“MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME!”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 191, 2 November 1927, Page 4

“MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME!”

“My visitors must take mo as they find me, and overlook deficiencies,’* some women are fond of saying. “Resides, I like my guests to feel at home.” Ob, that “make yourself at home” phrase! So often, nowadays, it means that a guest must just take things in ! the rough. And if we expect a friend to do that, we aren’t paying her a very ! great compliment. 1 If people are worth inviting, they’re : worth taking a little trouble over. Of course, we honestly want them to be j happy, but it takes very little carelessi ness to bring about much discomfort. | There are hostesses who forget to change the spare-room sheets and towels; or who put out only one small, thin towel. There are others who fail to realise that a guest. wants a hot I wash or bath after a long journey. I In some houses, coffee, eggs, bread and butter form the sole, unchanging I breakfast fare. Personally, break - Ifast without tea, toast, marmalade and fruit leaves me about as happy as an Alderney cow would be if she were offered beef-steak for her morning meal! Some people feel the same if deprived of bacon. Other hostesses let their dogs raid, a guest’s room for the purpose of chewing up expensive gloves and slippers, and making a bed on her best frock. Many women seem naively delighted at these proofs that the dog has “taken you to his heart.” But such incidents make visiting sadly expensive. Then there is the woman who insists on sugaring your tea, whether you take sugar or not. Or she has meals in a fireless room on a chilly day to “save the maids trouble.” There is the hostess who will keep you up hours later than you are accustomed to, without consulting your wishes. And there is the woman who, because you have come to see her, thinks you require nothing else! You just sit, day after day, and talk, talk, talk—generally about children, pets and servants. And at the end she “hopes you have enjoyed yourself,” when she hasn’t done one thing to make your stay enjoyable. Well there you are! Can you wonder people send urgent telegrams to themselves? They’re dying to get away to “feel at home’’—in other words, to get some of the little comforts to which they arc accustomed. 1 And I don’t blame them. X.C.