Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-11-19
Housekeeping Versus Housekeeping.

The trueSt homes are often in houses
not SO well kept, where the comfort
and happiness of the inmates, rather
than the preservation of the furniture,
is first consulted. The object of home
is to be the centre, the point of tender
est interest. the pivot OH which family
ife turns. The first requisite is to
make home attractive-so attractive
that none of its inmates shall care to
linger long outside of it's limits. All
Legitimate means should be employed
to this end, and no effort spared that
can contribute to the purpose. Many
houses called homes, kept with waxy
neatness by painstaking, anxious wo-
men, are SO oppressive in their nicely
as to exclude all me-feeIing from
their spotless precincts. The very
name Of home is synonymous with per
sonal freedom and relaxation from
care. But neither of these can be felt
where such a mania for external clean
illness pervades the household as to
render everything else subservient
thereto. Many housewives, if they see
speck on the floor or wall, or even a
scrap of thread or bit of paper on the
floor, rush at it as if it were the seed
Of pestilence which must be removed
on the instant. Their temper depends
upon their maintenance of perfect pu-
rity and order. If there is any failure
on their part, or any combination of
circumstances against them, they fall
into a pathetic despair, and can hardly
be lifted. They do not see that cheer
fulness is more needful to home than
all the spotlessness that ever shone.
Their disposition to wage war upon
maculateness of any sort increases IN
and the dust-pan. Neatness IS one
thing, and state of perpetual house.
cleaning quite another.
Out of this grows by degrees the
feeling that certain things and apart,
ments are too good for daily USE
Hence, chairs and sofas are covered,
and rooms shut up, save for special oc-
casions, when they are permitted to re-
veal their violated sacredness in man
ner that mars every pretense of hos
pitality. Nothing should be bought
which is considered too fine for the
fullest domestic appropriation. Far
better is the plainest furniture, on
which the children can climb, than satin
and damask which must be viewed with
reverence. Where anything is reserved
or excluded, to disguise the fact is ex-
tremely difficult. A chilly air wraps it
round, and the repulsion of strange
ness is experienced by the most insen-
sible.
There are few persons who have not
visited houses where they have been
introduced to what is known as the
company parlor. They must remem-
Der how uncomfortable they were while
sitting in it; how they found it impos-
sible, to be at ease, and mainly for the
reason that their host and hostess were
not themselves at ease. The children
were watched with lynx eyes, lest they
should d1splace or soil something; so
that the entertainment of friends be-
came very much like public discipline.
They must recall, too, how sweet the
fresh air seemed out-of-dOors, and how
they inwardly vowed, in leaving that
temple of form and fdgetness, that
something more than politeness would
be required to incite them to return.
Home is not name, nor form, nor
routine 2" 1t is spirit, principle.
Material and method will not, and can
not make it. 1t must get its light and