The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1875-06-19
CQsntry I'0rlOrs.

A great mary people think they can't keep
house wils~ parlor set apart exclusively
for cornpany an, kept "span clean" and jeal-
ousy guarded fr,m stray sunbeams that have
trick of peepirg through every unwary crew
ice. Our grandmothers had such room, our
mothers had one,and so, forsooth, must we.
But then the parlGs of our ancestors boasted
of those glorious, vide mouthed fre-p places that
brighten any room, however gloomy, while we
box up the cheerfulfames in iron or freestone
and call it more gnteel. We retain all the
stiffness while discading the only redeeming
feature of their "spae room."
do not mean to say that none of US should
have a parlor, but 10 protest against spend
ing the greater parto the money one has to
furnish a home in putting expensive furniture
into room that, in our country homes, will be
used perhaps dozen times in the course of
year, while the remainder of the house suffers
thereby. If you have but few pictures, with
rare gem or two, put them into your sitting
room by all means Your home should be
made pleasant for !our family, and then it
will be an attractiveplace for visitors.
l go to make Mrs Prim an afternoon visit
l find her in the siting-room busy with the
weeks mending. After half hours chat she
excuses herself and passes out of the room. l
know just where she has gone. The horror of
her best room cones over ME. | hear her
sweeping down the cobwebs, rolling up the
curtains, and throwing open the blinds.
wait in nervous expectation. l am contented
and cosey where lam, but l know Mrs. Prim
wishes that should see "the parlor." She
comes back leaving the doors open, and says
ia bare, distinct words, "We will take some
seats N ebIs way" know iust what TO say
| have said great many times. Everybody
says it under the circumstances. | reply, II
sit very comfortably here" rising at the same
time
Mrs. Prm passes on, I following after, feel
ing as though am in funeral procession 60
ing to look at the corpse, and the corpse is the
best room. 1t smells of the tomb, it looks
gravelike, ard / shudder nwardly as I sit
down on the horse hair sofa, staring at the
blank walls. am comfortable; l can't help
it. Mrs. Prim is uncomfortable. She don't feel
at home. However, Johnny's overalls, with
one leg torn off, don't correspond with the
room, but they must be mended this afternoon.
She tries to talk, and l do the same. know
what she expects of me, and l try to satisfy
her. | speak of the beauty of her carpet,
which resembles circus bill of the enor-
nous 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 differ
ence in rooms? 1t is so easy to talk in some
rooms J. your tongue runs in spite of itself. You
fad SO much to awaken thought that it seems
as if the room was planned for that purpose.
Country parlors, as rule, do not belong 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 ex-
cuse for changing rooms, as showing them a
new song, or late picture, and then you can
easily be seated and continue the con Versaton.
4, YOU have a, parlor make it home-hke, life
like, and avoid any appearance eI sunness.-
Sit in there by yourself, and with your family
sometimes, so as to,get rid of that feeling sup
posed to belong to a "cat in strange garret."
God be thanked for our noble women in the
country that are an honor to any community,
but preserve US from these old-fashioned,
STRAIGHTFORWARD, gloomy dens.-D. W. L., in
Hearth and Home.