The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1890-01-15
BOARDING OLD THINGS.
thc Poetry and Prose of Garrett. SOWING.
Room and ClOsef.

! Room and Closet.
7 Women, IN the main, are not natural
spendthrifts, and economy is com.
mendable thing, but there is q point al
which it, like forbcarance, ceases to be
virtue. ! allude now to the practice
OF letting odds and ends accumulate, Of
boarding nondescript articles of no pres.
emit value, with the notion that thew
will some time be of use. Such articles
become veritable skeletonsin the closets
OF many home. Bonnets of a fashion
OF years agone have a musty smell; the
piles OF newspapers are sticky with age;
hoop-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 thing seven years
and if no use be yet found for it keen 81
seven more, is one that is 'smore hon.
ored IN the breach than in the observ.
ance." From it has come the thriftless
sight OF a collection of dust-harborinp.
so disease-engendering rubbish Of
no seeming earthly use, that
makes one of properly corsH'
tuted tendencies instinctively long
Tor either a bonfire or shade
What, should like to know, is the wis.
dom IN keeping the broken parasol or
umbrella longer If not fxeazwan;sa
year. Yet the dilapidatcd lot is oftem
increased. Why not, at once, sell the
old iron to the iron-monger, and break
up the cracked pitcher and noseless tea
pot into eagerly-appropriated bits (of
grayeD for the chickens? Bury out OF
sight the old tin cans for which there ia
no apparent need, knowing their cheap-
ness ii any should be wanted in tho I'M. s
certain future for flower-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 rao.
man never came.
Fire is in more than one wav tho
housekeeper's blessing. Besides its uso.
fulness for cooking and heating pur.
poses 1t may hide forever the object
that is an eye-sore, or which won1d
become such by long keeping, giving us
n Its place a handful of ashes with
which to enrich our flower border ~
ertilize our orchard plat. The scran ~
10th and bits of paper and string that
liter the floor and, swept out, disfieure
he door-yard, may help, to better adj.
'antage, in kindling the next fire: and
many an unsightly thing about the
Premises can be picked up from time to
ime, and its burning servo a double
urpose, namely: the provision of more
uel, and tidily-kept surroundings.
Cloths OF every description are so use.
I'll to the housekeeper that every part
f almost any garment can be speedily
tilted, and the long saving of laid-aside
lothing becomes a folly. While the
nousand and one uses for waste-nanar
nat housewives know precludes anv
ecessity OF stacks OF stale newspapers.
Bureau-drawcrs and pattern recep-
Icles ought to be ''riddled out" occa.
onally, and, by the same token, ones
'tters and papers and pigeon-hoIes.
nd however niggardly one may once {
ave been it can come to be, by the
lghcr order of worth and neatness. a e.
ocular satisfaction to put every bulk
I'd particle, no longer valuable, quito -.
1t of the way. A
The young housekeeper should be
'udent and not wastefuI, but there is
'casion to guard against the opinion
70 often considered virtue - that
yery thing is 'stoo good to throw away."
ven an inanimate articles day of use.
Ilness may be ended, when its keeping
burden. I have often thought
lat the poetry of the garnet exists only
the poets Imagination, for in reality,
the room cleaned on an average but
ice year, the spiders webs are too
the Spinning-wheel too dusty
I'd the hair-coyered trunk too apt to
ntain mouse > nest to make 1t place
delight or tho contents of s healthy
observation-disclosures 3 Yospp tin9. i
aed Epnsasiaapsa9.
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