Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-08-31
Home Keeping.

W ITH what enthusiasm the young
hOuSekeeper enters her clean, bright,
attractive kitchen. With what glow
of delight she engages in her duties.
Everything is new, pure, untarnished.
The sunshine CLEANS in rows of bright
tin, the shelves are free from even a
hint of dust, and the surface of the
china is smooth and polished. The tea
kettle sings cheerily away on the stove.
How delightful is work with such sur
roundings. How keenly and with
what alacrity she enters upon her du-
ties. With what dispatch the work is
disposed Of. How foolish in her once
to dread housekeeping.
But there comes a time when all
this is changed. No longer the bright
surface Of the tin and kitchen utensils
reflect the rays of the morning sun.
They are too dingy and dirty to reflect
anything. AS she opens the door of
her cupboard, disorder and uncleanli-
ness stare at her from every corner.
Spots OF grease disfigure the kitchen
floor, and the stove is, in appearance,
far, very far from suggesting fit
place for the preparation of anything
one would wish to eat.
She realizes then that vigilance is
the price of cleanliness and order as
well as liberty. Then the thought
comes with bitterness, perhaps, that it
is daily hand to hand fight with dirt
and disorder that must be maintained
to secure surroundings in which work
can be done cheerfully and success
fully. Then as she brightens the tins,
cleans the cupboard and scrubs the
floor, she feels the drudgery of house
work. 1t will be acknowledged that
to go over the same round of duties
every day, week in, week out, for
months and years, becomes tiresome.
TO cook, wash dishes, sweep, dust, and
perform all the multifarious tasks per-
tanning to housekeeping, savOrS very
much OF drudgery, indeed Is drudgery.
But while you, my friend, WELD the
Scrubbing-bruSh, flourish the broom or
mop, and envy those in other depart
ments Of labor their immunity from
household drudgery, know that there
is drudgery pertaining to all employ
ment, q drudgery more exhausting,
more unceaSing than yours. There is
thrill of exquisite joy IN the soul Of
the poet when q new and beautiful
idea comes to him, but the working
out Of that thought in expression, is
labor Of the severest kind.
'But then he has pOem,'' you say,
eXultingly, land l only clean floor"
Only that and nothing more. You
have much more. For [ imagine your
effort viii not end with the cleaning
of your floor, but the lesson you learn
there will show itself in other depart
mentS until you possess what should
be the highest aim of every woman,
Well-ordered household, a neat, at
tractive, delightful home.
A hOmel Is not that as good as a
poem? People can live and thrive
without poetry, but the lack Of homes
has been the ruin of many.
To make home, all the little details
Of everyday life, that sometimes seem
50 small, so trihing, so far beneath the
dignity of intelligent WOmanhood, du-
ties that the yeriest drudge can per-
form, are Of Importance.
Successful h0me-making is one of
the problems Of the age. If you, oh!
patient housewife, in your quiet cor
ner Of the world, mobtrusiyely work
ing, practically solve the question
which taxes the intellects of the wise
and gifted, solve it by entering heart
lily and cheerfully into all the details
of your work, have You labOred in
vain? And # this be repeated in the
thousand homes of our land, will not
the foundations of OEr Nation stand so
strong and firm that all the opening
.tl0od-gates Of evil will not be able to
prevail against them?
Lift up your head, then; toiling on,
magnify your office. Place yourself,
as you have right, among those who
are doing the noble abiding work of
the world. EXalt your loWly duties to
the level of your high conception of
what a home is and what it means.
Then no work will seem mean, no duty
thrilling. Then we will hear no more
of the drudgery of house-work than of
the drudgery of painting picture, or
writing a poem.- Western Farm Jour-
mol
Shop Girls in Boston.