Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1881-04-09
Spring work.


and the necessities of daily life do not
always relieve us from care for our
lives are so intertwined with those of
others that their failures affect us, often
very injuriously. Still for these we are
not responsible, and all that is required
of us is to do our own duty, and assist
the world at large by the influence of
good example.
There are people, both men and
women, who are in u state of chronic
backwardness; nothing that they at
tempt, or for which they are responsible,
is ever executed on time; the spring
work lapses over into the summer, the
summer into fall, and fall into winter,
and that which would have done so
much for protection and comfort during
The cold weather is lacking, and finally
done without or postponed, to the seri-
Gus detriment perhaps of something or
somebody.
Spring work is of many kinds to the
housekeeper who is also the mother of
family, and who lives in the country.
1t begins with twenty things at once, all
OF which require to be attended to at
very nearly the same time. If the
amount of help is restricted, the husband
engaged in business, or busy with his
farming, the garden paths and yards
must be cleared of the leaves and debris,
which the disappearing snow rem
ders so unsightly; plants have to
be set out, and those special herbs
and seeds planted which the housewife
has under her own special charge.
Children can be made very useful in
this work, and nothing pleases them
more than to be set at work which is
useful and at the same time fully as
much fun " as play. All that is nee
essary is to teach them exactly how to
do it, have patience with their mistakes,
and let them get as much pleasure out
of it as they please. Perhaps the next
step for the housekeeper to take is the
annual cleaning. In the city this is Of
tea postponed till fall, and executed
just before the family" returns from
the country, superintendent by an ex-
perienced servant. But this arrange
ment pre-suppoSes wealth and trained
servants, and we are now speaking for
the majority, and especially for those
who have houses which they occupy
from year to year, OF homes in the coun-
try. Spring cleaning is disagreeable
necessity, but it can be mitigated, and
is really only necessity for those who
live upon carpets nailed tightly to each
floor, and incapable of removal except
by an eruption or domestic earthquake.
If floors were more sensbly and per-
fectly laid, if they were stained, and
only covered in the center with square
rug or carpet which could be taken up,
the great need of general renovation
would be done away with, and one
source of domestic discomfort very much
abated.
The cleaning of bedroom closets and
bedsteads should precede the general
cleaning, and take place during the
month of March, one set at a time. II
this work is done thoroughly, and at the
proper time, it will not only promote
comfort but save labor, and the deteri
Grafton of much that is valuable through
out the year. BedSteads should be taken
apart, and first thoroughly cleaned with
warm sailed water and SOAP; when dry
pour into every crack and crevice drop:
of kerosene oil, over this blow Persian
insect powder through small bellows
From closets every article of clothing
,, should be removed, shaken, hung on
! to air, and well brushed before being
replaced. In the meantime clean shelves
! and floor and paint with warm waite
! and soap, scrubbing the shelves ant
., floor, but not the paint; when dry pou
! round the edges and into every crack ;
strong solution of salt in boiling water
if there are mice holes shake into then
! strong cayenne pepper, and stop then
up with chloride of lime, sealing then
, with putty or cement. Sprinkle inall
. some boraX upon the shelves before GOV
= ering them with paper, and you wi
. not orly be clean, but free from tn
: depredations of insects for the entir
summer.
! The preparation of spring clothing
work of much less time and difficult
{ if the fall work has been well done, tina
y is, light clothing mended, washed, an
. rough dried before having been PIT
:. u away. Dirt impoverishes quicker tina
u y wear, and it is above all things FOOLS
u and absurd to harbor so deadly an ent
!. my to thrift and comfort.
!. The sewing-machine has lightene
~ sewing, and the ready paper pattern r,
;, y moved all anxiety in regard to "makinG
~ over" processes, as well as the maxim
u up of new garments; and for children
" and especially for spring and summe
= the simpler the better.
" There is an immense amount of deta
! and steady drudgng labor to be remen
! bered and performed by conscientior
p wives and mothers, and it ought to |
70 better known and appreciated by IL
~ ~ average husbands and fathers TT
" sensible woman will do it and make
" " little fuss about it as possible; but
W would strengthen her heart as we'll
:, her hands if she felt that in her plat
y, she was doing as good and necessal
= work as he in his, and that he fully a
w knowledged it. Our homes are the mo
~ important element in our lives, and r
~ quire incessant care, work and watchfu
VI ness at all seasons, but the spring max
Nv unusual drafts upon the time of tho
d who are perhaps always sufficiently o
!, 10 cupied, and if we can help by labor
II. patience to tighten the burden, we m;
IN well consider it joyful opportunity
u u make contribution to the good gent
=, of spring work. -DemOreStS Mdgazi1i