THE COUNTRY HOUSE.
THE BACHELOR AS HOST.--THE BACHELOR AS GUEST.
Bachelors, whose incomes are of all sizes and conditions, can have some
kind of a country house. It may be a fishing lodge, a hunting box,
maintained by three or four men clubbing together; a small cottage
plainly and simply furnished at the seashore, near golf links, or in a
good neighborhood; or again a large establishment, a villa at Newport or
in a fashionable colony with a retinue of servants and a stable filled
with horses. Whichever it might be, open hospitality, as much as it is
in your power, should prevail. However, never attempt anything more than
you can accomplish, and by all means do not run into debt. To a fishing
or hunting lodge men only should be invited. It should be furnished with
the mere necessaries, and hung with fishing and hunting prints and
trophies of the chase. The hall serves as sitting and even mess room. A
man of all work or an old married couple are the best servants. Ample
supplies are sent from town, but the leading idea is roughing it, and
the table is partially supplied by the game and fish brought back by you
and your friends. When the term of the visit of your guests expires,
each should be able to bring home a basket of fish or some game. From
time to time send to any of your hostesses of the winter something from
your preserves. These attentions are much appreciated.
A truck farm or a small country place near town, which may have either
fallen to you by inheritance or which you may have purchased, or which
you have for kennels or for your horses, can also be used for
entertaining. Even in the largest of these houses the plan of furnishing
is substantially the same. There should be a masculine note throughout
the entire scheme. The furniture should be old-fashioned, and the
pictures sporting and hunting prints and steel engravings. There should
be an air of homeliness and open hospitality about the place. It should
look as if it were verily Liberty Hall.
A tract of unprofitable land could be converted into golf links and a
tennis court laid out. A picnic is the popular form in which bachelors
who have such a possession may entertain. Some fifty to one hundred
people can be invited, and a special train or boat, if the place is too
far from the city for a drive, chartered for their accommodation. The
invitations should state the hour at which this train or boat would
leave the city. Stages await the guests at the country station and bring
them up to the house. Cocktails, drinkables, claret cup, tea, and
sandwiches are served on their arrival. There should be no fixed
programme of amusement. Luncheon, or luncheon and dinner both, according
to the length of stay, could be served, and the _menu_ should embrace a
few courses of country fare. Dancing in the barn during the afternoon
will be another form of entertainment, or if you wish to give an
elaborate entertainment, vaudeville performers might be hired for the
hour after luncheon.
In a large establishment the bachelor who entertains usually has
residing with him a sister or female relative who acts as hostess. One
of the delights of a wealthy bachelor is to have a large and
well-appointed stable with a number of traps which are at the
disposition of his guests.
A bachelor host always drives to the station or boat to meet his guests.
A drag, three-seated surrey, or a station van would be the smart
vehicle. I am now writing of a man of large means. The method of
entertaining should be the English one, without any fixed programme for
the days of the guests' stay. Only when there is shooting, the party is
expected to assemble in the morning. If there is a local club, your men
guests should be put up at it, and the entire party made visiting
members of the neighboring casino. The rest is conveyed in the advice to
have always plenty of good cheer and to entertain the visitors as much
as possible. In these houses there is much drinking, possibly, and
perhaps cards, but a young man who is a guest should be firm enough to
resist temptation, and to stand by his convictions.
One word more, and this applies to many country houses, if not all of
them. See that your guests' bedrooms are provided with soap, hair and
clothes' brushes, and toilet articles. The desk should be filled with
letter paper and envelopes, and if you want to appear very fashionable,
the stationery should have the name of your place in blue or red
letters at the top or in the right-hand corner of the first sheet. Many
convivial souls place on a side table in each room mineral water,
cigarettes, cigars, and the inevitable decanter.
