Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-11-13
Housekeeping Versus Housekeeping.

4u6 tIUeSt QOlReS are OlGCn IN houses
not so we'll kept, where the comfort
and happiness of the inmates, rather
than the preservation of the furniture.
is first consulted. The object of homo
is to be the centre, the point of tender
est interest, the pivot on which family
ife turns. The first requisite is to
make home attractive-so attractive
that none of it's 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 pnrpose. Many
houses called homes, kept with waxy
neatness by painstakins, anxious wo.
men, are so oppressive in their nicely
as to exclude all home-feeling 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 mania for external clean
liness pervades the household as to
render everything else 'subserviept
thereto. Many housewives, if they see
q speck on the floor or wall, or even q
scrap of thread or bit of paper on the
floor, rush at it as if it were the seed
of pcstilence 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 pathetic despair, and can hardly
be lifted. They do not see that cheer.
fulness is more needful to homo than
all the spotlessness that over shone.
Their disposition to wage war upon
maculateness of any sort increases un-
til they become slaves of the broom
and the dust"pan. Neatness is one
thing, aud 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 a 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
whicl, 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 cx-
tremeiy difficult. A chilly air wraps it
round, and the rcpulsion 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
c: mpany parlOr. They must remem-
Der how uncomfortable they were while
sitting in it; how they found it impos-
sible, tu 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 dlsplace 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 fdgetncss, that
something more than politeness would
he required to incite them to return.
Home is not Il name, DOR a form, nol
a routine2" 1t is spirit, principle.
Material and method will not, and can
not make it. It must get its light aud
sweetness from those who inhabit it,
from flowers and sunshine, from the
sympathetic natures which, in their ex
ercise of sympathy, can lay aside the
tyranny of the broom and tho awful
duty Of endless scrubbing.