ing better to offer, merely to
give your guests an opportunity politely to contradict you. But you
need not go to the other extreme and extol the meats you set before
them. Say nothing about these matters.

When visitors show any intention of leaving, you will of course
express the desire you feel to have them stay longer, but good manners
do not require you to endeavor to retain them against their wishes or
sense of duty. It is to be supposed that they know their own affairs
best.

Guests sometimes forget (if they ever learned) that _they_ have any
duties. We beg leave to jog their memory with the following hints from
the graceful pen of "Mrs. Manners:"

"To accommodate yourself to the habits and rules of the family, in
regard to hours of rising or retiring, and particularly the hours for
meals, is the first duty of a guest. Inform yourself as soon as
possible when the meals occur--whether there will be a dressing-bell--at
what time they meet for prayers, and thus become acquainted with all the
family regulations. _It is always the better way for a family to adhere
strictly to all their usual habits_; it is a much simpler matter for
one to learn to conform to those than for half a dozen to be thrown out
of a routine, which may be almost indispensable to the fulfillment of
their importunate duties. It certainly must promote the happiness of
any reasonable person to know that his presence is no restraint and
no inconvenience.

"Your own good sense and delicacy will teach you the desirability of
keeping your room tidy, and your articles of dress and toilet as much
in order as possible. If there is a deficiency of servants, a lady
will certainly not hesitate to make her own bed, and to do for herself
as much as possible, and for the family all that is in her power. I
never saw an elegant lady of my acquaintance appear to better
advantage than when once performing a service which, under other
circumstances, might have been considered menial; yet, in her own
house, she was surrounded by servants, and certainly she never used a
broom or made a bed a her life."

VI.--SERVANTS.

We are all dependent, in one way or another, upon others. At one time
we serve, at another we are served, and we are equally worthy of honor
and respect in the one case as in the other. The man or the woman who
serves us may or may not be our inferior in natural capacity,
learning, manners, or wealth. Be this as it may, the relation in which