WHAT IS TRUE HOSPITALITY 
By Elizabeth Atwood 
hostess do to make a guest feel welcome? 
Why just make him or her feel that he or 
she has come into the home, to be a part of 
it as long as their sojourn lasts. Longfel- 
low puts it, “Hospitality sitting with Glad- 
One must love all human kind in order to be glad 
” 
ness. 
when the unbidden guest arrives, at least this will be the 
case sometimes. 
This day of intense living in compressed space is doing 
much to deaden the glad spirit. How seldom do we see 
the spontaneous hospitality of which we read, when, as in 
old times, the guest was all the more joyfully welcome for 
coming uninvited, and the setting of another plate indi- 
cated that he was admitted to the family circle. 
Where has this old hospitality gone? We surely, in our 
every day fare, present a table more like the “company” 
table of the old times; yet the “dropping in” is a rare 
occurrence. Is it possible that we are changing? ‘That we 
are losing the sense of sharing ourselves, unless our hospi- 
tality may come back to us in gratified pride? If this is so, 
the pride is misplaced, and we have a wrong conception of 
what we should be proud of. 
I fear that the root of the evil which produces this con- 
dition, and which results in real loss of comradeship 
around one’s table, is the constantly growing desire for 
ostentatious display. Simplicity, which was the real power 
of long ago, is rapidly disappearing. Ostentatious display 
for the invited guest may be followed by days of ‘simple 
living’ which will amount almost to short rations; but to 
share that “simple living” becomes an impossibility because 
of pride. 
“Hospitality sitting with Gladness.” Is this not the 
keynote of true hospitality? Longfellow thought the idea 
of value, and translated it from Frithiof’s Saga. To be 
glad with one’s guest surely means hospitality of the heart, 
which is true hospitality. If you truly have love in your 
heart it will lead you to make another happy under your 
own roof; and this does not call for extravagant expendi- 
ture, it means just simply to share, literally to share what 
you have, be it much or little. 
This desire to show off, to display one’s artistic ability 
in the manner of serving, to get up extraordinary combi- 
nations, to buy rare products, in short, to present the ap- 
pearance of affluence, although it may take days of self- 
denial to make up for it, is becoming so much the way of 
entertaining that the real, loving, hospitable feeling is slip- 
ping away from us. I regard this as truly deplorable. 
How we smiled when Mrs. Wiggs, with her hospitable 
spirit, welcomed her unexpected guests, and frankly ad- 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
= 
HELPS TO THE o| 
HOUSEWIFE 
TABLE AND HOUSEHOLD SUGGESTIONS OF INTER- 
EST TO EVERY HOUSEKEEPER AND HOUSEWIFE 
November, 1912 
me 
mitted that she would just put more water in the soup. 
But—how it warmed our hearts; for here was the all- 
mother love ready to share its pitiful belongings. Surely 
love is at the bottom of hospitality in its true sense. 
One never knows the same unqualified pleasure of hav- 
ing friends to dine, when preparations more or less elab- 
orate must be made, that one feels when the friend just 
takes pot-luck. Then the sharing becomes a _ blessing. 
The danger of the essence of formality poisoning the pleas- 
ure is gone, and the dear old-time feeling of hospitality is 
really true. 
No danger of lack of conversation around such a table, 
for the certain feeling of brotherly love loosens the tongues. 
There may be need of much actual planning of the food in 
order to have enough to go around, but even that adds fun 
and variety to the meal. The real feeling of hospitality 
pervades the house, and this meal becomes an expression of 
friendliness which no guest could fail to appreciate. 
The kind of pride to cultivate is the kind which lies in 
being willing to be taken unawares. This, may be, is selfish 
too, for you surely do get more out of it than the one does 
who takes pride in her more formal way of entertaining. 
In addition to this, the guest who is cared for because her 
presence is really desired is made more happy. Not that 
the formal meal is without pleasure; but that, so often it 
is lacking in real warmth and love, too often it is found to 
be a returning of like favors which does not take in the 
tenderer feeling embodied in the old-time hospitality. 
Here comes in another lesson in hospitality. Are you 
hospitable to the members of your own household? I do 
not think that one should ever be so careless of appearances 
for their ‘“‘own folks,” that they would be ashamed before 
a possible unexpected, uninvited guest. I regard a sloppy, 
untidy table, as simply unpardonable. The cheapest things 
may be served neatly, even prettily, and for whom should 
this care be taken if not for our “own folks.” 
I know that my family have always been the ones I have 
planned for, and I know that no guest was ever more ap- 
preciative of my efforts. It is also true, that my husband 
or my children could always feel free to bring home a guest 
without announcing the fact beforehand, for they knew I 
would welcome them, put on another plate, and, for that 
meal at least, he or she would be one of the family. In my 
mind this is real hospitality, for without any effort I could 
give of my best as it would have been given to my family, 
sharing with the unexpected stranger what was prepared 
for them. In this way company is never a burden. 
For the invited guests one always wishes to do what she 
can both in the matter of preparation and entertaining; but 
even here there is danger of overdoing. If one has a guest 
room always ready there is very little extra work necessary. 
But if one’s oldest boy must sleep on the couch in the sit- 
ting-room, it becomes another matter. Even then do not 
