ion in these matters. If, however, carriages are provided so
that guests may attend church, or guests are told of the hour for
family worship and are invited to be present, it is more courteous to
attend.

Guests at country houses should be willing to take hold and help in
any emergency, such as the absence or sickness of the servants, and
should be willing to join heartily in the country frolics where work
is usually to be shared by all.

In the country people visit in large parties, so when one is invited
to go on an excursion or with a crowd to visit some neighbor, one
should not hesitate for fear of being one too many.

One should follow the wish of the host or hostess in regard to giving
the servants some gratuity for service rendered, if that wish is
known; otherwise, unless there is an accepted rule to the contrary, it
is well to give, when leaving, a small gift of money to such of the
servants as have been especially helpful. One should always treat
servants with consideration and kindness, if not with generosity. It
is better to be less lavish with money and more painstaking in
remembering personally the people who have served you, renewing
acquaintance with them if opportunity offers, treating them in a human
way, and not with the indifference with which you would treat a
mechanism.

If a gift is given, it should be done unostentatiously. The tactful,
quiet way of doing it, free from patronage, and showing only good-will
and gratitude for service rendered, is the only polite way. Money
never compensates for haughtiness and brusqueness, and the gentleman
or lady in spirit will not be unmindful of the feelings of even an
incompetent servant.

CHAPTER IX

THE DUTIES OF HOST AND HOSTESS

HOSPITALITY is a great pleasure to people of a sociable nature, and
its obligations have a most refining influence. The generous
consideration of others reaches its acme when one is constantly
entertaining little circles of friends, with no thought but to give
happiness.

The pleasant custom of serving tea each day at five o'clock is one
which admits of great enjoyment. The man of the house tries to be at
home for the quiet social hour before the family dinner. The young
people of the family are gathering after the day's dispersion. The
friends, who are out calling or on their way home, drop in for a
pleasant chat; and the charming hostess has time for many glimpses of
friends, and chance also to say the right