The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-12-20
HOME.MAKlNc INSTINCT.

The Way in Which ItsIs Exemplified In
Town andcountry Women.
There1was pathetic story in an old
school rendered. a poor, homesick beaver
that was captured ON the shores of his
native stream and carried off to a city
by an experimenting naturalist. 1t was
shut up in room and given piece OF
wood wherewith to amuse itself. Forth.
with its natural instinct asserted itself:
1t began at once to construct dam Out
of thesnateral supplied 1t, and labored
for days industriously, if in vain. The
world is full of women of this'sort, ex.
cept that the outcome of their efforts is
more tangible than that of the animal
intent upon dam-building. The citaes,
and even the country, are full of homes
which women have contrived out Of the
meagerest materials. A man on small
salary accepts the dreary hall bedroom,
fourth floor back, with logged submis-
sion, considering his quarters part
and parcel of his hard luck. Its
dinginess grows dingier; old boots,
soiled clothing, crumpled newspapers,
burnt matches, and disreputable pipes
stale tobacco-smoke is over it all. He
looks at the dusty chaos hopelessly. He
knows that every thing is at SKIES and
sevens, but the instinct to adOrn and
arrange is not born in him and he can
only be helplessly miserable. OF course
there are eXceptions-to be studied on
shipboard, in army quarters, and else
where whore men have absolute sway.
But there the cleanliness and precision
are plainly exact. The general express
sion is not homelike, but reminds one of
the regulated and supervised system
which prevails in benevolent and penal
institutions. The woman, as a rule,
takes possession of her shabby apart
ment and Immediately looks about her
to see what improvements are prac-
ticable. The torn wallpaper is neatly
mended; the carpet is patched or darned
until the bad places ''hardly show" A
few yards of cretonne furnish pretty
customs, table covers, and curtains for
the cupboard, where her cooking uten-
sils are slowed away, and concealed.
With piece of pasteboard she contrives
work basket and paper holder.
The windows are washed and pol
ished until they shine. Her few
poor little treasures, prints and photo
graphs, the bric-a-brac bought at the
cheap counters of the great house-fur-
nishing establishments are carefully ar
ranged, and the place that before was
dreary and shabby is converted into
something decidedly attractive. 1t be-
came snug, eheery little nest, toward
which the occupant hurries eagerly
after the long Gay in which she has
stool behind the. counter, or piled her
needle in the crowded work-room of
fashionable dress making shop. It is
here that she rests, reads and dreams
those day dreams that fill the hearts of
women of all classes and conditions.
The same instinct frequently mani
tests itself in new countries, after She
wife joins her husband in the home to
which he had preceded her. Floors are
occurred, windows are neatly curtained,
bright rag carpet is made for the sit
ting-room floor, flowers bloom in the
front yard and vines Chamber over the
front door, touches of sweetness and
homely comfort springing up under her
magical hand. 1t is to labor like this
that women havs<de7oted their minds
and energy, AMI + their genius has not
yet found expression in the highest
forms of art and science, they have re-
deemed the waste places of the world
and have made the wilderness blossom
IS the rose.-Chicago Inter-Ocean.