The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-11-14
She Aa'a acrtB'pest.
IA. lS78.
HOme-Keepiag versus House-Keepinr.


The truest Of all homes are often in
houses not especially well kept, where
the comfort and happiness of the in-
mates rather than the preservation of
the furniture, are first consulted. The
object Of home is to be the center. the
point Of tenderest interest, the pivot on
which family life turns. The first reoui-
site IS to make it attractive, so attrac-
tive that none of its inmates shall care
TO linger outside its limits. All legiti-
mate means should be employed to this
end, and no effort spared that can con-
tribute to the purpose. Many houses
called homes, kept with waXy neatuess
by pains-taking, anxious women, are so
oppressivei in their nicely as to exclude
all hOme-feeling from their spotless pre-
cincts. The very name Of home is syn-
onymOus with personal freedom aud re-
Taxation from care. But neither of
these can be felt where such a mania for
eternal cleanliness prevades the house
hold as 10 render everything else sub
servient thereto. Many housewives, if
they see a speck on floor or wall, rush
at it, as if il were the seed of pestilence
which must be removed on the instant.
Their temper depends upon their main
tenance of perfect purity and order. II
l.
any combination of circumstances
against them, they fall into a pathetic
despair, and can hardly be lifted out
They do not see that cheerfuIness is
more needful to home than all the sDOt-
iessness tnat ever shone. Their disposi-
ton TO wage war upon maculateness
OF any sort increases until they be-
come slaves Of the broom and dust-pan.
NeatnesS is one thing, and a state Of
perpetual house-cleaning quite another.
Out OF this grows by degrees the feel
ing that certain things and apartments
are TOO good for daily use. Hence,
chairs and sofas are covered, and rooms
shut up, save for special occasions,
when they are permitted to reveal their
violated sacredness in q manner that
mars every preteuse of hospitality.
Nothing should be bought which is con-
sidered too fine for the fullest domestic
appropriation. Far better is the plain
est furniture on which the children can
climb, than satin and damask which
must be viewed with reverence. Where
anything Is reserved or secluded, TO dis
guise the fact is extremely difficult. A
chilly air wraps il round, and the repul-
sion of strangeness is experienced by the
most inseusible.
There are few persons who have not
visited houses where they have been in
troduced to what is known As the COM
pany parlor. They must remember how
uncomfortable they were while sitting
in il; how they found italmost impossi-
bic to be at ease, and mainly for the rea-
son that their host and hostess were not
themselves at ease. The children were
watched with lynx eyes, lest they should
displace OF soil something; so that the
entertainment of friends became very
much like 4 social discipline. They
must recall, too, how sweet the fresh air
seemed Out-of-dOors, and how they in
wardly vowed, on leaving that temple of
form and fidgetiness, that something
more than pOliteuess would be required
TO induce them 10 return.
Home is not a name, nor a form, nor
a routine. It is a spirit, a presence, 4
principle. Material and method will
not, and cannot make il. 1t must get
its light and sweetness from those who
inhabit it, from flowers and sunshine,
from the sympathetic natures which, in
their exercise of sympathy, can lay
aside the tyranny of the broom and
the awful duty Of endless scrubbing.-|
ScriJHc1'S.