The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-03-17
Russ In Place Of Carpets.

J Bef re another twenty years snail
have passed away we venture 10 pre-
dict that there will scarcely be q
room in the city which will be GOV
cred from end to end and side &c
side with thick, impenetrable car.
pet. Apart from all fashion and ali
theory, 1t viii be recognized as fact
that health den snds movable tiool
coverings, or, failing these. covering;
which can be cleaused daily. The
anclents understood this perfectly
Socrates waxed eloquent In describ'
log wnat house should be, ho@
needfli air aud sunshine and clean
illness were for health, and imagiDa'
tion calls up the interiors OF that
time with their mosaic payements
and the absence of all that would
have haroored dust, and In doing SO
disease. TIE luxurious native oi
the Z lst, the inventor OF carpets
never even in his most indolent mo-
ment conceived the possibility OF
saving himself the tronole OF shaking
his carpet by fixing it to the Hoor
and although We cannot credit bin
with any exalted ideas of cleanliness
In his domestic arrangements, vt
nnst at least concede that he show
ed good deal of common sense IL
this respect.
Twenty-Five years ago physicians
began to enter protest against the
eneryation Of modern homes; thence
they passed to detail the more en-
llghtened entered upon sort OF cru.
SADIE against hoor-covering, and de
clared that Infectious diseases were
harbored 10 the wooden hanging;
and carpets of their well-to-do pa
tients quite as surely as amid the
squalor and filth of overcrowded al
less. People no longer sleep tai
least sensible people do mott Ia foui
post bedsieads, with woolep curtains
drawn closely around them they
are even recognizing the desirabillty
OF leaving their windows unlncum-
bered with yoluminOus folds OF vel
vet aud of rep and going a stage fur
they are bek luiug to realize that
floors and their coverings are im-
portant factors in the question OF
hygiene.
Rugs are certainly free from many
of the most serious objections to car
pets, even when they are fixed upon
the huor. which in our estimation
they never ought to be, 1t Is posi-
bic to wash we'll al around them, Il
remove the dust from the corners ot
the room, and even under the edges
of the rug itself. BUT such a condi-
ton of affairs l. still Tar from salts
factory There is always more or
less dirt about a stationary carpet, in
ahy room that is much lived in, and
the best housemaids in the world
cannot rid an immovable rug OF dust
AS readily on the floor as they could
off it. Carpets ought, as mqtter OF
health, TO be taken uD once a week,
laid over line and thoroughly beat-
en-, but where Is the household where
this rule is enforced ?
The growing conviction Of the su-
periority of rugs 10 carpets is shown
in tee newest houses, in many of
which the floors are expressly ar
ranged with sSained borders, par
quet flooring, which it is possible to
to leave entirely uncovered. What q
boon this is to persons of small
meansi Nothing eats into Q small
snm OF money for house-furnishing
more disastrously than a carpet. 1t
is useless to buy cheap one cheap
carpets are never 0f any use, and toe
price of good one Is formidable
consideration. This is another ar
gument in favor of rugs-cheap rugs
wear a great deal better than cheap
carpets, for the obvious reason that
they are not pulled and strained in
every direction, and are only sui
jectrd to limited wear and tear.-N
y Times