Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1890-06-20
THOUGHTS on HOUsE-CLEANING.
BY PROF. J. F. ELso1I.

Z
By PROF. j. f. ELsoM.
q S we allow the waves
" ~ of memory to backward
~ ~ roll, one can fancy
~ Q ~chiIdhood's days again,
HANHSl when, during the peri
VA Odic tear-up incident
LSa} to hOuse-cIeaning ev-
go erything was dirt, dir
M ty, slOp, sloppy, meals
IVY eaten anywhere, per-
n III haps an inverted barrel
n ~ for a table, and tia ut
~ sly - most disorder prevail
ass = ing everywhere. Was
not one of our most re-
| spected poets either a superficial OBJ
/ server of mundane affairs, or else
/ guilty Of a willfuI as well as fragrant
anachrOnism in fixing the melancholy
/ days in November: for is it not now, in
the bright spring days, when earth,
| and air, and sky, and all the innumer-
| able voices Of a rejoicing, animate Gre
/ alton call upon us to rejoice and 10y
| in existence, that the tidy housewife
/ particularly reveIs in happiness and
| hOuse-cleaning
If there is a lover of his kind who
| would deserve the undying remem-
| brance and gratitude of generations
! unborn, let him invent some way by
/ which these semi-annuaI turmoiIs may
! be avoided, and yet that cleanliness,
! which is a part of and which some
| housewives think more of than gOdli-
ness, be maintained. There is 8 bright
! side to every picture, hOUse-cleaning
not excepted-it is a good time to go
/ a-hshing. 1t is useless, however, to
! argue q matter that was incOntroverti-
| BILE countless generations ago, that,
! while the general deprayity of mani
! mate things remains, and misplaced
! matter continues to be dirt, house
! cleaning is one of the inevitables of
! life-a necessary evil, and a sore one
while it lasts. Accepting, then, this
affection, which is by no means a means
I Of grace, as inevitable, 1t only remains
! to devise some means Of mitigating it,
/ to discover how housekeeping may be
accomplished with the least possible
mental, moral, ard physical friction
! Habit may become second nature to
us, so that we account the means to an
| erE of more importance than the end
! itself. For instance, the childless old
man straining every nerve to scrimp
/ and save for spendthrift heirs to squanS
| der. In his youth he intended by
hard work and a careful boarding of
his earnings-a very laudable ambi-
tiOn-tO become welI-tO-do, and enjoy
life during its gathering shades; but
with the habit Of saving has grown an
lmPossibility of enjoyment in any 9th
er direction.
In striving to attain the immaculate
ness of our dwellings, it is quite pos
n oil Lob -
late as to be dispropOrtiOnate to the
end to be gained. In the multitud-
nous and complex processes of house
wlfery, particularly in all its routine in
the country, it is especially easy to
allow the means to an end to over
shadow and swallow up that end.
Our grandmOthers used to boast of
their achievements as measured by the
amount Of spinning or weaving they
could do; but mind, not muscle, has
invented machinery which Iightens
household as we'll as other duties, Civ
ing increased time and opportunities
for leisure, improving the mind, and
pleasure.
Loftier and more enrolling themes
than occupied the minds Of our gran
dams should interest and occupy the
feminine mind of this age and century;
house leanings, more abundant fancy
wOrk-making holes in cloth and sew
ing them up again-Of which I cannot
fOrbear to say that, if all this wretched
child's play that women call fancy
work could at once be bIOtted @ It of
their existence it would be an inc leu
liable blessing, our women would have
fewer aches of back and head. and, last
~, but by no means leastly, less gossip,
the evils of which shall discuss at an
other time-that conversational venom
that bhghts everything with which it
comes in contact and paralyzes all the
finer sentiments God has so beautifully
provided for mankind.
Some few weeks ago Twas talking to
a lady acquaintance concerning the
legal features Of certain acts of her
friend, for whom she was endeavOring
to procure an endowment, when she said
"a fig for legality" And this ex-
preston from a model housewife, a
thrifty mother, and, wi5hal, a cute
Yankee as she was told Of the
legal aspects of an important business
matter, because Of a legal formaIity
having been invaIidated. Neverthe-
less she delighted to recount minutely
and by the hour the precise manner in
which she washed her cellar stairs,
and how beautifully they looked when
done, showing the extent to which the
nObler and higher sentiments were be-
ing developed and what was uppermOst
in the mothers mind
NEW ALBANY, Ind