Louisiana capitolian., 1880-06-03
OARPET-sHAKING.

mysterious household religion held BY
all earnest housewives that "all carpets
must come up every, Spring aud Fall.
TO men this is not only foolishness, but
a frequent and literal stumbling block,
Take the "spare.room' carpet for exam
pie. Ths man Of the house remembers
that IL was shaken last Fall, aud that
Tsince that time the spare room has
been used only four times. When, how
ever, he remarks to bis wife, "Of course,
you're otgoing TO take up the spare
room carpet ~ she invariably replies,
"Of course, ] am" aud inquiries if be
wants to livein perfect pig pen. As
rule, no man Of Anglo Saxon origin
does wish to inhabit either perfect or
an imperfect pig pen, but it is seldom
that the male mind can trace any ne-
cessary connection between living in a
pig pen and dispensing with the rite of
shaking the spare room carpet. Protests
against carpet shaking are, however,
useless. Where a woman has once
adopted the belief that all carpets must
be taken up every Spring and Fall, she
will remain firm in the faith in spite
of all persuasions. When the Spring
timo comes, gentle Annie, or Maria, as
the case may be, takes her tack ham
mer and . china Saucer TO hold the
tacks, and then falling on her knees,
performs the solemn ceremony Of taking
up the carpets with an unwavering faith
in its efficacy which is both beautiful
and pathetic.
The work of shaking carpets is by
universal consent monopolized by col
ored men, and, together with preaching
and wbitewasbing, constitutes one of
the three leading colored industries.
There is no doubt that, like the dovout
housewife, the colored man looks upou
carpet-shaking in the light Of q reli-
gious ceremony. This alone explains
tho solemn and reverential manner in
which he does his work. He avoids
with tho utmost care all unseemly yio-
lence. lie handles the carpet with
manifest awe. Often he pauses and
may be seen, with the edge of the carpet
in his grasp, gazing on vacancy in rapt
meditation. When he has finished
shaking, he hangs The carpet over The
fence or convenient clothes-l line and
gently taps it with stick. This part
of the ceremony is called beating the
carpet" but the colored man evidently
regards it as a purely symbolic opera
tion. lie would not hurt the carpet for
the world, and were he to beat bis wife
or small bay in tho t;mid, reverential
way in which he beats q carpet, his
reputation rs an energetic and faithful
husband and father would be forever
gone. Tho shaking and beating being
ended, the colored man folds up the
carpet, carries it into the house, collects
four or five dollars for his services, and
goes bis way, while the housewife re.
sumes her tack-hammcr, puts down the
carpet, and subsequently boasts to her
husband, with touch Of ofself-rjghteous-
ness, that her knees are black and blue,
and that she don't believe she will be
able to walk for a week.
In spite of all this trouble and labor.
The last state of the carpet is little
better than the first. It still yields it's
lust to the demand of the broom. 1t is
still suspected of harboring moths, and
It's outward appearance is in no way
Most housewives have a
secret and gnawing consciousness that
carpet shaking produces no material
result, however much it may benefit the
'onl. There are few women who would
lot eagerly welcome any invention
tho unsatisfactory carpet
shaking colored man should be super
'eded by really efficient carpet-sbaking
pachinery. Such an alleged invention
vas recently brought to tho knowledge
If Mrs. Peters, Of Westboro, N. H., and
vas hailed by that excellent woman
With great enthusiasm.
The agent who sold Mrs. Peters the
Columbian Carpet shaking Machine ex-
'lained to her the way in which it
worked. The machine consisted of
arge wire-gauze cylinder, in which
arpet could be placed, and which was
evolved at a high speed by clock work.
Within tho cylinder was q collection
f fails and brushes, which, when put
II motion by its revolution, thoroughly
'eat and swept the carpet. Tho agent
sserted that his machine would "thor-
ushly remove all dust and extraneous
distances from the texture of the car