Early dining is usual in the country, especially in the summer. Sometimes high tea is served. The tea-urn is placed on the table before the hostess to give a homelike air to the function, and fruits and flowers are placed in cut glass bowls on the table. Preserves, honey and cakes should also be on the table in cut glass or china dishes. Hot biscuits, muffins and wafers are usually served at high tea, with one substantial dish like cold chicken, salad or cold sliced meats.
Hammocks, tennis courts, rowboats, etc., should be placed at the disposal of visiting guests. The considerate hostess always plans some sort of entertainment for guests that have come a long way to visit her, but she does not make any attempt to provide anything elaborate. A simple country dance or a musicale is relaxing and entertaining.
Protection from flies, mosquitoes, etc. should be provided for guests. If chairs and hammocks are on the porch, it should be completely screened in to prevent mosquitoes from annoying the guests. It is just such little considerations as these that make country hospitality so delightful.
THE GUEST
Whether you are a guest from the city, or a friend from the village, you have a certain definite etiquette to observe when you are at the home of a country hostess. First you must make yourself agreeable and helpful. If you are from the city, forget the restricting formalities you have been accustomed to. You may speak to everyone in the hostess' drawing-room—or parlor—even though there have been no introductions. And if you see an elderly man or woman standing all alone in one corner of the room, you can go over to him or her, start a conversation, and offer to get a chair or an ice for the stranger. It is not necessary to wait for an introduction.
Do not be dull during the afternoon or evening. Be pleasant and agreeable; if conversation lags, stimulate it with an interesting anecdote. If you can entertain in some way, either by singing, playing some musical instrument, or reciting, don't be backward about offering your services. Remember you are not in an elaborate ball room but among simple country folks, and if you can provide enjoyable entertainment for them, they will appreciate it just as much as you yourself will enjoy it.
An offish person always spoils the fun of a country party. If you feel you are superior to the Virginia reel and the apple paring contests, do not attend. Move to the city where you can attend elaborate social functions. But while you are at the party, do your best to add to the general enjoyment, and do not spoil things by being disagreeable and unpleasant.
It is poor taste to wear very fashionable city clothes to a simple country entertainment. If you come from the city, wear something simple and pretty, but not something that will make you conspicuous. If you are a man and you know that none of the other men will wear full dress, then don't be presumptuous enough to appear in your swallow-tail. But if you are a village friend, you may wear your "Sunday best" for undoubtedly everyone else who attends the party will do likewise.
FOR COUNTRY FOLKS
Never attempt to make false impressions. That is one great fault found among certain country people. When city friends call, they attempt to overawe them with their superiority. While the city friends are with them, they do not notice their village friends at church, nor do they invite them to their house. They devote themselves exclusively to their friends from the city—and invariably those friends return home disappointed and disillusioned.