The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-12-04
What is Good Housekeeping!

If one were to get hundred reputed
good housekeepers to come together
and 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 the greatest importance,
whereas another may think the same
things of minor consequence or of
no consequence whatever 1t is
sad fact that some good house
keepers are not good hOme-makers.
The housckeeper should bear in mind
that while it is essential that the home
should be clean and orderly, and the
food well cooked and regularly served,
this does not make the home. One can
get all these things in well-conducted
hotel or boarding-house, but the man
or woman is to be pitied who has no
higher ideal of home than what is
furnished by hotel or clearinghouse,
no matter how sumptuOus. A selfish
woman can make good housekeeper,
so far as the keeping of the house in
perfect running order is concerned,
but it is difficult for a selfish or lazy
woman to make home. A woman
who would make an ideal home must
possess some judgment aud heart in
which charity and sympathy have a
large place. My idea of good house
keeping is where a woman keeps her
home sweet and orderly, provides sim
Pile, well-cooked food, makes her home
50 restiul and cheerful that all who
come into it shall be better for breath
ing the atmosphere of kindness and
cheerfulness that pervades the place,
and where the household machinery
always runs smoothly, because of the
constant thoughtfuness of the mistress
Of the house. A place like this is truly
a home, and the woman who makes
such a home deserves the respect and
admiration of everybody. | have seen
such homes among the rich and among
the poor, for neither wealth nor pow
erty prevents the right person from
| filing with the atmosphere of comfort
and happiness the house of which she
is the mistress. A housekeeper's du-
ties are many, and, to the nervous and
! fretful, eXhaustng. What seems to
the woman of good digestion and steady
nerves mere trife, to be laughed at
I and forgotten, may appear to the deli
cate, nervous woman calamity to be
wept over. Much of the irritability
from which women suffer is due to their
expectation of too much of themselves
aud others. If women could be recon-
ciled to the inevitable they might make
everybody about them much happier.
A choice bit of china may be broken.
1t is like the fall of Humpty Dumpty:
| tla lii a n ~,
Can't put the pieces together again.
Is it worth the while to make the
whole household and yourself misera-
BILE for what can not be helped? A
dish may be spoiled in the cooking. 1t
will not help your digestion or that of
the family to fret over it. You may be
naturally very orderly, but some mem
bers of the family may not. Is it worth
the while to make them and yourself
uncomfortable by worrying over the
matter? If your servant or any other
member of the household does not
come up to your standard throw the
mantle of charity over the faults that
you can not remedy and pray that
others may be equally charitable to
you. The good housekeeper will GER
tainly look well to the ways of her
household, but her eyes will be those
of the kiud, just woman. She will not
look for miracles; she will not expect
to get the best supplies and service
when paying only the lowest price; she
will not hope to make something out of
nothing; she will be brave enough to
live within her means, even if they be
small; she will not be afraid to do her
work honestly and well; and, finally,
she will be so true to herself at all
times, and so 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
keeping up appearances. How
many families lose all the comforts of
home life in this senseless effort! If
you stop to consider what this "keep-
ing up appearances means it puts
the people in very unenviable light,
for il simply means that people want
to give you false impression of their
possessions. No member of the family
is so much injured by this deceptive
life as the housekeeper. All her power
of body and mind is bent to the task
of making the best possible appearance
with the smallest amount of eXpendi-
ture. Intellect is cramped in the bat
tie and all repose is gone from the
home 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 desire to make a
display disproportionate to her circum-
stances, for that is not good housekeep-
ing.-Morja Porloa, IN Good House
keeping.