The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1874-03-21
Housekeeping versus Housekeeping.

While. in the main, we endorse the
writer OF the following, there cannot be
too much stress laid on the fact that an i'll.
kept house must inevitably breed discon.
tent and discord:
The truest homes are often in houses
not especially well kept, where the com.
fort 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 ON which family life
turns. The first requisite is to make it at
tractive, so attractive that none of its in
mates 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 women.
are 50 oppressive in their nicety as to ex.
clude all home-feeling from their spotless
precincts. The very name of home is
synonymous with personal freedom and
relaxation from care. But neither of these
can be felt where such a mania for exter-
nal cleanliness pervades the household as
to render everything else subservient there
10. Many housewives, If they see speck
on floor or wall, or even scrap
OF thread or bit Of paper on the
fiopr, rush at it, as if it were the
seed OF pestience, which must be removed
on the instant. Their temper depends
upon their maintenance of perfect purity
and order. Ifthere be any failure on their
part, or any combination of circumstances
against them. they fall into pathetic de-
spslr and-can hardly be lifted out. They
do not see that cheerfulness is more need.
full to home than all the spotlessness that
ever shone. Their disposition to wage war
upon maculateness of any sort increases
until they become slaves of the broom and
dnst-pan. Neatness is one thing, and a
state of perpetual house-cleaning quite
another.
"Out ofthis grows by degrees the feeling
that certain things and apartments are too
good for daily use. Hence, chairs and sofa
are covered, and rooms shut up, save for
special occasions, when they are permitted
to reveal their violated sacredness in a
manner that mars every pretense of hospi-
tallty. Nothing should be bought which
IS considered too fine for the fullest do
mestic 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 secluded, to dis
guise the fact is extremely difficult. A
chilly air wraps tround, and the repulsion
OF strangeness is experienced by the mos
insensible.
There are few persons who have not
visited houses where they have been intro
duced to what is known as the companv
parlor. They must remember how uncom-
Portable they were while sitting in it how
they foundit almost.impossible to be at ease.
and mainly for the reason that their host and
hostess were not themselves at ease. The
were watched with lynx eyes.
east they should displace or soil something
70 that the entertainment of friends be- |
came very much like a social discipline.
They must recall, too, how sweet the fresh |
air seemed out of doors, and how thew |
nwardly vowed. in leaving that temple Of |
orm and fidgetness, that something more
han politeness would be required to in
lite them to return.
Home is not name, nor a form. nor
outline. 1t is spirit, presence, prin-
iple. Material and method will not and
annot make it. 1t must get its light and
weakness from those who inhabit. from
overs and sunshine, from the sympathe-
&c natures which, in their exercise of sym.
athy. can lay aside the tyranny of the
room and the awful duty of endless scrub
ing. "-SG1bner's Monthlu.