The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1875-05-08
Country PnrlOrs.


can't keep house without parlor set
apart exclusively for company use, kept
"span Clean" and jealousy guarded
from stray sunbeams that have d trick
Of peeping through every unwary
crevice. Our grandmothers had such a
room, our mothers had one, and so,
forsooth, must we. But then the par
lors of our ancestors boasted of those
| glorious, wide piouthed fire-piaces that
brighten any room, however gloomy,
while we box up the cheerful flames in
iron or freestone and call 1t more gen.
teel. We refrain all the stiffness while
discardlng the only redeeming feature
Of their ''spare ROOM"
l do not mean to say that none of us
should have parlor, but l do protest
against spending the greater part of the
money one has to furnish a home in
putting expensive furniture into a room
that, in our country homes, will be
used perhaps q dozen times In the
course of a year, while tie 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 your family, and
then it will be an attractive place for
visitors.
go to make Mrs. Prim an afternoon
visit. 1 find her In the sitting
busy with the weeks mending. After
half hours chat she excuses herself
and passes out of the room. know
just where she has gone. The horror
OF her best room comes over me. /
hear her sweeping down the cobwebs,
rolling up the curtains, and throwing
open the blinds. wait In nervous ex-
.pectation. l am contented and cosey
where am, but / know Mrs. Prm
wishes that l should see "the parlor. /"
She knows 1 haven't any at home. She
comes back leaving the doors open, and
says in bare, distinct words, 1--WE will
take some seats 10 this way" know
Just what to say. have said 1t great
many times. Everybody says 1t is un-
der the circumstances. reply. 81 sit
very comfortably here" rising at the
same time.
Mrs. Prim passes on, I following af-
ter, feeling as though am In a funeral
procession going to look at the corpse,
and the corpse is in the best room. 1t
smells Of the tomb, it looks gravelike,
and shudder inwardly as l sit down
on the horse-hair sofa, staring at the
blank walls. l am uncomfortable 1
can't help 1t. Mrs. Prim is uncomfor-
table. She don't feel at home. How
ever, JOhnny's overalls, with one leg
torn off, don't correspond with the
room, but they must be mended this af-
ternoon.
She tries to talk, and do the same.
| know what she expects of me, and l
try to satisfy her. l speak of the beau
ty of her carpet, which resembles cir
Gus bill T; of the enormous size of her
mirror, and then l am at the end of my
wits. The room isn't suggestive OF
ideas. Don't you know how much diff
ference there is in rooms? 1t is so
easy to talk In some rooms your tongue
runs In spite Of itself. You find SO
much to awaken thought that 1t seems
as il tho room was planned for that
purpose.
Country parlors, as rule, do not be-
long to this class. They are nothing
but a "hollow mockery." And then
the abrubt manner of showing visitors
into theml If you happen to be caught
in the kitchen, try to find some excuse
for changing rooms, as showing them
new song, or late picture, and then
you can easily be seated and continue
tho conversation. If you have a parlor
make 1t home. like, llfe'like and avoid
any appearance of stiffness. Sit in there
by yourself, and with your family
sometimes, SO as to get rid of that feel
ing supposed to belong to "cat In q
strange garrett"
God be thanked for our noble won.
en- in the country that are an honor tC
any community, but preserve us from
these old. fashioned, straight = backed
gloomy dens called parlors.