The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-05-24
THE ART OF HoUsE-CLEANING.

All the Year Round.
THE ART OF HOUSE.CLEANING.
That dust and dirt are the worst pests
of mankind, and do more to destroy
health and happiness than anything
else, would seem to be an obvious tru-
ism. It is not q little to be wondered
at, that more attention has not been
given to their consideration, and that
greater value has not been set upon the
laborious and continual toll they cause.
At present we try to ignore their exist
ence, and cleansing operations are put
down amongst the most menial duties.
Housewives who leave these matters en-
tirely to domestics, and exercise but
scanty supervision over them, incur
very grave responsibility, and have yet
to learn that there is nothing degrading
In keeping house clean. It is the wise
and virtuous woman who sslooketh well
to the ways of her household and eateth
not the bread of idleness."
Those of us who have no share in, or
care for, cleansing operations, do not
realize the magnitude and importance of
the daily tasks so uncomplainingly and
unobtrusively done in our own homes,
until our attention is directed to the
fact. Again, many careful housewives
pursue certain rule of cleanliness,
without understanding the reason, and
with a feeling of monotony and weari-
ness, arising from the fact that they do
not know the real Importance of such
apparently insignificant and unrecog-
nized toll. In common fairness, all the
workers in this busy world should have
their reward, and have the true worth
of their work fully understood. Moth
ing is more depressing than unrequited
labor, and it is surely but a scanty
guerdon to give our wives and mothers
few words of hearty thanks for their
work of love. 1t would at the same
time, perhaps, make those labors sweet
er and less toilsome, if we recognized
and acknowledged their immense value.
1t is fact, well known to scientific
men, that damp, which collects inyaria-
bly,. and almost impercepibly, on the
vanished walls and surfaces in every
house, has peculiar; affinity for sewer
gas, and the other noisome yapors which
are always about Us. 1t is unnecessary
to dwell here, in dry detail, on the tech
nicaities and deductions of science. 1t
is enough to say that the '.fungoid
growth" which may thus be produced
Is, in the highest degree, injurious to
health, and that it is impossible to over
estimate the importance of its continual
removal. Many men may possibly re-
member Witnessing, with ill-disguised
contempt, the apparently superfuous
waste of energy bestowed upon the var
nished wall of halls and corridors, and
it may be new to these to hear that it
is scientific good sense which prompts
fhoco orloro fiapo Manr
may, at the same time, read with new
feeling of pleasure, that work of this
kind, which their instinct of cleanliness
alone induces them to superintend, is
based upon scientific fact, and is an
absolute necessity to the preservation
of the health of their households
It is not until beam of sunlight
shows us the floating particles with
which the air we breathe is laden, that
we realize the fact of their existence;
and we are, perhaps, too apt to under
rate the Importance of our chairs and
tables being properly busted, and of our
rooms being kept as clean as possible.
Few of US, too, ever think of furnish
ing our houses with view to their be-
ing cleaned easily. There is growing
taste for crowding quantity Of things
into the rooms in which we live, with
out regard to their usefulness, and un-
der mistaken idea of ornamentation.
1t is possible to combine. utility and
beauty in our daily surroundings; and,
If this were more generally done, great
step would be gained, both in comfort
and in cleanliness. Useless and incon-
gruous articles of vertu make the task
of cleaning most rooms tedious and
lengthy.
Again, in furniture. modern taste is
developing in a manner which must
prove injurious to health. Fluffy"
things are now the fashion, and so long
as they are pretty in color, and new in
shape, few people think of their effect
as dust-collectors. 1t is startling as
sertion to make, and many tasteful
housewives will dispute the justice of
the conclusion, but it is undoubtedly
true, that all woolen, plush and velvet
things are better out of our rooms than
in them. On woolen antimacassars,
plush chairs, and velvet cushions, all
day long heavy cloud of dust is set
tling; from their texture and character
it follows, almost as matter of course,
that it is all but impossible to clean
them; and, although they may receive
the greatest care and attention, they are
IL A1SS iOoeAhS PAdSCS AOA AAA5 4 oh1C0 0lloo,
and perhaps for the worst and more
dangerous growths of an unwholesome
and vitiated atmosphere. Many up
holsterers, too, construct articles of fur
uiture apparently upon the principle of
forming them into the most convenient
receptacles for dust. Wardrobes, for
instance, are made with deep ornament
al cornices, which serve no other pur-
pose than this. Of course it is easy to
guard against this evil by covering the
top with a thin board, or cardboard, but
in how many houses is this never done,
and dust allowed to accumulate there
for years! Again, ponderous pieces of
furniture are made with the apparent
object of making them as solid and inn
movable as possible, the fact that dirt
must accumulate in the inaccessible
hooks and corners, behind and under
meath them. being altogether lost sight
of. This would be easily remedied if
they were put upon castors so as to ad-
NIT of their being moved without diff
Guilty.
Curtains, too, are of doubtful utility,
except, perhaps, in winter; but they are
so much the pride of every housewife,
that to advocate their abolition would
raise storm of Indignation 1t would,
however, be as well II they were more
l.~x&lw- Nol