The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1878-05-04
N lS.:IM
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
The HOuSekeeper.

M1rtn Is the mtulclue VI liic,
1t cures its ills, it Gains its strife,
1t softly smooths the brow of care,
And writes a thousand graces there.
The following dissertation, from
. housekeeper to the N. Y. World,
contains some suggestions that our
lady friends may profit by:
A distinguished writer once said
that the best housekeepers he had
ever known we're those who had no
mother to teach them, because of
the tendency to regard what "my
mother always said" with sense
of infallibility. Now, while we
ourselves cling to the opinion that
mothers experience is of great
value, at the same time it seems to
us a very excellent thing for wo-
man in becoming housekeeper to
preside with intelligent thought,
always open to conviction, ready
to adopt any new plan; not merely
moving along day after day, and
year after year, like machine, in
q beaten track. The actual digni-
ty of the position the mistress of
q house holds one is apt to over
look, and apt also to forget how
much of destiny she really con-
trolls. This sounds like mere sem
timent, and yet nothing is more
true, more matter of everyday fact.
For it is not simply the drudgery
of preparing three meals day, the
keeping the house clean and cheer
full, and of enduring the misery of
washing-day with fortitude, it is
more. Underneath all this. and
as a sweet spring OF strength in
the hardest of her work, comes the
thought that she, the housekeeper,
or the house-mother. as the Ger
mans have it, holds in her hand
the well-being of her family
Now, life is quite. different
thing when the husband comes in
and out with pleasant word aud
q cheerful smile, and the little
ones are rosy and happy; but il
the little ones are are fretful and
Cross, and the husband discouraged
over his work, begins to think
there isn't much worth living for
in this world, and the wife herself
feels all ambition slipping away,
perhaps she, as housekeeper, will
stop and reflect. If she is good
and wise house mother she GER
taiDly will reflect: Have they not
eaten too much fried food lately
She has read that that is the most
unhealthy way OF cooking; and
the potatoes, too, were just little
hard, and the bread-hot from the
oven-a trife slack baked. They
liked hot bread, but she remem-
bers to have read that bread should
be thoroughly baked and not eaten
until it is cold. Aid the house
mother reflects still more: She
knows that the little brains strug-
Cling with 'such awful sums" need
food for nourishment as well AS the
limbs. Then she recollects what
she has read about unbolted -four,
about ost meal aud mutton; for
shall her boys be at the foot of the
class because she fails to put per-
ception and memory on the table
She laughs softly as she thinks of
herself, for who knows what wise
ideas may come into her own head.
And the husband-Oh, she must
find out all about it; for if think
ing power depends upon the food.
who knows how much she can do
Perhaps he will very soon see the
way out Of his difficulties, for GER
tainly it must be by thinking that
people as a general thing go on to
prosperity"
Now, who shall say the intelli-
gent housekeeper is not queen
that she does not hold in her hand
the destinies of those she loves
Healthy, wealthy and wise." she
murmurssto herself, "why not hap
Ply, healthy and handsome - the
last the result of the othersP" So
she thinks she will enbroider a
motto for the parlor mantel, and it
shall be worked in the color of the
rose.
Rules for the Sick Room.-Bring
in fresh towers of something new
every day; even the commonest
green thing is better than nothing.
Don't talk about anything unpleas-
ant; talk about something that will
lead the patients thoughts away
from his aches and mains. and leave