IF YOU ARE A GUEST

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12483, 26 June 1926, Page 6

IF YOU ARE A GUEST

There is as much art in being a suceesful guest as there is in being a tmcce&sful hostess. I often think that tho only people who should entertain are those who have such a large house that they need not meet their guests till middle day, for the average small house places mush strain upon entertained and hostess alike.

A perfect guest is not too much in evidence in the morning. She remembers that her hostess has domestic matters to claim her attention, and is likely to get harassed if her visitor is at her elbow all the time. The visitor should gracefully acquiesce to breakfast in bed if it is offered, and occupy a part of tho morning in putting her room tidy and making her bed. Sitting about in the kitchen whilst rooking is in progress is disconcerting to the single-handed hostess, unless she and her visitors are extremely intimate. Offers to help in small domestic duties should not be pressed unduly if the hostess has already refused them. Many women can get on much more quickly if left to themseLves, and the guest knowing nothing of the cupboards and storing places is sometimes more of a hindrance than a help. Many guests have a mistaken idea that they must keep up a continuous flow of bright conversation throughout the visit, lest the hostess feel that the visit is proving dull. This is a fearful strain, and the perfect guest is content to settle down quietly on occasions with the newspapers or a book, rightcotpeeresses

Last year a Bill to admit peeresses to the House of Loyds was defeated by only two votes. We have yet to hear the fate of this measure during the second session, but it is expected that this time the Bill is due for success. Women of the nobility have suffered, perhaps, proportionately more than any other class through the anti-feminism of the last two centuries, the antifeminism which is being conquered only in quit© modern days. At one time a woman, failing brothers in the family, inherited the title, but the law c>f entail, brought in some two hundred years ago, cut her out effectually, and now tlie peeress is nearly always merely the woman, often not an Englishwoman at all, who is married to a peer. This fact has, perhaps, subconsciously helped to keep her, in mcylern times, legislatively outcast. xet as, after all, the modern peerage is often, as someono has put it, the beerage, there is no doubt that this reason should no longer count.