Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-04-04
Our Parlors.

Under this title we fiud an excellent
little sketch in Arthur's Home Magazine,
and reproduce it here. The fashion of
havinga " fine room, which may not be
used by the members of the family,
lest the pretty things in it should be
injured or soiled, is one which thor
oughly deserves the sarcasm which
CLEANS in every sentence of Mrs. Bells
story. What home is worth the having
that cannot be used in its every part?
CHOW, pa, don't 60 in there, with
your old. dirty clothes on. I've just
got it cleaned, and / don't want the car
pet soiled and the room all mussed up
for nothing"
Spa" as Mrs. Flower called her hus-
band, stopped on the threshold, and
looked FOR moment across upon the
forbidden ground; then, with sigh,
turned away, and passed out and took
a seat on wooden chair in one corner
of the old, dingy kitchen.
He had spent nearly quarter of an
hour brushing and cleaning up before
he dared venture to even 60 into the
sitting-room, and thought he would
Just step into the parlor and try that
new easy -chair he brought from town
last week, and hear Jennie play on the
piano he had sacrificed 80 much to buy
for her. He seldom, il ever, heard it
any nearer than the kitchen, and there
he sat now, thinking and wondering.
He toiled and worked hard all day on
his broad acres, and for what? To earn
corner of the poorest room in his own
house, and wooden chair to sit upon !
He used to enjoy himself when they
had but one room, and all sat together
of an evening. But the wife and daugh-
ter had outgrown and outlived those
old ways and those old-fashioned days;
and, the consequence was, the parlor
was too nice for pa" to enter-unless,
indeed, when the stove had to be moved,
or the white washing done, or the car
pet taken up and dragged out, once
every year. And he found himself
wondering if there were not bit of rea-
SON in the question little four-ycar-old
Freddy asked him one day:
"Pa, will they have nice rosey car
pets, and soft chairs, and lace curtains,
up in heaven?"
~ hope not, child. Why do you
ask2
because was thinking, papa,
maybe they wouldn't let you and me in,
you know"
But how many homes there are, all
over our land. where the proper head
of the family--the one whose money
buys all the fine things, the one who
tolls to earn them--rarely is permitted
to enjoy themi How often do the dear,
tired feet walk across the velvet roses
on the new carpet, to purchase which
they have, perhaps, plodded many q
mile, mp hill and down, behind the
pillow?
How many times year. in such house
holds, does the weary head, over which
the silver threads are beginning to
creep, lean back. in quiet, restful peace,
against the cushions OF those easy
chairs? And yet there they stand for
somebody.
Perhaps the buying of them made
some of those same silver threads steal
in among the dark locks; for the brow
was wrinkled in deep, earnest thought
for weeks, planning how to afford the
means to buy just those same easy
chairs. But wife and daughter said
I" must" and so they were purchased.
o, dear women. don't shut up your
parlors. Don't, after you have cleaned,
and re.papered, and put up your pretti-
est pictures and brackets and ornaments,
and have stood back and looked all
around, and thought how such q paint
ing would look to Mr.. So-and-so. or
such piece Of furniture would set Mrs.
Notover-wise raging with envy--dont,
I say, give satisfied nod, and then 60
round 10 each window, and slam shut
the blinds, and close up every chink
where the least ray ofsunlight can peep
in, and go off in the little, heated back
room, ana sit down, tired and warm
and exhausted, and imagine you have
done your duty. No, don't do it, dear,
whoever you are, whatever your home
is; but open the windows-don't be
afraid of little sunshine. OF course,
nobody wants her best carpets all faded
ont by the glsring MONDAY sun. To
enjoy The sunshine it isn't necessary
to broil in it; but let in enough once
in while TO take away that gloomy.
chilly, parlory atmosphere that is so
often found in this one best (oftener
worst) room in the house. Let in o
laughing sunbeam once in q while, and
see how much prettier the roses on the
carpet will blush, and how the pale
photograph faces will brighten in their
walnut frames. and almost seem to nod
a pleasant Thank you" for the cheer
ing ray of outdoor beauty.
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