Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1859-04-08
From Godcy's Lady's Book.
HOUSEHOLD TREASURE,

Table" this cold February day. We have
been listening to Mrs. Green and Mrs. Brown
very particularly, on the old domestic griev
ancc-the servant question. We acknow
ledge that much of their experience has beer
our own but there is one "farnily servant
amenablc to none of their charges--orc that
never idlcs unless it is the will of the en-
ployer, and is not gwen to being over-dresset
consumes no food, makes no washing
asks no wages, and above ALL though ircely j
admitted to the mily-circc, never rctaiis
your private affairs in the Kitchen.
! II should like to see such paragon, that's
all !'' Mrs. Green says, okcpically. Bu.
Mrs Brown smiles little and suggests "a
Sewing Machine" to the riddle we have pro-
nounced.
Mrs. Green doesn't believe in them. Its
all very well for these poor souls we read a.
bout, who used to get sixpcnce day for ma
king shirts, or for those great work-rooms
people but they wont answer for family
sswing,' and she thereupon produces an I'M
mense amount Of individual testimony to
support the assertion.
The work rips So too,' Mrs. Brown adds:
''if one stitch goes, there's the whole seam!''
"And that great cord on the under side -
Mrs. Black says, for, thougl she has come
to spectacles. sho still pridcs hers IT on her
stitching. Plain sewing WAS taught as an
accomplishment in Mrs. Black school days
1T vcr will do for fine work-ncver -
" Baby clothes," suggests little Mrs.
White, busy on dainty slip with infinite
sinai ruffles.
"And they get out of order so easily"
Mrs. Green adds. warming with the corrobo-
rating opinion of the rest. Mrs. Rays is
perfectly useless, and there's twenty five dol
lars thrown away!
"Oh, # was gong to get one, it should
he the v ry best; none OF those cheap things.
What could You expect p
Which is TIE best ?-.hal's The thing"
And Mrs. Green's very good mouth turns
little scornfullv. and her tone secm- to ind-
cate that she has proposed question it is
impossible to solve in the midst Of such con-
tending claims.
son, | should find out; but imagine
Mr.. White paying out a hundred and twen-
ty-fve dollars for me He would think l
was beside myself if asked it. A hundred
dollars isn't made every day. and think
it's IL wiic's duty to save for her husband and
children"
You have been married n year, little lady,
and you have many beautiful theories, but
experience is the surcst guide. You aim
high to be your husbands best friend and
helper, in all social and intellectual pro-
gress, pattern and example TO your chill
dren but us the years roll on, and a crib is
added t, n baby's cradle, and the wants of
elder children accumulate a pressure OF spring
OF winter sewing that depresses your spirits
and wears upon your strength, how are,
your higher duties to be accomplished, in
the midst Of incessant toll, that torbids alike
progress or recreation? That is not econu-
my which wastes n wlc's best capital
health and chcerulness. Ask your neigh
bor--lretiul, sckly Mrs. Jenkns-what she
thinks of help that, for once in her married
life, would empty the overlooking work
basket or pale Miss Thomas, that you pity
50. because. rs the eldest daughter of that
great family, she sits, from breakfast till din
ner, and from dinner till tea, toilns more
steadily than her mother S maid-oi-all- work,
while She Graves time for study and woman-
ly accomplishments, though she bends, with
patient seii-denial, to the irksome bondage
Do you know, besides all this, that the hus-
band for whom you are ready to sacrifice So
much will Whit away the hundred dollars
before you have saved him twenty five
You had no brothers, and you do not know
tnat cigars are forty dollars thousand.
But it is time. since such discussions arise
in every little womanly gathering through
out the land, that the "Center- Table" pro-
nounced, in sober earnestness, on the various
objections that are urged, and look into
Mrs. Green question-''Which IS the best?"
more especially.
We commenced our Investigations in a
social and non-oiiical capacity. Fully a
year since, when the most universal ruin
brought many delicate hand in contact for
the first time with toll, it became a matter
Of life and death importance to one reared
| in the midst of comfort, that she should Sc
lect the very best substitute for the wearing
needle-work that alone stood between her
and absolute want. The kindness Of friend
supplied the means-the support of three
children the strongest motives for imme-
diato action-and, with these reasons for de-
Gliding wisely for one who called forth our
strongest sympathes, We entered on our
sclf-apponted quest.
First 'sto the sreatworkrooms" which Mrs
| Green has cited, where years of experience
had fully tested the several inventions. At
Genins we were told wheeler & Wilson'S,
for family sewing, most unquestionably. !"
We inclined, at that that time, to another
manufacturc, aud were not disposed to
make this final At Brodie's the same reply.
In the midst of the marvellous enterprise
and industry at Douglas & Sherwoods, we
were pointed to the same source. for their
efficient aid for simplicity, orrapid:ty. for
the best stitch, the most durable work; and
all this we wished to find. "iiut for shirts,
for family sewing ?" we asked ol others to
receive the same reply. So "a Wheeler and
Wilson" was purchased, to prove, under OBJ
servation, the truth OF all that was urged in
its praise. Still, the price-ot first Sl25,
now Sl0O-fur the pretty work table, entire
ly closed, seemed great deal to pay at once,
even with prospect offuture payment, as O
"savings bunk, - from q moderate income
or late we noticed by chance, the advertised
reduction, by the same firm, of n really 60 %
and useful machine for half that sum. Tc
assure ourselves that it VIA fdl y as % vioanl'
we paid our iirst visit to the establishment
Imagine If you please, large and elegantly
furnished drawing-room set about witt
pretty little articles Of furniture which n
first might be taken for small musical ins
trument, and in the center n group OF from
ten to twenty handsomely ladies
taking lessons" though the musi'
has more of the cheerful hum of the spin
ning-whcel than the sad tone of the mclo
deon. These are purchasers, who are being
instructed in the full use of their new pos
aession--in its scanning, quilting, gathering
hemming, and telling capitalization
competent instructors, provided by the firm
One Of them most kindly and fully satisfe