When you are a guest you are met at the station by one of your host's
traps. Do not be surprised, however, if you do not find this
accommodation. It is considered very English, I know not why, to allow
bachelors to reach a country house by the best means they can find at
the station or landing. You are received by your host, and after
refreshment are shown to your room. If you arrive late in the afternoon
you do not see your hostess, but dress for dinner and find her in the
drawing room when you go downstairs. You are expected to conform to the
rules of the house as to the hours for meals, and to place yourself at
the service of your hostess. You must certainly appear at any function
which has been arranged for you, and it is very impolite to accept,
during your stay, any outside invitation to any affair to which your
host and hostess have not also been asked. If you have a valet you may
bring him with you, but you must certainly notify your host of this
intention. Few houses in this country have the accommodations necessary
for outside servants.
Tipping is demoralizing, but it is an accepted custom. On your departure
after a short stay, at Newport or a very fashionable resort, the servant
who attends you should have five dollars, the butler five dollars, the
coachman five dollars, and the chambermaid two dollars. At smaller
places five dollars altogether, judiciously distributed, is ample, or a
dollar each to three of the servants.
The first-mentioned amounts can be placed in envelopes and given to the
servant attending you for the others. All this is a question of
resources, and there are many men who avoid invitations to the large
country houses in the East and North because they can not afford the
tips. In England, when one is invited to the shooting, one tips the
gamekeeper one to five pounds, according to the extent of the bag and
duration of visit.
The usual method of inviting men in this country for a short stay is
from Friday or Saturday until Monday. It has often been a puzzle to them
as to what they should take in their bag or how much luggage they should
carry. At most not more than a good-sized bag or valise and perhaps a
hatbox. For an evening's stay a dress-suit case is sufficient. In your
valise must be placed your evening clothes, and if the party is to be
somewhat of an informal one, I would also take my dinner jacket. If you
are going to a very fashionable resort, a black frock coat, waistcoat,
and fancy trousers would not be amiss, but in that case you would have
also to take a hatbox for your top hat. Of recent years men in the
country have been consulting their comfort more than absolute accuracy
in the details of dress. Even at garden parties, at church, and at
afternoon teas during the month of August at Newport, which is, after
all, only the fashionable metropolis transported to another locality for
the summer, you seldom see a frock coat or a top hat. Unless you are
sure that there will be an occasion where these would be positively
required, I would not take them, especially on so short a visit. The
linen to be brought should consist of a dress shirt for each evening and
a colored shirt for each morning, half a dozen handkerchiefs, two
complete changes of underclothes, three pairs of ordinary and two pairs
of black silk hose, and a pair of pyjamas. Take three of your ties for
day wear and four white lawn for evening, and one black in case you are
to use your dinner jacket. Slippers for the bedroom and pumps for
evening wear should complete the clothing carried, unless you take your
frock coat, when you would have to bring patent leather boots to wear
with afternoon dress. I have given rather a liberal allowance of
articles for a short stay, but one must be prepared for accidents or
emergencies. It is better to take an extra shirt, or a change of
underclothes, or a few more ties than one could ordinarily use, so that
some _contretemps_ would not cause great annoyance and inconvenience. In
the absence of a dressing case, care must be taken of the articles for
the toilet. The tooth, nail, and shaving brushes, the sponges and
washrags, should be packed in little waterproof silk bags, which can be
obtained at a small price at any chemist's. Your host or hostess should
provide you with soap, but I would not take the risk. I should bring my
own in a little metal soapbox or well wrapped in thick paper. Your
shaving articles, a shoehorn, button hook, nail file, small pair of nail
scissors, tooth powder, or listerine should not be forgotten. The large
articles, your combs and your brushes, can all be wrapped separately in
tissue paper. It would be gallant of you to bring a box of sweets for
your hostess.
If you are asked to play golf, it might be more convenient to travel in
your golf togs, which would serve as a lounge suit. But in that case a
pair of long trousers to match your coat and waistcoat, or an entire
lounge suit should be carried, as on Sunday you would be very
uncomfortable in golf dress, and somewhat out of place. Or you might put
your "knickers" in the bag, and wear the coat and waistcoat with long
trousers.