The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1886-02-11

Before another twenty years shall have
passed away, We venture TO predict that
there will scarcely be a room in the city
which will be covered from end to end and
side to side with thick impenetrable car
pet Apart from all fashion and all
theory, it will be recognized as fact that
health demands movable floor coverings;
or failing these. coverings which can be
cleaned daily. The ancients understood
this perfectly. Socrates waxed eloquent
in describing what house should be, how
needful air and sunshine and cleanliness
we're for health, and imagination calls up
the interiors Of that time with their mosaic
pavements and the absence OF all that
would have harboured dust, and in doing
so disease. The luxurious native OF the
east, the inventor Of carpets, never in his
most indolent moments conceived the pos.
sibility of saving himself the trouble Of
shaking his carpet by fixing it to the floor,
and although we cannot credit him with
any exalted ideas Of cleanliness In his do
mestic arrangements, we must concede
that he showed good deal of common
sense in this respect.
Twenty years ago physicians began
to enter protest against the enervation
Of modern homes; thence they passed to
detail; the more enlightened entered upon
a sort OF crusade against covering, and de-
clared that infectious diseases were har-
bored in the woolen hangings and carpets
Of their well-to- do patients quite as surely
as amid the squalor and filth OF over
crowded alleys. People no longer sleep
(at least sensible people do mott in four
post bedsteads, with woolen curtains
drawn closely round them; they are even
recognizing the desirability Of leaving the
windows unincumbered with voluminous
folds Of velvet and Of rep, and going a
stage farther, they are beginning to realize
that floors and their coverings are impor-
tant factors in the question OF hygiene.
Rugs are certainly free from many of
the most serious objections to carpets,
even when they are fixed upon floor,
which in our estimation they never ought
to be- 1t is possible to wash well all
around them to remove the dust from the
corners Of the room, and even under the
edges OF the rug itself. But such con-
dition of affairs is still far from satisfac-
tory. There is always more or less dirt
about stationary carpet, in any room
that is much lived in, and the best house
maids in the world cannot rid an immov-
able rug OF dust as readily on the floor as
they could of it. Carpets ought as mat
ter of health, to be taken up once a week
laid over line and thorougly beaten, but
where is the household where such rule
is enforced?
The growing conviction OF the superb
ority Of rugs to carpets is shown in the
newest houses, in many of which the floors
are expressly arranged with stained bor-
ders, parquet flooring, which it is possi-
BILE to leave entirely uncovered, What
boon this is TO persons Of small meansl
Nothing eats into small snm OF money
TOR house furnishing more disastroudy
than carpet. II is useless to have
cheap one; cheap carpets are never Of any
use, and the price Of good one is for
midable consideration. This is another
argument in favor Of rugs cheap rugs
wear great deal better than cheap car
pets. for the obvious reason that they are
not pulled and strained in every direction,
and are only subjected to the Legitimate
wear and tear. - Men York Times.