The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1865-07-26
Sketch Of too Careful Housekeeper
BY MRS. H. B. STOWE

manly one, and was loving and Obliging
! but still she was one VI the desperately
| palnstakln9, conscientious sort Of women
whose very blood. as they grow older Is de-
\ vOured With anxiety, anu she Game Of race
OF women in whom housekeeping was more
I than al art or science, it was, 10 Il eak, q
/ religion. SOphIe's mother, a1uts, and
grandmOthers for namcle-S generations
\ back, were known and celebrated house
keepers. They might have been genuine
/ descendants OF The inhabitants OF that HOl-
landlc town Of Brock, celebrated by Wash
/ lngtOn Irving, where the cows tails are
/ Kept tied up with unsullied blue ribbons,
and the ends of the ire wood are painted
white. lie related how a celebrated preach
er, visiting this town, found il impossible
10 draw these housewives from their earthly
views and enjOyments, until lie took 10
! preaching on the ueOtHesS Of the celestial
I city, the unsullied crystal OF its walls and
the polish Of It's pavement, when the face.
OF Its housewives were set ZionWard al
once
/ Now this solemn and earliest view of
/ housekeeping j. oneIous enough when "a
poor girl enters on the care ul a moderately
furlshed house, where lhc articles are not
too expensive 10 be- renewed as time and
use wear them; but IL l. infinitely worse
when Il cataract Of splendid furniture is
heaped. upon her care when splendid crVs-
tails cut INTO her conscience. and mirrors
reflect her duties and moth and rust stand
ever ready 10 devOur aud suly in ever,
room ANA passage Way.
sophie was sOienilil warned and Instruc-
ted by all the mothers anu aunts, she was
warned Ot moths, warned OF cOckrOaches
warned OF dust; all the articles of furniture
had their covers, made Oi cod Holland lin
ell, III which they looked like bodies laid
out, even the curtain tassels had each its
little shrOud-and bundle of receipts and OF
rites auQ ceremonies necessary iOr the pres
ervatIOn and purllcaIiOn and care Of all
these articles We're stuffed into the poor
girls head, before guiltleSs Of cares a. the
feathers that llOated above il.
Poor Bill found very soon that his house
and furniture were to be kept at such an
ideal nOInt of nprtacffon thaf no ,.s..4l.4 80
other house 10 live in,--for, poor fellow
he found the difference between a house
and home. Ii Was only year or two after
that my wife and | started our meRage on
very different principles and Bill would Of
ten drop IN upon us, wiStiully lingering in
the cOzy armchair between my writing Ia
Die and my wiie's sofa, and saying with a
sigh how cOniOundedly pleasant things
look there 50 pleasant TO have bright,
open nre, and gernalum and roses. and
birds, and all that sort Of thing, and 10 dare
10 stretch out ones legs and 10 move with
out one thinking what one was agODg 10
hit. sophia Is 4 good girl, " he would
| sap, land wants TO have everything right.
| but you see they won't let her Ihey'v
| loaded her with 50 many that have to be
kept IN lavender that the poor girl is ac-
tually getting thin and losing her health
and then you see there's aunt Zeruah, she
mounts guard ut our house and keeps up
such strict policy regulations that a fellow
can't do thing. The parlors are splendid
| but SO lonesome and dismal, not a ray Ol
sunshine, IN fact not a ray of light, except
when visitor is calling and then they
open a crack. They're afraid Of flies. and
yet, dear knows, they keep every looking
glass and picture-frame mufled To its throat
from March to December. I'd like for curl
Osity 10 see what fly would do in our par
lorsl"
" Well said /, - can't you have some
little family sitting room, where you car
make yourself cOzy?r
- NOt bit OF IL. Sophia and aunt Zerual
have fixed their thrones up in our bedroom
and there they sit all day long, except a
calling hours, and then sophia dresses her
sell and comes down. Aunt Zeruah inslst
upon it that the way is 10 put the whole
house III order, and shut all the blinds, an,
and set in Your bedroom, and then, sh'
says nothing gets out of place; and sh
tells poor Sophia the most hOcus-pOcu
stories about her grandmOthers and aunts
who always kept everything in their house
so that they could 20 and lay their hand
on IL III the darkest night. I'll bet the
could in our house. From end 10 end il /
kept looking as il We had shut it up an,
gone TO Europe, e,-nOt a book, not paper
not glove, or any trace OF human beinj
in our sight.
1.-The piano shut tight the bOOk-cas
shut and locked the engravings locked up
all the drawers and closets locked. Why
if want TO take fellow into the library
in the first place il smells like a vault, an
l have to unbarrcade windows, and unlOc
and rummage for half an hour before / ca
: get anything; and know aunt Zeruah
standing uptOe at the door ready TO viii
! everything back and lock up again. a fe
low can't be social, or take any cOmiol
r in showing his books and pictures that way
Then there's our great, light dIning-rOOn
with the sunny south windows, Aunt Il
I ruah got Us out OF that early in April, be-
cause she said the flies would speck th
frescOes and get into the china closet, an
We have been eating in little dlngy deI
with window looking out on a back allel
ever since; and Aunt ZeTuah says that no
. the dining-rOOm Is always in perfect Orde
and that is such Il care off SOphie's min
D that l ought 10 be willing 10 eat down ce
? lar TO the end of the chapter. Now, yC
see, Chris, my position Is delicate on
because SOphie's folks all agree, that II the
Is anything in creation that II ignorant al
dreadful and must not be allowed his OW
way anywhere, its man"
\ Why, you'd think TO hear Aunt ZeruG
o talk, that We were all like bulls in a chill
n shop, ready 10 toss and tear and rend,
9 9 We are not kept down cellar and chaine,
and she worries Sophie and SOlhie'S mot
er comes and worries, and If / try 10 z
anything done differently, Sophie cries, al
J.. says she don't know what 10 do, and SO
u give ii up. Now, if | want 10 ask few
our sci in SOciably TO dinner, | can't ha
them eat down celar,-Oh' that would ne
= er do Aunt Zeruah anu SOphie's moth
f. and the whole family would think the fan
D. ly honor was forever ruined AMI undOne.
>, We must not ASH them, unless we open [
a dining-rOOm, and have out all the best cl
IA, and get the silver home from the ban
and if We do that, Aunt Zeruah doesn't sic
for week beforehand. getting ready for
yh and for a week after. getting things p
away; and then she tells me, that in :
l. phies delicate stale il really is abOminat
10 Tor NE to increase her cares. so | invite i
ID lows 10 dine with me al DelmOnlc'S. a
Il. then Sophie cries. and SOphie's moth
r says il don't look respectable for a fami
= = man to be dining at public places; but IA
be II fellow wants 4 home somewhere -.
n, lGRtic Monthly.
Is.
The Vienna PreSse relates the follOvi
- incident. e. On Monday last nonufactul