The Portland daily press., 1893-02-27
SPRING HOUSECLEANiNG.
IL VIII Cost $4,000 to Clear Up the
Worlds Fair Grounds.


1t VIII Cost $50, 700 to Clear Up the
Worlds Fair Grounds.
Especial Correspondence
CHICAGO, Feb. 23.-Housecleaning is
In order at the Worlds fair. 1t is house
cleaning On scale that is simply stu
pendous, such clearing out OF old rub
bish as probably the universe has never
before seen. There is something about
housekeeping and house renovating that
touches the most sensitive spot IN the
mentality of the housewife that has her
mind made up to everything and any
thing.
Carpets to be taken up and beaten, &C
foundations of dust to be removed,
paints to be washed with-well, we are
not in the advertising business, and there
are more than a score OF soaps tnaG
through ingenious announcements claim
to be able to perform wonders in this re-
gard; wainscoting to be washed and
scrubbed, silverware to be polished, PIC
lures to be busted, cellars to be cleared
of q winters accumulation, new oilcloth
for the entrance hall, maybe new CARPET
for the hall and stairway, and maybe,
moreover, new marquette carpet cover
ing for the parlor and its extension.
Verify, housekeeping time is period
of trouble and tribulation to the house
wife. and likewise TO the head of the
household, whose wallet, however well
it may happen to be filled at the start, is
likelyato be very considerably depleted
if not entirely emptied before this fes-
tive season has passed FROM reality and
become but a memory.
But the trials and tribulations of do
nestle housekeeping are but cipher
compared with the international house
cleaning that has just begun within the
confines of the Worlds fair grounds.
What brain can conjure up 5000 pairs
of hands operating 5000 brooms going
swish, swish, swish from what some
poet or philosopher has written of as
searly morn to dewy eve," clearing and
cleaning away the accumulated debris
not merely of continent, but Of uni
verse. F fragments of boxes that have
inclosed mummies from Egypt-shriv-
eled remains Of women and of men that
tiny of countries to perhaps a greater
extent than the greatest stateswomen
and statesmen of the new and old worlds
today.
Here in one corner the broom of the
housecleaner comes in contact with
pile of brown paper that has done serv-
ice as protection to the hygienic teapot
invented by the Princess May of Teck,
who might some day have been queen
consort of England but for the untimely
death Of the Duke of Clarence, and who
may yet, if gossip in the royal circles of
England is correct, attain that proud
and exalted position as the spouse Of her
deceased betrothed's brother, the Duke
of York.
Here in the art gallery the broom of the
sweeper encounters the wooden frame
work that has protected pictures from
Spain almost priceless in value. Here In
the building devoted to electricity heaps
of wood and of cardboard that have pro-
tected the latest inventions Of the Wizard
of Menlo Park; here again the Woman's
building, with remnants OF fragile card
board boxes that might tale unfold
were they enabled to speak of self denial
and ingenuity and patriotic devotion on
the part of the weaker sex. How many
stories might be written, how many vol
umes might be filed, if only the debris
that comes in contact with the brooms of
the, W orld's fair housecleaners could find
| tongues and speak,
And what an amount of ground to be
gone over, especially as, according to the
powers that be, the 5000 brooms will be
compelled perforce to do duty at least a
couple of times within the self same ter
ritory! Not only the interiors of the big
buildings, but the miles upon miles of
| walks--al these must be cleansed of all
uncleanliness.
To those who participated in the dedi-
cation ceremonies even the cleaning out
of the building devoted to manufactures
and liberal arts might be regarded as
| task to occupy months, if not years. Yet
| this structure is only one of a score that
| is to be made to e1emplify the old adage
| that new broom sweeps clean. Then
there are the miles upon miles of walks,
every yard of which is to be swept SO
clean that the image of the pedestrian
may be reflected in the mirrorlike as
phalt.
Altogether it will cost in the neighbor-
hood of $4,000 to do the housekeeping
for the Worlds fair. It is a big pile of
| money, but those that are to be our
guests after the list of May will readily
concede that the small fortune has been
| well invested. IF it be true that cleanli-
ness is next to goodness, then it is certain
that kind of halo is to encircle the con-
| fines of jackson park.
HENRY M. HUNT.