Los Angeles daily herald., 1876-03-29
The Skeleton In the Closet.

hurried through the golden gates Of
matrimony during the last two weeks
of February; for even in churches in
which the fast of Lent is not observed
there is prejudice against wedding In
so gloomy season. The columns of
society papers, which have been filed
with descriptions of bridal receptions,
trousseaus, and presents, have ceased
! to glow for few weeks, and the newly
married folk have leisure to arrange
their possessions, take stock of their
capital of youth, fortune and love, and
| to settle down to make such use Oft
as seems best to them. The Tribune
willingly throws in word Of advice
as the fittest of wedding gifts. It is
that they carefully search house bag
| gage, and hearts, and see that, as they
set out on the long journey together,
| they take no skeletons with them.
Your novel-writer, playwright, and
poet find the inevitable ghastly tenant
of the closets mighty useful parsonage.
| They could not do without him; he Is
made to shoulder and lug in all the
tragedy, the dramatic situations, the
te ling points; but practical house.
kaa, 7ers or home-makers would do
we'll ~ begin their Spring cleaning
and T enten self-examinations by
Kidding themselves Of all cadavers or
anv sort of secrets which have to be
kept out of Sigh as quickly as possible.
The skeleton f.u the majority OF hous-
es ruled after the latest moGs Is .
mean economy is unwise, and lavisn
show in circumstances where display
is vulgar. The young husband and
wife, if they venture OH housekeeping
at ali, wish, first of ALL to impress
their little world with their means and
good taste. Parlor and dining-ro0m
boast their fine carpets or rugs, pic
lures, and ,hric.a-brac; there Is q
SNOWY set of china .for company;v
the mean skeleton sinks into up
per closets with the scanty stock of
linen, or among the cheap thin pill
lows and hard mattresses, or down to
the bare, comfortless kitchen, with
its meager supply of pots and pans.
There are mansions dubbed by gap
ing passers-by as palatial, whose draw
ipg-rooms and state-chambers are
marvels of luxury, but whose kitchens
and sleeping-rOoms are scarcely mt
to be the habitation of paupers. flour
ambitious young housekeeper has any
such skeletons as this to hide, or any
other result of her own Incidence or
ignorance, she may be sure her sin
will find her out, and that at the least
convenient season. Sham magnid-
cence never yet covered up poverty,
idleness, or uncleanness with its scam
ty, gaudy drapery.
Your fashionable visitor will some
day catch glimpse of the ragged
table cloth, or the creeping horror of
the basement-ghost harder to lay
than Hamlet's father-will rise from
his cavern in the sink to walk on par
lor brocatelle. There was an old GUS
tom among onr great-grandmothers
which required each girl to weave
and spin her chests fnll of undercloth-
ing, bed and table linen, before she
could hope for matrimony. Thousands
of honest young couples with this
provision, COW, and clean feather
bed, began life courageously together,
and ended it with honor and success.
Thousands of their descendants who
are ashamed of them began it now
with fine furniture and snowy house,
and not half the preparation for
clean comfort and genuine decency.
There are other skeletons which
bad better be thrown out headlong
from the new home; that old love
affair which the husband passed
long ago, and which he goes back 20
NOPE over when dNspeptic or out
of humor. 1t lifts him, he fancies, to
quite a poetic hight--the possession of
this lost love, stored away for mel
ancholy emergencies. The best way
for his wife to lay this ghost Is to bring
him face to face with his ideal dream
Ten chances to one she is fat, middle
aged, and frowZy, but in any case the
new man and woman into which both
have grown are most likely to repel
each other. There are cadavers buried
in almost every home ready to breed
malaria; grudges between husband and
wife; sore old family feuds; unsettled
disputes about money.
Many people, too, keep q sort of
charnel-house atmosphere about by
means of secrets; they wrap them
selves in a disagreeable mystery;
manage their children and friends by
a system of finesse; they are apt, too, to
possess sensitiveness beyond the COM
prehension of the vulgar, are always
in the abyss of quarrel or on the
nights of reconciliation. There are no
whole respectable skeletons in their
houses, perhaps, but you walk knee
deep in bits of bones. Most familiar
amoug skeletons is debt. Our advice
to young housekeepers is to turn the
whole miserable tribe out of doors.
Don't coddle them or temporize with
them or cover them up, but-at what
ever sacrifice-turn them out of doors.
Then only can you hope for honest,
clean, cheerful homes in which to live
out your lives and rear your children.