Safer than rich food, less wasteful than gorgeous clothing, but, as Veblen truly says, "through discrimination in favor of visible consumption it has come about that the domestic life of most classes is relatively shabby.

As a consequence people habitually screen their private life from observation." This is from a different motive than the instinct of privacy, of personal withdrawal for rest and quiet.

This shabby private life is why true hospitality is disappearing.
The chance guest is no longer welcome to the family table; we are ashamed of our daily routine, or we have an idea that our fare is not worthy of being shared.

Whatever it is, unconscious as it often is, it is a canker in the family life of to-day.

It leads to selfishness, to a laxness in home manners very demoralizing.