Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-03-10
From the ~Ptincipia.
MEDITATloNSoN SWEEPING A ROOM.

this pnrlor needed any sweeping9 Stay !
III throw open the blinds, and take a general
view. The most striking thing is the disarangod
furniture. AZ for dirt, there is nothing very def
mite about It, only the carpet seems enveloped in
a dim, hazy atmosphere, making it look a little
dull and faded. Probably the aforesaid Charlie,
Sen, would just set every chair and ottoman strait
back against the wall, and consider the room
put to rigbtsv Probably he would think me
quite fanatical for insisting npon any more radi-
; cal reformation. However, he is safe in his dear,
conservative old office 80 here goes.
There now every ottoman, chair, and table,
out Of the room, and the carpet presents an unbro-
ken surface to the application of the broom.
Now, broom, do your duty!
Presto what u dust Who would ever have
dreamed of all this, lying so innocent and unsus-
pocted in the embrace of this carpetH Now it is
flying into my face, and all over the room, How
much worse | have made matters just sec how
much mischief agitation has done! Here this
poor, unOlending dit was lying quietly upon the
floor, and would never have thought of flying all
over, 80 furiously, if it hadn't been for the broom !
True, the carpet would have remained rather
dipgy, but then we can't expectto have everything
perfectly pure and bright, in this world Of dirt.
Better to choose the least Of two evils. This shows
the folly of trying to make everything perfect, all
at once, instead of using a little reason and
judgment, and smoothing over matters, and making
the best Of existing circumstances. Here l have
just gone to work on a mere principle; a principle
deduced from the s~yllogism All evils should
be removed; dirt is 40 evil therefore dirt should
be removed What an impractical idea to carry
oct! What a visionary l am Why couldn't
have taken all these things into consideration, and
calculated the consequences, before starting such
a wild scheme And ye!,-pause a moment =
here l have collected quite a quantity Of dirt in
my d~ust-pan- So much the less in the parlor,
And now | remember past experience, and that
I've seen dustier times, and brought out every
thing bright and clean.
Women are naturally rcformers. 1t is in them;
in their bones as Candice hath it, according 10
the philosophy 'of the bones,' alias Intuition
Yes; there is q difference in mind, between the
sexes. Witness the totally opposite effects which
house-cleaning, sweeping, or any kind of clearing
up produces upon them, respectively. We wo-
men are all radicals. Aiming ourselves with
broom and scrub. brushes, hot water and soap, We
olllhu u I " Nv u v u bultGl NO u
word of compromise will VIC hear; not a bit of this
IN oothing over, and letting go-no, indeed I!
everything has got 10 be moved, and turned up side
down, and inside out, au' every nook and corner
explored, and every particle Of dust, and every
guilty, trembling little wretch Of a string, nail,
old paper. soiled napkin, ancient glove, autedelu-
Wan shoe or boot, dragged forth to the light of
day. Disconsolate mortals Of the other sex gaze
upon the scene with mingled astonishment and
dismay. Vain ore their feeble interpretations; their
pleadings for peace and tranquility First pure,
then peacable,' is the most gracious promise
vouchsafed, and they are obliged to fall back up
on the pleasure of hope, for consolation. On our
banner is engraved, No compromised Nothing
short Of the entire abolition of dirt, throughout
our domains will answer our purpose.
Now men are timid. conservative creatures.
They dislike agitation. They cannot bear to have
things disturbed, any more than Dinah could, in
that wonderful kitchen that Mrs. Stowe has i'm
moytalized. Take n peep through the keyhoie
into any bachelors hall and see if 'tis'nt so
See if the table, in the middle Of the room with
? both leaves up, isn't Loaded with the most inter
8 estiug variety of papers, pens and ink, dishes
i iAI0I ohN oAooOAo' ~ ~ uOOo u
Q hold several cubic feet of oil newspapers, bits d
white paper smeared with ink, pOkers, ~coal-scut
s ties, e%plinters. and all well p%eppered with dust
No doubt the worthy proprietor, in his heart o
l.. hearts, considers all this an evil. But how is b,
S to help himself? Somehow it seemed to come 81
;. very naturally, and without any effort on his part
a and perhaps he cherishes the hope that it MAJ
die out if let alone. At any rate il would only
\ make matters worse, to commence any agitation
( as he found one time, till the dust almost sufuca
ted him. Such are men.
0 No wonder they don't like to have us, women
peer too into their great political kitchen Keep
ing bachelors hall there as they do, it ism
D strange that it should stay dusty. They step GU
It Of il so smooth aud shining before US, tina. the,
II think we won't know the difference, but It's reall
g funny to see how frightened they are, for fear W
shall catch them in iti How they hold up thei
hands in horror, and entreat us not to think G
such a thing as opening the door. or even peepin
through tho ~key-hOle. How they insist il is 6
contrary TO our angelic natures (eomplimeutar
to themselves, that } something we don't undel
re stand; and, above all, tina. there is some terribi
dragon inside, which will be sure to swallow a
- Np"A SNNhNJ NN NHN W OaNNhg AZ W. .
shall be heard Of, again, and what will become {
thenf Never nind, lets get possession of til
key, somehow; we can get around them; add the
we'll get 10, and we'll give it suck a serubSing an
il cleansing, and fG it up, and make it look ever &
T. pretty. We know howl
Here I've been leaning meditativeiy over N
broom this halEhour, instead of being at work
Meanwhile the dust is nicely settled and ready e
r me TO wipe Of.
And now that I've rubbed over and arranged ii
furniture, | am ready to sit down and take auoth'
general view How bright and beautiful Il
a carpet has become. It's gay cluster of roses loo
smiliugiy up iutO ny face, as much as to sa,
'e thank you.' And the chairs aud stands az
~whAtnOt, have settled Town into their seeustome
places, their faces beaming with sober conten
Some one has said that every atom is the uniVert