The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-05-24
The Hegira Of Dirt.


Much as house-cleaning is dreaded, it
/ is a positive relief to have it come and
| then to have it over. Dust has accumu-
/ lated in hooks and corners, behind
/ bookcases and under immovabIe furni-
/ ture, the air has daily made its deposits
/ on walls and paint, the carpets struggle
/ in vain to give up their stores to the
/ broom and send out clouds of dust that
| only settle back into them again. The
very house clamOrs to be turned upside
/ down and inside out, that it NAV permit
| the free access of whatever broom and
buster and scTubbing- brush and soap
and water may effect in its regenera-
ton. The few whose dwellings are
heated by steam have comparatively
little annoyance from accumulated dust,
but those who depend on wood or coal
fires for warmth, or upon hot air fur
naces, have daily contest from fall till
summer with the various forms of dust
and dirt that are inseparable from these
modes of heating.
When our floors are 50 made that
carpets will not be needed to hide them,
and only rugs are spread down where
desired for comfort, hOuse-cleaning will
be robbed of many of its terrors; but
that time, in our climate, is far distant.
When the mercury hOvers around the
freezing-poin the sight of bare strips of
floor makes one uncomfortable, and SO
we cover every inch of floor with the
warmeSt carpet we can find, and pay
cheerfully in the added labor of moving
furniture when the carpet is taken up.
The hardest room to clean is the
library, especially if it is ''pOpulous
with books and Astounding in accum-
ulatiOns of magazines and files of news
papers. But by reducing the work TO a
system it can be done and restored to
its former exact order, so that not a
paper shall be misplaced. The pictures
are first removed from the wall, busted,
wiped and set away ready to be hung
again. Then the loose magazines and
papers are busted and laid away safely
in order. Then the bookcases are
emptied, the contents of each shelf laid,
front edge down, on the floor of anOth-
er room, in the exact order in which
they are taken from the case. Then the
bookcases are taken apart, if they can
be and need is, busted, wiped and made
ready to receive their treasures again.
Or this cleansing may be done after the
carpet has been removed and the sweep
inc done. If one careful head supervises
this work. there need be no confusion
and no difficulty in restoring every book
and. picture and paper to its exact place
when the cleansed carpet is tackled
down again and everything has the
clean smell of things freshly washed.
Time is very important element in
house-cleaning. 1t is folly to work
against time in this trying of all work.
Far better take it comfortably, doing
one room day thoroughly and well,
and having intervals of rest between,
Il. i
exhausted in mind and body when it is
finished. The closets and drawers, the
shelves and pantrics, the trunks and
chests, must all be gone through and
put in order, and this is slow and tire
some work, but quite as essential as
that which shows more for time spent
on it. Beds must be taken to pieces
and cleansed, bedding put in the sun,
blankets and quilts washed, if need be,
and put in perfect repair. If one begins
this work when the buds begin to swell
and concludes it when they are in full
leaf, she does well. 1t is an indignity
to spring coming so royalty, with tas-
sells on the trees and birds singing her
welcome, to be so engrOssed in our sOr-
did work that we have no time to note
and enjoy the deepening green on the
hill-sides, the bursting blossoms on the
apple-trees, the steady rising from the
dark soil of lily leaves and the unfold
ing of the whOrls of the honey-suckle.
Those who have gone through the
mill for twenty-five years have exhaust
ed the current knowledge concerning
methods, but young housekeepers may
be glad to be reminded that whiting
and warm water are good for cleaning
paint only slightly soiled, that am
mOnia water is best for dirty paint, that
pumicc stone will remove spots from
hard-fnished walls; that cold tea is the
best for cleaning grained and vanished
wood work, that a solution of OX-gau
is excellent to brighten carpets with,
that cOpperas dissolved and poured in
to whitewash used for the cellar and
for out-houses will keep insc cts away
and remove odOrs, that hot alum-water
is good to wash bedsteads with and to
pour into the crevices where insects
harbor, that cOpperas water or lime
water or a solution of carbOlic acid will
disinfect and deOdOrize cess-pOOls and
waste pipes, that cayenne pepper
sprinkled along the floor under the
edges of carpets will keep moths away,
and that three good meals day, with
an interval of rest after them, pay well
for the investment of time and labor.
Working horses are we'll fed, and no
reasonable man expects them to
.ssnatch bite and keep right on all
day long. Many women, however, treat
thems nlves more unreasOnably and
cruelty than they could find heart to
treat dumb animals, and in consequence
are old and brollen-dOwn when they
should be still fresh and vigorous
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