Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1886-10-04
WOMAN AND HOME.
SOME EXPERIENCE WITH AN Ill
TRAINED MAlO-Of-ALL-WORk.
Fad Cooking and Bad Morais-fhe "ifeiy
sprctacIes-To Make Things Last-Man'
a-iu- the Baby-A Piano in Hot
Weather-Notes and Items.

It seems an odd subject to write about, but
why not discuss ones back door, or ones
neiehbois, On paper as well as to think about
it and talk about it to empty air. ! am sure |
do not mean to take back anything | have
70 say on this matter. and perhaps it has puz-
lied some Young hou1-Eeepers, as il once did
me, to keen the bacl: door regions dccently
clean, with an ili-t-ained maid of alI-work
and no city swill wagon to come each
morning to my relief The poultry yard was
quite little distance from the kitchen porch
i'll my western home, and my remarkable
'help.' Ida Lily by name, insisted upon fill
ing the pals trimming full before taking
them away 10 empty for COW or chickens, and
then started off in slatternly over-burdened
limp, leaving greasy pools to mark her trail
the whole length of my neat plank walks.
Of course the grass was killed wherever the
pals were accustomed TO stand, so | had
triangle Of broken stone rallied in like
flower bed, and having had new sod planted
close about it, with a bright bed of common
flowers (of which Ida Lily was fond on the
other .ide Of the walk, watched the result.
II to k about tendays TO fill the stony triangle
with drihhlings Of potato skins. mop shreds and
lIntllN overflow tl every klht, anu lI' IN"
pals were unrecogni2ahle from the sediment
left clin%ing to them. On the other hand, two
Of the plants had been killed by having hot
dish watnr thrown ont on them, and despair
filled my Soul.
Moving the waste water vat for wash and
dish water so far into the limits that Ida Lily
could not throw water on the grass without
passing it stopped that trouble, and novel
scheme born of my distraction finally tI1-
umphed over the nuisance of greasy pals,
ruined grass plots and the torment of flies
which sun and swill together seem to call
about the b1ck door in armies First 7 asked
my good uaturcd Colorcd man to get me a
box about Il foot deep, two feet wide and four
| feet long With a little use of saw aud AK
this was done, and, being reversed over the
snlt that ! consider most convenient for my
structure. II was settled firmly in its place
| To each corner had strong lath nailed, the
back ones being lowered about two inches
On their upper ends I myself tackled the other
| laihs, as 'Dolph was too clumsy about it,
making = cool framework for Stron| cords,
which | proceeded to string back and forth
| and NJ aud down the sides Thea | went to
| worl; trauspIanting morning glory roots,
Will cucumbers and California pinks all Of
which are rank growing vines, requiring no
care, except to protect other plants from their
cncroaahmcnt To keep them in bounds, a
narrow border, rot more than four inches
| wide. was boarded in all about The founda-
| ton. and close to this the sod was planted,
brought FROM stray corners of the lawn
| The mkt move was to get some pals that
| could I've easily secured and would not bold
tho smells If the whole years refuse. A
dealer in hardware helped me out here who
contributed two blasting powder cans. These
wrrr given a pair of balls and wooden
| handle at the timers for fifteen cents
| apiece and the remains of some green blind
PANT made them look Hsthetirally cool \
coat of green also covered my curious back
door structure and then | waited for the
vines to grow, without regard to various
| comments from the family on the 'slop
a,bor.r as it was derisivelY dubbed. Tbs
luSuriant habit OF the vines transplanted was
at once responsive r. tho rich soil in which
they were set and Ivy June my "Slop arhor''
was the envy of all my neighbors. The
large green leaves shaded it all day long and
concealed completely the contents, except
from the front, while the novelty and the
pretty sprays of Haunting blossoms all over
the framework really shamed or inspired
Ida Lily to keep the pals rinscd when
emptied and the platform scrubbed with a
broom when she did her back steps and porch
each morning. The dread of having to
attack it with scrubbing brush also mado
her careful not to ill too full and the two
tail, sheet iron pals, with straight sides, held
more than she could find to fill them. 1t was
such relief to the eve after previous eI-
pcrienccs of my own and my neighbors back
doors in tn country that | hope some one
elsa will try it-Trebor Oil. in Good House
keeping.