98 Company and Solitude 



table ; but " company" well, I am at a loss 

 to express my real meaning. I remember 

 an old neighbor, an uncouth creature, a con- 

 temporary of my grandfather, who was ac- 

 customed to declare that a brief call was a 

 " vis," to spend the day, a visit, and to stay 

 overnight, a visitation. This may not have 

 been original with him, but it was a pithy 

 way of putting the matter, and has been my 

 law and gospel on this subject ever since. 



Of what earthly use is " company" ? You 

 probably see your neighbors once a week, 

 meeting them on the public highways, and 

 if you nod pleasantly, and speak a word or 

 two of the weather and of the health of the 

 family, has not everything been done that 

 necessities require or formality can reason- 

 ably demand ? If you have business or need 

 information that others can give you, go and 

 ask of them. Be brief, but to the point, and, 

 leaving with what is desired, carry away also 

 their blessing. To go to another's house, 

 to request of its inmates, one or all, to sit 

 for half an hour or longer and listen to your 

 platitudes, and, coming away, lie to them 

 about a pleasant call, is intolerable. Yet 

 there are thousands who do this daily. Why 



