Chapter 53 visitor - 1

I think, like most people, I like to be sociable, and when anyone with strong blood comes, I must stick to him like a blood-sucking leech.I'm not a hermit by nature, and if something puts me in a bar, the person who sits there the longest isn't necessarily going to outlast me. There are three chairs in my house, one for loneliness, two for making friends, and three for socializing.If there are a large number of visitors, unexpectedly many, there are still only three chairs at their disposal, and they generally save space and just stand.It was strange that so many men and women could fit in a small room.One day, under my roof, came twenty-five or thirty souls, with their many bodies; yet we parted without feeling that we had ever been very near to each other.We have so many houses, both public and private, with almost countless rooms, huge halls, and cellars for wine and other peacetime munitions, that I always feel like saying to the people who live in them Come on, they're big and big.They are so big and gorgeous that the people who live in them seem to be some parasites that corrupt them.I am sometimes taken aback when the clerks of those big hotels, like Torremont, Astor, or Middlesex, announce their arrivals, to see a ridiculous little mouse crawl across the verandah, and immediately appear on the pavement again. It disappeared in a small hole.

I also felt that my small room was not very convenient. When the guests and I talked about big issues in profound words, it was difficult for me to maintain an appropriate distance from the guests.You also have to have room in your mind so that it's ready to sail, to make two turns, and to reach the port.The bullet of your thought must restrain its jumping and jumping movements, and then go straight to reach the ear of the listener, or it will pass through the side of his head in a sly way.Also, in the middle our sentences should have enough space to unfold themselves and form formations.An individual, just like a country, must have moderate, wide and natural boundaries, and even a fairly neutral zone between boundaries.I found it a great luxury to talk across the lake with a friend who lived across the lake.In my house we were too close to hear the words at first—we couldn't speak softer enough to be heard; as if you throw two stones into still water, They want to disrupt each other's ripples.If we are just fluttering and loud talkers, then it doesn't matter if we stand very close, close to each other, and can boo each other; but if we speak very reserved and full of thought, we Just spaced out a little so that our animal heat and humidity have a chance to escape.If each of us has some words that cannot be expressed in words but can only be understood, if we want to enjoy our communication most intimately, it is not enough for us to just be silent for a while, we have to keep the distance between the two bodies a little bit. In any case, you can barely hear each other.By this standard speaking loudly is only for the convenience of the deaf; but there are many beautiful things which we cannot communicate if we must shout.When the tone of the conversation is higher and more solemn, we have to gradually drag the chair back, further and further, until we touch the walls in the two corners, and usually feel that the room is not big enough.My "best" room, of course, is the one where I retreat, which is always ready to be entertained, but which rarely sees the sun on the carpet, and which is the pine forest behind my house.In the summer, when distinguished guests come, I take them there, and a valuable housekeeper has swept the floors, mopped the furniture, and put everything in order.If there is only one guest, sometimes share my meager meal; while talking, cooking a polenta, or watching the bread expanding and baking on the fire, no, 130. Will interrupt the conversation.But when there are twenty people here, sitting in the room, it is hard to talk about eating. Although all the bread I have is enough for two people, it seems that eating has become a habit that everyone has given up; Everyone abstained; however, this was not considered a faux pas, but was considered the most appropriate and thoughtful thing to do.The corruption of physical life, which has always been eager to be remedied, has been delayed, and the vitality of life can still continue.I can do this with a thousand people instead of twenty; and if visitors see me at home and go back hungry and disappointed, they can be sure that I at least always Sympathize with them.Many housekeepers are skeptical, but it is easy to establish new rules and good habits to replace old ones.Your reputation does not depend on your treats.As for myself, even the three-headed dog guarding the gates of hell can't frighten me, but if someone wants to invite me to a big feast, it will definitely scare me away. I think this is probably a polite circle. There is no need to bother him in the future.I don't think I'll ever go to these places again.I am proud that a visitor wrote these lines of Spencer on a yellow walnut leaf instead of a calling card, which might well be my humble motto,

"Here, the little houses they fill, not seek pleasures which are not there; Rest is like a banquet, and everything is left to itself, The noblest mind is the most contented. "