Page:Free Opinions, Freely Expressed on Certain Phases of Modern Social Life and Conduct.djvu/105

THE DEATH OF HOSPITALITY

There is an old song, a very old song, the refrain of which runs thus: "'Twas merry in the hall, when the beards wagged all, We shall never see the like again, again!—We shall never see the like again!" Whether there was anything particularly hilarious in the wagging of beards we may not feel able to determine, but there is unquestionably a vague sense of something festive and social conveyed in the quaint lines. We feel, without knowing why, that it was, it must have been, "merry in the hall," at the distant period alluded to,—while at the present time we are daily and hourly made painfully aware that whether it be in hall, drawing-room or extensive "reception gallery," the merriment formerly so well sung and spoken of exists no longer. The Harp that once through Tara's Halls—no!—I mean the Beards that once wagged in the Hall, wag no more. Honest laughter has given place to the nanny-goat sniggering bleat now common to polite society, and understood to be the elegantly trained and "cultured" expression of mirth. The warm hand-shake has, in a very great measure, degenerated into the timorous offer of two or three clammy fingers extended dubiously, as with a fear of microbes. And Hospitality, large-hearted, smiling, gracious Hospitality, is dead and