The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1873-11-25

HoMEKEEPING VERSUS HOUSEKEEPING
The truest homes are often in houses
not especially we'll kept, where the com.
fort and happiness of the inmates, rather
than the preservation of the furnitusc,
is first counciled. The object of home
is to De the center, the point of tenderest
interest, the pivot on which family life
turns The first requisite is to make it
attractive, so attractive that none of its
inmates shall care to linger long outside
its 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
woman, are SO oppressive in their nicely
as to exclude all home.feeling from their
spotless precincts. The very name OF
home Is synonymous with personal free
dom and relaxation from care. But
neither of these can be felt where such
mania for external cleanliness pervades
tie household as to render everything
else subservient thereto. Many house.
wives, if they see speck on -four or
wall, or even 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 de.
pends upon maintenance ofperfect purity
and order. If there be any failure on
their part, or any co bination of circum-
stances against them, they fall into II
pathetic despair. and can hardly be lifted
out They do not see that cheerfulnes,
is more needful to home than all the
spotlessness that ever shone. Their dis.
position to wage war upon maculateness
of any sort increases until they become
slaves of the broom and dust.pan. Neat.
ness is one thing, and state of perpetual
house.ceaniDg quite another.
Out of this grows by degrees the feel
ing that certain things and apartment.
are too good for daily use. Hence
chairs and sofas are covered, and rooms
shut up. saved for special occasion, when
they are permitted to reveal their violat.
ed slcredness in a manner that mars
every pretense of hospitality. Nothing
should be bought which is considered toe
fine for the fullest domestic appropriation
Far better is the plainest furniture. OF
which the children can climb, thar
satin aud damask which must bt
viewed with reverence. Where anything
is reserved or secluded, to disguise tht
fact is extremely difficult A chilly all
wrapsi it round, and the repulsion ofstrange
ness is experienced by the most insen
sible.
There are few persons who have no
visited houses where they have been in
troduced to the company parlor. Thel
must remember how uncomfortable they
were while sitting in it; how they foant
it almost impossible to be at ease, and
mainly for the reason that their hos
and hostess were not themselves at ease
The children were watched with lyn,
eyes, least they should displace or sol
! something; so that entertainment o
friends become very much social discip
lint. They must recall, too, how swee
} the fresh air seemed out. .of-doors, an,
how they inwardly vowed, in leaviu,
that temple of form and fdgetiness
that something more than politenes
would be required to incitc them t,
return.
: Homo is not name, nor form, nor
, routine. 1t is a spirit, a presence,
principle. Material aud method will moi
1 and cannot make it. 1t must get il
light and sweetness from those who in
habit it, from flowers and sunshine, frou
the sympathetic natures which. in thei
: exercise Of sympathy. can lay aside tn
0 tyranny Of the broom and the awful dut
!. Of endless scrubbiug,