Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-09-09
WISE HOUSEHOLDER.
She Opens Her Town House at Small
Expense and Annoyance.
WHAT Can Be DONE IN SPRING.
Carpets Put Away-Floors Scrubbed
Plumber, Painter, and Locksmith at
Work. and All Left Ready.
Correspondence OF the Dlspatch)

! Correspondence OF the Dlspatch)
| BOSTON, MASS, September 7.-There Is
no more foolish method of taking life easy
than by deferring ones obvious duties,
an example OF this unwlsdom being the
miseries Of the housekeeper who leaves
all the work OF getting her home In the
city ready for occupancy until the
/ autumn.
Every one Is busy then-the carpets
which should have gone to the cleaner
10 be brushed and beaten in the spring.
When no one was in hurry for the COM
| pletlon OF the job. now lie In his estab-
lshment day after day, while dozens of
angry patrons all insist upon having their
work done first. Scrub-women are hard
TO get at, upholsterers have no time for
small Jobs, and painters, paperers.
plumbers, and locksmiths have their
hdhls full, and are haughty Indifferent
! whether they get your work or not.
TIME BY THE FORELOCK.
The experienced housewife sent her car
pets away in the spring, and they have
been for many weeks reposing in neat
4
scrub-woman washed up at her leisure in
June. Before she went TO the country, she
had the loose gas-jet made firm; the
range was looked over by the people from
whom she bought it, The plumber tight
ened up dripping faucets, the locksmith
attended to the door that wouldn't stay
shut and the chimneys were brushed.
| After they had gone. the painters came in
and freshened the nursery doors, put
on thA in 81.
paper In the dining-room.
There Is no smell OF stale dust. no feel
| ing of stufilhess when the outer door is
| taken down. and she enters the house.
and opens wids all the windows. She has
| lett her town-house as neat as she will
! leave her country-house. when 1t takes its
turn at dark and silent loneliness.
| HOMELY KNOWLEDGE,
The scrub woman, who IS full of en-
gagementS now gives her one day. That
| IS enough-for the floors she left so tidy
| last spring only need TO be wiped up
hastily with hot water in which little
turpentne has been poured. That is TO
Keep the moths from laying their eggs
IN the carpets next spring. Then the win
! dows are washed, and this, too, is an
| easy job, Since this housekeeper knows
that flannel cloth dipped in hot water
|
| oil poured over IL Will clean glass with
half the labor and leaves IL much mora
| clear and brilliant than If the old method
was followed. Where the painters have
! been careless and loft the glass spattered
| with paint she shows the scrub woman
how to be rid Of 1t by takihg a big copper
| two-cent piece, laying it fiat on the pane,
and rubbing 1t back and forth briskly
with the finger.
| SANITARY PRECAUTIONS.
| The carpet-man follows and quickly re-
| lays the clean, amphor-scented carpets,
| and while he does 50 all the windows
| stand wide open to the sunshine. Indeed,
| all day long sun and air pours through
! every opening, for who knows what germ
| Of disease may have crept into even so
| well-eared-for a house as this during the
| long period Of summer darkness. The
| things of evil love the darkness and hy
| before fresh air and sunshine and this
! discreet housekeeper has seen too many
| cases OF those who return ruddy and
| buoyant from the summer in the country
| only to lose what was gained and wilt
| down with some obscure trouble upon
| returning 10 town. The loss OF all that
| has been gained IS usually attributed to
some other cause, but she strongly Sus-
| poets that an invisible enemy, bred in
| darkness lay in wait in the city home
! To rob the unfortunate of his dear pos
| session of health. No such skulkng thing
| shall work woo in her family if precau-
| ton can insure it,
So the cellar IS ransacked for any possi-
BILE trace Of dampnCss or dirt, and IS
carefully whitewashed from end to end
and sprinkled with chlorate Of lime
one duty which she chooses to leave until
the autumn. Chlorate of lime goes into
all the watertraps as We'll and the scut-
tie Is kept wide open all day. SO that
any unwholesome air that may have risen
to the top OF the house can escape.
THE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL.
The house being now swept and gar
nished and radiant of fresh cleanliness
the pleasant task OF beautifying begins.
Curtains so up that We're laid away in
closets all summer The brown Holland
covers come Off OF the furniture. Papers
disappear from mirrors and pictures.
Grasses about the hreplaces, the nickel,
and the steel are all polished to the last
pitch OF brightness. The closet Of each
room contains It's own bric-a-brac. AMI
II is an easy task TO set It IN place.
The piano emerees from its woolen-lined
and oiled-surfaced shroud. Books show
their cheerful cOuntenances once more,
being freed Of the paper-veils that hid
them, and palms come home from their
summer spent a, ths florists to brighten
and beautify the rooms. The place be-
gins TO look like home.
The lnen-closet Is looked over ard the
fiat, linen b1gs that lie on the shelves
underneath the piles of towels and sheets
have last-year's lavender sprigs emptied
and new ones freshly dried this season
I'm the country substituted, so that no one
VIII ever bury their face in 4 towel or
lay a tired head upon a pillow without
being Conscious Of a faint, fine perfume,
as clean and sweet as a garden OF herbs.
The winter clothes, too, must be un-
packed, must be summed. and aired for a
whole day on the clothes-line In the back
yard; not to rid them of the smell Of
camphor or tar, because this houseN2eper
never puts camphor or tar-paper upon
anything but carpets or hangings; she has
learned that moths hate the perfum. of
lavender far more than either and that
lavender evaporates more quickly than
the others when the garments are aired.
| and what scent OF IL Is left behind Is far
pleasanter to the nostrils.
These secrets of preparation have not
been learned In day; they are the valued
treasures Of housewifely knowledge which
a mother accumulates in long lifetime OF
observation and experience, and then
hands on to her appreciative daughter
| who adds 10 her stock of knowledge thus
transmitted to her. and so In course OF
| time learns all that there is TO know of
that most important and beautiful Pro-
fe15slon-h ewifery.
ELLEN SANFORD.