Receiving Friends.
Those friends invited to pour tea or chocolate also come at the hour named, and after removing their wraps seat themselves at their particular tables, or at their end of the one long table. It is their duty to dispense, besides the cups that cheer, words and smiles that cheer also to every one who comes, no matter whether they know them or not. Usually they can do much to make it lively for all in their immediate vicinity. If the afternoon is a long one and guests numerous several of the receiving party volunteer to relieve those at the urns, and they spend an hour pleasantly about the rooms and beside the hostess.
These are the kindly things expected of a woman who accepts an invitation "to receive," and when she has done them gracefully and prettily she is a social "sister of mercy."
If the number of guests is small the hostess herself frequently serves, with perhaps her daughter or some friend, to assist.