American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-10-18
VOL. NXIII.
MY WELL-SPENT SUMNER.

| THIS story isfor common people," so
| If you are one of the unc0mD20H people, or
think you are-which is just the same
turn the leaf and pass on. This Is not for
you.
kitty, I'd give the world if I only
knew how To keep house like you. l get
so discouraged and dishcartened that l
feel as il I'd Just like to give it all up and
die. What with the children, and the
housework, and my poor ignorance. life
| is a burden to me-"
Poor Cousin Belle! dim suggestion of
a plan by which l might help her out of
her trouble had been floating through nv
bISn for several days, and this pathetic
appeal brought my ideas to focus.
Now, know how to keep house. Why :?
Because had New England mother
and if there are any better housekeepers
in the world than the New England house.
keepers, there ought to be a separate de-
partment in Barnum's for exhibiting them
to the gaze of an admiring world.
| My mother had a faculty" She was
gentle woman, but when she walked
through room, the chairs, tables, etc,
used to marshal themselves into place. as
if a general was giving the word of COM
| mand to his soldiers
| All of her daughters were instructed in
housewifely duties. not only served an
apprenticeship as second girl" but was
'chief cook" as well, and when my father
said:
"Kitty, this bread is just as good as
your Mothers" l thought l had gradu-
ated with the highest honOrs. This was
mig good fortune. Poor Belle had never
been taught anything but the piano, and
as she sagely remarked, "They couldn't
| eat music.'
This was her ill fortune, and so it came
about that Belle, thousand times prettier
| and BRIGHTER Than I nj rhf of hf.ip
had gotten the threads in her web of life
all in a tangle, where l could have woven
without let or hindrance.
Now, this was my plan. Belle was nat
urally very quick and bright and could
| stay with her six months and train her in
housekeeping. All that she needed was
| to be taught. But-alas for the "buts'' in
this world-we had planned lovely sum-
mer at home. We had talked about it all
winter. We were going up the St Law
| renee to see the Thousand Isles; to visit
Montreal and Quebec; then to Mount Des-
ert, and on to the White Mountains, then
to finish the summer at Newport.
Could give it up, and stay shut up in
this little, ''pokey," unfinished Western
village, teaching Cousin Belle to do what
was as easy to me as Mother Goose's mel
odies and the alphabet?
That night, when l went up to my room,
l put on my thinking cap" and sat down
20 make my decision.
All at once the true question at stake
flashed across my consciousness. Ny
pleasure, against another's need. And so
this is your Christianity, said 1 to myself,
| severely; this is the enthusiasm for hui
manity" which you talk about so loftily
Whereupon, 1 gave myself as sound a
| hagellatiOn, morally, as any monk ever
gave himself physically with knotted
cord, and, the question being settled, re-
tired to sweet slumber and peaceful
dreams.
Belle" said l, the next morning at
breakfast, 81 think there is a way out of
your trouble
''Oh!' said she, radiantly, eff you only
could help me-"
"But, Belle, if we find way out you'll
have to abdicate, and let me be a kind of
absolute Empress of China for few
months. How would you. like that ~
said lea little doubtfully, for Belle was
| several years my senior, and matrOn's
dignity must De very tenderly approach
ed.
"Kitty, you've no idea how heavenly it
would be to me, to have some one tell me
every day just what to do, again. That is
one of my worst troubles. To think every
morning, when 1 get up, that must tell
myself and everybody else what to do,
when don't know what want done my
SELF
"Well, them" said 1, ''we'll begin to-
day"
Listen, Harry, and children" said
Belle, clapping her hands gleefully, you
must all mind Cousin Kitty, and SO must
l. Well all be young together. 1 begin
to feel restored already"
VERY well, said l, judicially, "today is
Thursday. We will devote the rest of the
week to getting the house in perfect order
| We must have clean casket to put our
jewel of home i'm
| Talk about gymnastics! There may be
| great pleasure in throwing out a pair of
wooden dumb-bells and then drawing
them back again, but how can it possibly
compare with flying around room and
putting it In exquisite order, that those
who you love may be comfortable in it =?
To enjoy your work thoroughly you
must idealize if, and who could idealiZe
pair of dumb bells?
Saturday night came, and the house was
like handbook. Then l put my finger
on a ''tender spot" in the household
economy.
About one-fourth of the needless work
was caused by "A lack of order The Lord
| of Misrule was sovereign, and il some
| times looked as if hats, and coats, dresses
and playthings had rained down.
''Now," said /, quoting my mother, ''the
house cannot be untidy if every person
puts his or her things in place"
| "Hear! heart" shouted Cousin Harry,
Bellies husband, mischievOusly
| You may laugh, Harry" said l, shak-
ing my head at him, but it is true"
That's so,' he replied; ''there is con-
| siderable sense in that curly head ofyOurs,
| after all'
Every WELL" said l, "what is the use of
sense if it won't help us out of our
| troublesl Now l am going to draw up a
what do you call it?-an agreement, by
which each member of the family binds
himself to keep his or her things in per
| feet order"
All entered merrily into the arrange
ment Harry drew up a formidable look
ing document. He and Belle signed
| first; underneath the children wrote in
regular ORDER and one of them gleefully
put the pen between the baby's chubby
fingers and guided them to make his
mark"
| Then we reduced the regular routine of
the work to a perfect system, and every
day Cousin Belle was to devote her spare
time TO learning some one thing.
| Monday morning came The house
was in perfect order. Belle says, checriIy:
"Wcll, Kitty, what is the Juvenile pupil
to learn today"
"What would you like?'
| aft could only make such bread as
you used to have at your house, 1t was
the very poetry of food Mine is sour, or
it won't rise, or something is the matter
with it half the time, so that it is MT fit to
eat''
Belle" said /, profoundly, "haven't
won I.arp.I from, TvpIaIJ auI HuyIn,