Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1881-01-12
English Customs.


A lady visiting England, in writing
home description of the heavy style o
mechanics tools, etc., used there, goes oil
to say:
All household implements are after thii
same clumsy pattern. Sweeping is mad
The hardest and most buck breaking o
work by the fact that it is all done with I
bristlH hant brush and dust pan. the opera
tor q piping down on the floor and brush
ing the dust from space foot square
with the dust-pan then changing hel
spot. and going through the process again
Of course her skirts fiirt the dust back on
the space already cleaned, and the floor
never looks really clean. saw in house
furniSher's shop the other day, an Ameri
Gun corn broom, such rs is used in every
house from Maine to GeorLia. 1t looked
like an old friend.
That's an American BROOM" said the
shopman, "but our people won't use it.
cant sell it. They mostly use hand.
brushes, and when they do take long.
handled broom; here's the sort they want.
IL wls Il clumsy bunch of broom corr
fastened to the end of stick, and shaped
exactly like the primitive birch broom,
used for sweeping stables. No American
housewife would allow such broom tc
touch her carpets The ordinary servant.
maid would wear a Brussels or ingram tC
strings in half-a-dozen sweepings.
All the scrubbing of floors is performed
by women on their knees. 1t is safe Ia
say that at some time between six and
nine in the morning, evey house. maid in
London, perhaps in England, is on hel
knees scrubbing the stone door-sill anG
steps of her employers house.
All the household appointments are
awkward and heavy. The curtains, even
when of lace, are hung hy great wooden
rings, to an even clumser cornice- pole as
large rs ones arm. Most of the furniture
is of the old-time bulky mahogany; you
see none of the light, graceful chamber
sets 5" common at home. The heads O
he beds are canopied with dark curtain,
suspended from the same big rings, max
ing the bed look like a catafalque. These
curtains are supposed to keep off the
traughts which pour in at every door
crack. because half the doors in the house
are o zen. But even with your handful Of
fire and your curtained pillow, you art
cold because the sheets and pillows oil
your bed are damp. In nine cases out oil
ten, if you hold your pillow to the fire, a
fine cloud of steam will curl up from it
and the sheets are the same This is
because they are mangled, not ironed-
wet and passed between rollers which
press, hut do not dry them. Then, will
an awful disregard for human life, thes,
things are spread on the beds for helpless
n Tho
are stiff necks, neuralgia, pneumonia, con
sumption. 1t is possible that if the bed
clothing were dry at first, it would con
tract dampness from the foggy atmos
phere; but one of the first cares of tn,
sophisticated traveller when he engage
| lodging, is to order the sheets and pilows
aired by the fire.
You will always find the toilet-tabl
and mirror set hard against the window
probably to economize the chary light o
the sky, but of course it makes the room
d trk, and shuts you out of all privilege o
the window. If you wish to open it, yo
must move the whole toilet establishment
into the floor.
The wheels of pleasure carriages, traps
Cubs, and the like, are big enough for al
A Auerican farm, cart; the wheels of tn
carts are heavy enough to transport Bun
ker Hill monument. 1t is q wonder hoy
the horses can draw them, even without
load. The common hand carts in whic
btkers' boys convey bread from door t
door, are heavy enough To transport ful
load of granite. saw boy this morn
ing, toifully pushing one af these cart;
with three loaves of bread in it; tn
planks of which the cart was made, wer
TWO inches thick. The notion seems
prevail that nothing can be strong withou
its being as clumsy as it can be made
American plows, pitchforks, axes, hay
cutters, etc, are usually laughed at b
farmers when they happen to see any {
them shown at AN exhibition.