquaintance, but of a friend. Mr. Oldname who
stands never very far from his wife, always comes forward and, grasping
your hand, accentuates his wife's more subtle but no less vivid welcome.
And either you join a friend standing near, or he presents you, if you are
a man, to a lady; or if you are a lady, he presents a man to you.

Some hostesses, especially those of the Lion-Hunting and the
New-to-Best-Society variety are much given to explanations, and love to
say "Mrs. Jones, I want you to meet Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith is the author
of 'Dragged from the Depths,' a most enlightening work of psychic
insight." Or to a good-looking woman, "I am putting you next to the
Assyrian Ambassador--I want him to carry back a flattering impression of
American women!"

But people of good breeding do not over-exploit their distinguished guests
with embarrassing hyperbole, or make personal remarks. Both are in worst
possible taste. Do not understand by this that explanations can not be
made; it is only that they must not be embarrassingly made to their faces.
Nor must a "specialist's" subject be forced upon him, like a pair of
manacles, by any exploiting hostess who has captured him. Mrs. Oldname
might perhaps, in order to assist conversation for an interesting but
reticent person, tell a lady just before going in to dinner, "Mr. Traveler
who is sitting next to you at the table, has just come back from two years
alone with the cannibals." This is not to exploit her "Traveled Lion" but
to give his neighbor a starting point for conversation at table. And
although personal remarks are never good form, it would be permissible for
an older lady in welcoming a very young one, especially a debutante or a
bride, to sa