Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-10-18
The ..pizen.C,ean,, woman.

Cleanliness Is an excel ent requirement. II
Is so great an requirement that one does not
wonder that the sentence Cleanliness is next
to GodlinesS" was popularity supposed, for an
Indefinite period, to be quotation from the
Bible. Cleanliness is The chief distinction DC
tween the tramp and many milionaire5, albeit
there have been many millionaires, who
could not claim even this advantage
over the tramp. But the sentence ''Clean-
found in the Bible, nevertheless. You can
not have too much Godliness, too much
temperance, too much discretion, too much
wisdom, but you can have too much
neatness There have been overneat men.
We have met one or two in our time They al
ways get up In the night to eat, and are enc
mics OF sleep as they are Of dirt. But they are
not so numerous nor so peStiferou5 as the over
neat woman.
Who has not met the overneat woman? We
do not need to describe her. But We Will. Re-
veDge is sweet She makes her husband ex-
change his boots for slippers on the door step.
No matter how low the thermometer or barom-
the porch. Is he wet? He must stay on the
stOop till he has done dripping. Consumption?
What Is that compared with soiled carpet?
The small boy, what a life he leads With such
mother! Followed about by a dust pan and
brush and scolding voice (the hyperneat wo-
man Is always CroSS) all Of chldhoOdS days he
early runs to clubroom or a beer-saloon
where he can see little rubbish and find the
luxury OF dirt. We once knew lady of this
character who, when lightD1ng provident1ally
struck her house and killed servant, swept up
before the coroner could be called.
These "pizen- clean" women always hate to
have company. "Guests are so dirty, you
know" The parlor is kept dark aud unused
from year TO year. The carpets would fade
ard dust would accrue. We once knew wo-
man who refused to open her parlor for the
wedding OF her daughter. ''The street Is too
dusty" she said. She is dust now. They
opened the parlor for the funeral, and one al
most wonders that she did not turn over In her
coffin.
The overneat woman cleans house twice
year. Twice year the uncomfortable huS-
band and children are made donbly uncomfor-
table. The weakness of the flesh alone deterS
her from house cleaning every, moon. The
overneat woman delights to make people IN
comfortable. She is thin, dyspeptic, has
nerves, is troubled with dirt on the brain. Dirt
ON the brain is very wearing to the constitu-
ton. and the hyperneat woman nearly alw avs
dies young. II she did not all her household
chance. This is a dispensatton of Providence.
We write with some feeling on this subject, al
though, thank GOD, we have only seen the over
neat woman afar Off. But we have seen the
boys driven TO ruin, and girls imbued with such
hatred of cleanliness that they have become
very slatternS by overneat wives and mothers.
All, mother, do you not mind oluttered
floor, little gravel or sand on the carpet, q
hDger-mark on wallpaper or mirror. The day
may come when little dirt spread by baby
feet or laid on by busy baby fingers would be
the gladdest sight In the world.
I'VE wandered sadly round the room,
No relic could we find
No toy of hers to soothe our GLOOM
Ehe left not one behind.
But look! there is misty trace.
Faint, underlined and broken,
OF fingers on the mirrors face
. dear though simple token.r
An, friends, how clean such dirt Is!