Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1890-03-08
BOARDING OLD THINGS.
The Poetry and Prose OF Garret, sewing
Room and Closet.

hooh anu tto>et.
Women. in the main, are not natural
spend thrifts, and economy Is a COM
mendable thing, but there Is point at
which IL, like forbcaranee, ceases to be
virtue. l alludo now to the practice
of letting odds and ends accumulate II
boarding nondcscript articles of no pres
ent value, with the notien that thcy
will some time be of use. Such articles
become yeritahle skeletons In the closets
of many a home. Bonnets OF fashion
of years agone have a musty smell: the
piles of newspapers ase sticky with age;
heop-skirts Of times past grin sardon-
lcally, and shoes are green with the
mold that is the concomitant OF leather
long unused.
The rule, keep a thing sryen years
and II no use be yet found for il keep IL
seven Rore, Is one that is more hon
bred in the breach than in the observ-
ance." From II has come the thriftles4
sight of a collection OF dust-harboring,
40 disease-engendering rubbish OF
no seeming earthly use, that
makes one OF properly consti-
tuted tendencies instinctively long
Tor either a bonfire or spade
What, | should like to know, is the wis
iom in keeping the broken parasol or
umbrella longer IL not fixed within a
year. Yet the dilapidated lot Is often
increased. Why not, at once. sell the
Did iron 10 the iron-mongcr. and break
up the cracked pitcher and noseless tea
pot into eagerly-appropriated bits (of
yravel) for the chickens? Bury out of
sight the old tin cans for which there is
no apparent need, knowing their cheap
ness II any should be wanted in the un-
certain future for fiower-pot or for foot
stool, and burn in the friendly depths of
the kitchen fire the rimless hat. the
wornout shoe, and the rag-bag that was
filled last year but for which the rag
man never came.
Fire Is in more than one way the
housekeeper's blessing. Besides its use
fulness for cooking and heating pur-
poses II may hide forever the object
that Is an eye-sore, or which would
become such by long keeping, giving us
in its place a handful of ashes with
which to enrich our flower border OF
fertilize our orchard plat. The scrap OF
cloth and bits of paper and string that
litter the floor and, swept out, disiigure
the door-yard, may help, to better ad.
vantage, in kindling the next fire; and
many an unsightly thing about the
premises can be picked up from time to
time, and its burning serve a double
purpose, namely: the provision OF more
fuel, and tidily-kept surroundings
Cloths OF every description are so USE
ful to the housekeeper that every part
of almost any garment can be speedily
utilized. and the long saving of laid-aside
clothing becomes folly. While the
thousand and one uses for waste-paper
that housewives know prccludes any
necessity OF stacks OF stale newspapers.
Bnreau-drawers and pattern recep-
tacles ought TO be- '.riddled OUT occa-
sionally. and, by the same token, ones
letters and papers and pigeon holes.
Aud however niggardly one may once
have been 1t can come to be, by the
higher order of worth and neatness, a
peculiar satisfaction to put every bulk
ard particle, no longer valuable, quite
out of the way.
The young housekeeper should be
prudent and not wasteful, but there is
occasion TO guard against the opinion
too often considered virtue - that
every thing is too good TO throw away. y
Even an inanimate articles day OF use
fulness may be ended, when its keeping
becomes burden. have often thought
that the poetry of the garrett exists only
In the poets Imagination, for in reality,
in the room cleaned on an average but
once year. the spiders webs are toe
numerous, the spinning-whcel too dusty
and the hair-coyered trunk too apt to
contain monse's nest TO make it a place
of delight or the contents OF healthy
inspiration.-Emma L. Volentine, in
Good Housekeopiny