The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1882-06-22
Ideal Housekeeping.

lueal housekeeping
In the house of the ideal housekeeper
everything is in order all the time No
dust is visible anywhere, no finger
marks are to be seen. The windows
are always clear as crystal, nothing is out
of place. Savory meals are served at
stated hours, and all the table appoint
ments are simply perfect. Washing,
ironing, scrubbing and mending are
regularly and promptly done. The ideal
housekeeper, in addition to keeping her
house in immaculate order from Sab
bath to Sabbath and from May to May,
in addition to spring cleaning and
spring sewing, to fall cleaning and fall
sewing, to putting up fruit and tending
plants, finds time for reading, painting,
music, the study of the languages and
society without neglecting the nurture
of her own family.
Now, this is a beautiful picture, and
many Il woman, in trying to realize it
in her own case, has laid herself in a
premature grave, or made life burden,
release from which was gladly well
coined.
1.-The life is more than meat and the
body than raiment." The house-mother
is more than the house, and she owes it
to herself and to her household so to adj
just her work that care of herself and
her household may be appropriately di-
vided and applied. 1t is simply impos-
sible for the mother of family who
"does every hands turn of her work
herself to keep anywhere in sight of the
ideal housekeeper we have sketched.
SO far as known, no woman who has
reared family of children, doing her
work herself meantime, is capable of
reaching such an ideal. 1t is well, how
ever, to have an ideal, and to work to-
ward it.
Each house:mother has a certain
measure OF capacity, physical, intel
lectual, spiritual, social, and this meas
ure must, in some way, be made to
meet the demands she accepts as made
on her. A cubic inch of gold that is to
cover 300 square inches of surface must
be beaten great deal thinner than one
that is to cover only thirty square inches
of surface. The woman who attempts
to distribute herself, so to speak, over
large family and large circle of inter-
ests outside the family will have to
spread herself pretty thin, unless she is
an exceptionally large woman.
Families in which the feminine ele-
ment preponderates find the approach
to ideal housekeeping much easier than
those do in which men and boys form
the majority. Families where there are
no children have an easy time in keep
ing things in order if only ordinary care
is used. 1t is interesting to watch the
changes in the family of a young mar
ried pair. At first the fresh young
housekeeper must have everything
| lust sou But when the first addition
is made to the family, little changes APP
pear; there isn't such exactness of
order, pretty soon toys litter the floor
and finger marks appear along the wall;
the young creeper and pedestrian pulls
things out of place and to pieces, and is
Unto everything Then comes the
chalk and pencil period, and the whit
Ting era, or the floor is strewn with
dolls and their belongings. When half
dozen of these restless, active, prom
Using ''olive plants make the house
, lively and keep the mother busy with
needle and broom and washbOwl, to say
nothing of kitchen and laundry uten-
sis, visions of ideal housekeeping are
dismissed as impossible or remanded to
the far future. Approximate order and
system may be maintained and the
musings trained so that when they are
''responsible'' they will have habits of
tidiness and cleanliness well formed,
and feel a pride in keeping everything
around them neat and in place.
Of course when one has a retinue of
lS
approach ideal housekeeping than it is
when one does everything or has it done
within the family. But those who have
servants know very we'll the difficulties
OF having things just as they would
have them, and many a housekeeper
finds temporary relief from the necessity
of overseeing others, in doing without
them.
1t is possible to pay too much for even
gold, and it is possible to pay too high
price for immaculate housekeeping.
The more we simplify our mode of
living the easier do they become.
Elaborate cookery, elaborate dress,
elaborate style, consume large portion
of time and leave little either of time or
enthusiasm for nobler things. There
are these who prefer cobwebs in their
houses to cobwebs in their minds, who
prefer to polish their faculties rather
than their silver, who choose embroidery
for their intellects rather than their gar
ments, who enjoy elegant style in
diction rather than equipage. If one
must choose between things desirable
the choice of course depends on the
person choosing. But people that have
made their choice should not allow
themselves to regret the absence of what
they have deliberately not chosen.-N.
Y. Tribune.
Squaring the Circle.