The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1889-12-12
FARM. GARDEN AND
HOUSEHOLD.
What Is Good Housekeeping

If one were to get a hundred reputed
good housekeepers to come together aud
give their Ideas of what constitutes good
housekeeping, no two would agree upon
all points. There are essentials which
every one recognizes, but there are many
things which one housekeeper considers
of other may think the same things Of
minor consequence or OF 10 consequence
whatever 1t is a sad fact that some good
housekeepers are not good homtmskor-
The hous.keeper should hear In mind that
while It is essential that the home should
be clearly aud orderly, and the food well
cooked and regularly served, this does
not make the home. One can get all
these things in a well-conductcd hotel OF
boarding house, but the man or woman j.
to be plted who has no higher ideal OF a
home than what Is furnished by & hotel or
boarding house no matter how symptoms.
A selfish woman can make good house
keeper, so far as the keeping OF the
house in a perfect running order Is con
cerned, but II Is difficult for selfish or
lazy won al TO make home. A woman
who wound make an Ideal home must
possess some judgment aud heart In
which charity and sympathy have large
place.
My idea of good housekeeping Is where
a woman keeps her home sweet and or
derby; provides simple, well-cooked food
makes her home so restful and cheerful
that all who come into " shall be better
for breathing the atmosphere Of kind
ness and cheorfuluess that pervades the
place. and where the household machln
cry always runs smoothly beca use OF the
a.. FL
Of the house, A place like thi. Is truly q
home, and the woman who makes such o
home deserves the respect and admiration
of everybody. | have seen such homes
among the rich and among the poor, for
neither wealth nor poverty prevents the
right person from Milling with the at
moshpere of comfort and happiness the
house of which she Is the mistress
A housekeepei s duties are many, and
to the nervous and fretful, exhausting
What seems TO the woman Of good d.
geslion and steady nerves mere trife u
be laughed At and forgotten, may app. al
TO the delicate, nervous woman calam.
ity to be wept over. Much of the ir
ritability from which women suffer is due
10 their expectation of too much OF
themselves and others. II women could
be reconciled to the inevitable, they might
make everybody about them much hap.
pies, choice bit OF china may be brok-
en-. 1t Is like the fall of Humpty
Dumpty.
All the kings horses and all the kings men
Can't put the pieces together again.
Is it worth the while to make the
whole household and yourself miserable
for what cannot be helped2
The igood housekeeper will certainly
look well TO the ways Of her household
but her eyes will be those Of the kind
just woman. She will not look fol
miracles; she will not expect to get the
best supplies and service when paying on
ly the lowest price; she will not hope to
make something out of nothing; she will
be brave enough to live within her means
even II they are small; she will not be
afraid to do her work honestly and well
and, finally, she will be- 81 true to herself
at all times, and no adjust and simplify
her domestic duties, that she will not ex
haust body and mind in trying to do two
persons work for the sake of excepting
up appearances"
How many families lose all the com.
forts of home life in this senseless effort
IL you stop to consider what this keep
ing up Appearances means, 1t puts the
people in a very unenviable light, for 1t
simply means that people want to give
you false Impressions. No member OF
the family is 80 much injured by this de-
ceptive life as the housekeeper. All her
power or body and mind is bent to the
TASK Of making the best possible ap-
pearance with the smallest amount Of
expenditure. Intellect is cramped in the
battle, and all repose is gone from the
homo life. No matter how good the
housekeeping, the spirit of the home
maker Is not there. No woman has a
right to dwarf her life for such pur-
pose. Let her make the most Of the
means at her command, but let her never
sacrifice her physical, moral and mental
well being to a desire to make display
to her circumstances,
for that Is not good housekeeping
Maria Parloa, in Good Housekeeping.