Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-07-08

Country PARLoIs.--A great many
people think they can't keep house
without parlor set apart exclusively
for company use, kept span clean, and
jealousy guarded from stray sunbeams
that have trick of peeping through
every unwary crevice. Our gradmoth-
ers had such room, our mother had
one, and so, forsooth, must we. But
then tue parlors of our ancestors boast.
ed of those glorious, wide mouthed fire.
places that brighten any room, howev-
er gloomy, while we box up the cheer.
full flames in iron or freestone and call
it more genteel. We retain all the
stiffness while describing the only re-
deeming feature of their spare ROOM
/ do not mean to say that none Of US
should have a parlor, but l do protest
against spending the greater part ofthe
money one has to furnish home in
putting expensive furniture into aroom
that, in our country homes, will be used
perhaps dozen times in the course Of
wear, while the remainder of the house
suffers thereby. If you have but few
pictures, with a rare gem or two, put
them into your si:ting-room by all
means. Your home should be made
pleasant for your family, and then it
will be an attractive place for visitors.
90 to make Mrs. Prim an afternoon
visit. l find her in the sitting room
busy with the weeks mending. After
half hours chat she excuses herself
and passes out the room. / know just
where she has gone. The horror of her
best room comes over me. l hear her
sweeping down the cobwebs, rolling up
the curtains, and throwing open the
! blinds. ] wait in nervous expectation.
am contented and cosy where am,
but know Mrs. Prim wishes that /
should see the parlor. She comes back
leaving the door open, and says in bare,
distinct words, We will take seats in
this way know just what to say. 1
have said it great many times. Every
BODY saws it under the same circum-
stances. reply, Il sit very comfOrta-
bic here rising at the same time.
| Mrs. Prim passes on, / following af-
ter, feeling as though | am in a funeral
procession going to look at the corpse,
and tue corpse in the best room. 1t
smells of the tomb, it looks gravelike,
and | shudder inwardly as ] sit down
on the h6rse.hair sofa, staring at the
blank walls. / am uncomfortable; l
can't help it. Mrs. Prim is uncom-
Portable. She don't feel at home
However, Johnny's overalls, with one
leg torn off, don't correspond with the
room, but they must he mended this
afternoon.
She tries to talk, and / do the same.
] know what she expects of me, and /
try to satisfy her. ! speak Of the beau
" Of her carpet, which resembles cir
Gus bill; of the enormous size Of her
mirror. and then am at the end of my
wits. The room isn't suggestive of
ideas. Don't you know there is much
difference in rooms? It is SO easy to
talk in some rooms; your tongue runs
in spite of itself. You find so much
to awaken thought that it seems a.
if the room was planned for that pur-
pose.
Country parlors, as a rule, do not be-
long to this class. They are nothing
but hollow mockery.' And then the
abrupt manner of showing visitors into
them! If YOU happen to be caught in
the kitchen, try to find some excuse for
changing rooms, as showing thema new
song, or late picture, and then you can
easily be seated and continue the con-
versltion. If you have parlor make
it home-like, hfe-li like, and avoid any
appearance of stiffness. Sit in there
/ BY yourself, and with your family some
times. so as to get rid of that feeling
supposed to belong to a cat in q strange
garrett
God be thanked for our noblewomen
in the country that are an honor 70 any
community, but preserve us from those
old-fashioned, straightforward, gloomy