West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1889-10-31
HOUSEHOLD AFFAIRS.
HOW TO DUST.

That dust is unavoidable Is a trulsm as
thoroughly settled in the belief of most
housekeepers as that it is disagreeable
n that it is disagreeable is TO be scien.
tiically known from the very different
sensations one experiences in a room be.
fore and after = has been swept and
cleansed, in the lightness and b|uoyancy
and pleasant scent of the air there.
Every room in modern houses has more
or less coal dust, more or less wood dust,
dust from the surfaces of wallpaper and
ceilings, dust frcm the wear and tear of
carpets and rugs, a certain amount of
line, almost imperceptible earth dust,
and a vast amount of half decomposed
vegetable dust from the roadways, from
hower-boxes, from gardens, from cloth
ing, from everywhere.
At all times unwholesome, when damp.
ness gets hold of this dust it ferments,
decays and becomes positively poisonous
and this must needs happen on any rainy
day, on foggy mornings, on dewy nights
and at that season of the year when the
dampness seems to penetrate the house
md it is not yet time to light the fires
that might dry it out or hinder it.
The rooms of a dwelling-house, then,
eannot be kept too thoroughly well
swept and busted off, in order that the
east possible deposit of dust may be left
In them. The usual sweeping of a room
with closed doors and windows, so that
The rest of the house shall not be dis
Iurbed, is not so effective as it is desired
to be. TIL broom cannot reach much of
The dust; a powerful draught of air must
help 1t out by loosening and carrying
away a great deal of it that is beyond the
broom, such as that about the walls, tho
shelves, the mirrors, that dust which is
he finest and the lightest, which rises
while the heavier mineral dust sinks, and
70 proclaims itself the dust Of organic
decay, and infinitely more injurious to the
lungs and other vital organs than any
other dust.
Many wives think that the less the dust
IS stirred in sweeping the better the work
S done, aud tea-leaves and wet grass and
noistened meal are thrown about the
ioor in order to gather the dust and pre-
rent 1t from rising. But people giving
Inc matter philosophical attention have
come to the conclusion that precisely the
opposite course is the fit and proper one;
hat a good stirring up and then a good
blowing out is what the dust needs, and
hat with blowing unobstructedly through
The room as thoroughly as a wind can be
made to blow, SO that it is doubtful if at
some time a huge patent bellows shall not
be invented, to be applied every time the
broom goes to work, and scatter all the
numbering dust to the four winds of out
side.
But till this is done, or something like
It, 1t becomes the interest of the indwel-
lers of a house TO see that, after the sweep
ing Is over, the busting shall be suf-
hciently thorough to remove so much Of
the dust as is left, and not merely to send
Il flying and let it settle again. The
leather buster may have its use before
sweeping in wiping down the walls and
dislodging the all but invisible particles
behind pictures and bookcases and in
inaccessible corners, and setting that dust
so free that the draught may sweep it out
Of the room farther than the broom can
But when the broom is laid aside, then
clean cloth busters should come into re-
lu%isition, and they, frequently and re-
motely shaken, are the only things that
by any possibility remove dust so as to
make the removal satisfactory until the
m when mole dust shall have accumu-
lated.