River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1878-05-16
Sweeping House.

When the washing and ironing are well
out of the way, comes the sweeping. A
house to be clean must be swept, we all
know; and ii all the housekeepers in the
land could give their way of doing it,
nine out of every ten doubtless would
say, "0h, | sweep once or twice week,
and brush up little every day." Now,
it is not to tfc housekeeper who has had
the broom ques ton in full consideration
that we offer IL csc suggestions; but 1t is
to the many who in their hurry sieze a
vicious looking broom and give the car
pet " a good going over" Rather rough
treatment this. 1t is much better econ
omy to keep nice, new broom for the
carpets; let it be hung up and kept for
that sole use. Put it entirely away, if
there is danger of its being taken to brush
the outdoor steps or round in the kitch-
en-.
In sweeping, the dust is to be brushed
off the surface. and we think light
broom is better than heavy one. And
in tile first place, let all the delicate orna-
inents be put away. Let the bed-if it
is bedroom--be carefully covered, and
have upholstered furniture also covered
as far as possible. Then open the win
dows, and after scattering damp tea-leaves
over the floor, sweep clean, but lightly,
using a small broom for the corners and
around the stove. Taking up the dust as
it gathered in little heaps is certainly
neater than rolling the whole mass from
one side of the room to the other. Let
the furniture then be busted, wiping it
with clean busting cloth. and many
people forget entirely when this cloth IS
filled, to give it shake at the window.
We speak of this, for, surprising as 1t
NAV seem, we Rave seen people fairly
rub chintz furniture covers and stuffed
furniture with busting cloths that were
simply filled with dirt.
When roorp has been thoroughly
swept, busted, and the little ornaments
returned 70 their places, one feels that II
is clean and delightful to contemplate
but if this is the sitting room or the DIM
inc room, the next thing few crumbs or
threads are dropped, or sand is brought
/ in, Notwithstanding the mat at the door.
Then comes the brushing up. Thescrub-
bling room if picked up in u hurry and
flourished over the floor, but there is no
time to dust the furniture. Now the
question is, Would it not be better to use
the crumb cloth under the dining table,
and oftener employ the small broom ana
the dust pan, leaving the actual sweeping
till it could be nicely done?
In truth, we abhor the brushing-up
business. We visited in house once
where this stile prevailed. TWAS very
pleasant house to visite except for this
The mistress was charmingly agreeable
she could talk, ap also knew how to
cook everything n the incest manner
without making fuss about 1t; but we
could never wear Our best black cashmere
dress to the dirner table, for the chairs
were often covered with dust. The
.brushing- sometimes took place just
before dinner; generally, however, we
were obliged to run before the broom, I'M,
mediately after breakfast. We wanted
perhaps moments chat with our friend
and she always said ''Oh, you are not II
| nv way l''-but if we had ON morning
dress of crimson cashmere, and our han
was .sdone up" why then-we hurried
off. oh, that everlasting broom!
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