is applies to many country houses, if not all of
them. See that your guests' bedrooms are provided with soap, hair and
clothes' brushes, and toilet articles. The desk should be filled with
letter paper and envelopes, and if you want to appear very fashionable,
the stationery should have the name of your place in blue or red
letters at the top or in the right-hand corner of the first sheet. Many
convivial souls place on a side table in each room mineral water,
cigarettes, cigars, and the inevitable decanter.

When you are a guest you are met at the station by one of your host's
traps. Do not be surprised, however, if you do not find this
accommodation. It is considered very English, I know not why, to allow
bachelors to reach a country house by the best means they can find at
the station or landing. You are received by your host, and after
refreshment are shown to your room. If you arrive late in the afternoon
you do not see your hostess, but dress for dinner and find her in the
drawing room when you go downstairs. You are expected to conform to the
rules of the house as to the hours for meals, and to place yourself at
the service of your hostess. You must certainly appear at any function
which has been arranged for you, and it is very impolite to accept,
during your stay, any outside invitation to any affair to which your
host and hostess have not also been asked. If you have a valet you may
bring him with you, but you must certainly notify your host of this
intention. Few houses in this country have the accommodations necessary
for outside servants.

Tipping is demoralizing, but it is an accepted custom. On your departure
after a short stay, at Newport or a very fashionable resort, the servant
who attends you should have five dollars, the butler five dollars, the
coachman five dollars, and the chambermaid two dollars. At smaller
places five dollars altogether, judiciously distributed, is ample, or a
dollar each to three of the servants.

The first-mentioned amounts can be placed in envelopes and given to the
servant attending you for the others. All this is a question of
resources, and there are many men who avoid invitations to the large
country houses in the East and North because they can not afford the
tips. In England, when one is invited to the shooting, one tips the
gamekeeper one to five pounds, according to the extent of the bag and
duration of visit.

The usual method of inviting men in this country for a