The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-11-03
HOW TO DO H0UsEWnRK AND BE
BEAUTIFUL STILL"

HOW 10 Do HOUSEWhkk AND BIZ
BEAUTIFUL STILL"
We fancy we hear an exclamation of
disgust from some untidy and over
worked housewife who gIances at the
above heading; but then such women
seldom have time to pick up newspa-
per, and their task-masters take good |
care that they never get chance to
take up the NEW NORTHWEST, so the
very persons who most need to be told |
the magic secret hinted at will doubt
less fail to see it recorded.
We do not intend TO paint an imagin-
ary farmhouse and put therein a model
of delicate womanhood, whose soft rose
color is never deepened by the fiercest
heat of the kitchen range; whose fin
gers, "pink and soft as peach-tree bios
SONS in Aprlrs fragrant days" never
grow brown and rough in the interest
ing occupation of "scraping new pota-
toes" or picking and canning blackber-
ries; whose apron is always white, col
lar aud cuffs spotless, and dish-water
never greasy; whose children never
have dirty faces or soiled aprons or
holes in their stockings; whose husband
has a happy knack of grooming the
plow-hOrses and renOvating their stalls
without coming in odorOus of stable
perfumes, and whose hired men are in
variably attired in clean shirts and con-
scientiously use the scraper before en-
| teIing the kitchen door. Nor do we in
! tend to leave the realm of fable and
clothe this in our own language, but,
partly because we are the victim of
combined headache and laZiness, and
partly because we can for the nonce
make our scissors more useful than our
pencil, we clip the magic secret from
the chronological Journal, which had
before taken it from a woman, and give
our readers the benefit of it. We hope
to hear from some of the many humid
reds of house-keepers who read the
NEW NORTHWEST concerning the mat
ter at once. Come, sisters, and tell us
if, in your opinion, "the thing can be
did"
Our rural friends who bewail their hard con-
dition as farmers wives and helps, and our
city friends who depIore the circumstances
which compel them TO do duty as kitchen
maids while that of parlor companion would
tit more becomingly their education and ac-
complishments, may take courage from the
following practical hints, administered with
much spice of manner by Matilda Fletcher:
"The most beautiful woman 1 have ever
known was a farmers wife, who attended 70
the household duties for family OF four, and
also assisted in gardening and the light farm
work; aud yet 1 never saw her hands rough
and red; never saw even freckle on hel
nose. Impossible . you say; how did she
manage p never asked her, but she had some
envious neighbors who went slouching around
with red, scaly hands, sunburnt faces, anC
their hair matted with dust and Oil, who le
me into the dreadful secret They Informed
me with an ominous shake of the head tha
she was the proudest mink that ever lived
that she actually wore india rubber gloves
when she used the broom and scrubbing
brush, and always when she worked outdoors
that she had a bonnet made of OiIsilk, com
pletely covering Jne neaus laces ana neck, leaV
ing only apertures for seeing and breathing
r thus securing perfect freedom from sun, wind
and dust. Did you ever hear of such deprav
: ity? She also fastened her dish-cloth to
: stick, so that she need not put her hands in no
: water. For the same reason she accomplishe,
her laundry-work with machine and wringeI
And then TO see her in the afternoon tricke,
: out in a fashionable while dress, with a bright
| colored ribbon at her throat, and a rose in he
, hair, entertaining in the parlor, as though sh
were the greatest lady in the land, was NOR
: than their patience could endure. And he
I husband? He had such a satisfied expression
5 that it was a perfect aggravation to ordinar
= people to look at him. He deserved 10 b
happy because he encouraged and helped he
to cultivate beauty in herself, her family, an
her home; and don't know but her success
: belonged principally to him, because h
3 bought all the new inventions that coul
tighten her labOrs, and ali the delicate an
pretty things she needed to adorn her hom,
and when she was sick he wouldn't let he
touch work until she was we'll and strong"