Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-07-21
Putting Away.

uV0AAA6 AW0y
Putting away and putting out of tho
way are two totally different processes;
they differ in purpose and in method.
The former is a process exclusively
feminine; the latter is enthusiastically
masculine. although it is not absolutely
confined to the male sex.
Man puts things out Of the way when
ever the necessity of so doing presents
itself to him. For example, he finds
that his room is in a disorderly state.
Too many pairs of boots make them
selves painfully obvious; there are
more discarded collars on the mantel-
piece than propriety would dictate; and
the mixture of cigar-ashes, clothes
brushes, books, and gloves on his table
has reached q stage of confusion which
displeases him. He resolves to put
things in order, and to put out of the
way whatever is plainly adapted to the
process. Accordingly he crowds the
smaller articles of personal apparel
into the bureau drawers, empties the
ciggar-ashes and bits of waste-paper be-
hind his desk, and thus quickly sets the
room in order.
NoW Guc itSulG VI IHlS pEOCcsS Is
eminently satisfactory. Not only has
he put things out of the way, but he is
in aposition to find them again as soon
as he wants them. The sofa stands
faithfully on guard over the boots, as he
can at.any time poke them out with a
cane. The discarded collars, the gloves,
the pipe and the various small articles
thrown into the bureau drawers remain
there, and the ashes and waste-paper
could be exhumed from behind the desk
were any possible demand for them to
arise. The man who has put things out
of the way can always lay his hand upon
them. He does not lose track of them.
They never pass out of his possession,
or what is virtually the same thing, out
Of his memory.
OF course this masculine process of
putting things out of the way excites
the derision Of woman. She claims that
it is the worst form and last expression
of disorder. She can never be convinced
that bureau drawers or the space under
the sofa a be properly dealt with by a
man. And yet, if she is questioned
closely and forbidden to take refuge in
generalities, she will end by confessing
that her real complaint against man is
that he contents himself with putting
things out of the way, and never rises
to the feminine height of putting things
away.
10 put things away, as the art is
practiced by woman, is equivalent to
concealing them more or less completely.
The desire to put things away amounts
in most women to a passion. C%uriously
though, it is always the things of other
~people-her husband or her children
that she puts away. Her own things
she wisely keeps where they are handy,
and she resents the suggestion that, no
matter where they may be-, they can
ever be regarded as objects out OF place.
All other things, on the other hand, are,
in her opinion, always out of place,
provided they are visible. Her chief
object in life is to put them away where
no eye can see them, and her greatest
happiness is attained when she has put
them away so securely that she herself
cannot remember where they are.
The most extraordinary results attend
this feminine practice of putting things
away. A husband on coming home at
night carelessly leaves his hat on the
piano. His wife instantly improves the
opportunity to put it away, not by
hanging it on the hat rack, but by con
cealing it in some grossly improbable
place: Hats thus put away have been
found in the dining-room sideboard, in
the flour barrel, in the coal-bin, or in
the fourth-story hall closet. When the
inevitable search is made for the miss
ing hat in the morning the wife always
fails to remember where it is, and often,
in perfect good faith, suggests that the
husband forgot to bring it home with
him, or by some other equally we'll
meaning but exasperating suggestion
drives him to the border of madness.
Books and papers of a kind which q
husband is apt to need at any moment
are always put away by woman with
eager enthusiasm. In this way they are
frequently concealed for years, and
finally come to light unexpectedly when
some ancient trunk in the garnet is
opened, or when the key of the disused
clothes-prass in the basement is acct
dentally found. Winter clothing is put
away in spring with such success that
the husband is convinced that it is
stolen, and is hence agreeably disap-
pointed when it isfound, toward the end
of the next winter, riddled by moths, in
an ou%t-of-the-way store room. In short,
there is nothing that woman will not
gladly and effectually put away if it be-
longs exclusively to man.
It is useless to fight against this inn
pulse to put things away when once a
woman is a prey to it. Men should re-
gard it as a mental disease, and deal
gently with the victim. The only safe
plan for a man to pursue who is in dam
ger of having his things put away is to
live in a house without closets or clothes
presses, and to keep everything on
chairs. In this way only can he preserve
the integrity OF his property and his own
peace of mind.-Harper's Bazar.
Once More the Boy is Ahead.