St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-09-20
for CIR Hunr-
TOO MUCH DoMEsrICITY.

TOO MUCH DOMESTICITH.
Does it ever occur to you, Mrs.
Clever Housewife, that there are
perils in being exclusively domestic!
1t is, of course, a praiseworthy thing
to keep ones home in absolutely
beautiful and elegant order, to have
ones rooms busted and shining, and
spiCk-and-span, to arrange one
table with precision. and induce ones
family to conform to rules OF tnv1nc1-
BILE regularity And yet, dear Mrs
Clever Housewife, one may pay too
costly a price for this system, this
elegance, this unapproachable ex-
cellence.
What has become of that little
lady who was your opposite neigh
Dor on Elmwood Avenue, IN 1857
| asked a friend the other day. i
mean" said l, 1.-The pretty, bright
faced little woman, whose doorsteps
were a dream OF cleanliness, and
whose windows shone like mirrors
the one who busted all the books IN
the library every week, and who I'M
ished the stairs with a halrpln IN the
corners"
NV friend looked sad. A retro
spective glance came into her eyes.
"You refer to Mrs. CraighOlme, she
said. Poor child, she has been IN
state of nervous depression border
ing on insanity for the last three
years. They have given up house
keeping, ali the furniture is stored,
all the books are packed, the children
are at boarding school, and Mr..
Craigholme spends his time In taking
his wife from one place to another,
hoping to rouse her from the apathy
into which she has settled. The doc
tors said that her life had been too
narrow; it had shut about her like
prison bars; she is the victim OF too
much dOmesticity."
\ peril of the same vlrtue-turned-
intO-vice is that we lose the power of
seeing things in the light relations.
To the intensely domestic woman, a
spoiled batch of bread is a heartache,
a delayed meal is a disaster, a spot
on the paint is a catastrophe. She
lamentS over trIhes until she has no
breath or strength to spare for the
real JOYS of life, nor indeed, for the
sorrows in which she ought to sym
pathize Her sons and daughters,
and her husband, too, are afraid OF
infringing on her province by crltl-
ciSing where occasional criticism is
deserved; they know how jealous is
her pride in her housekeeping, and
how resentful she is it any one, be he
or she the dearest of the dear, does
not consider it absolutely without a
fault or a defect.
Again, Mrs. Clever Housewife, the
domestic woman, as you must
admit, cannot keep a servant. Her
''girls," whether elderly women or
sips of eighteen or twenty, are apt
to leave her at unexpected moments.
and she is always dissatisfied with
the kitchen contingent, and always
making changes. Her cooks drink,
or are Wasteful, or ill-tempered. Her
mattresses break china and neglect
their duties. Every one who serves
her fails to re ach her standard, and
wearies of her never-ending fussiness.
1t is we'll to be good hOusekeeper,
but, dear Mrs. Clever Housewife, it
is very poor economy to be this only,
and nothing more. For the house
exists for the convenience of the peO-
pie whose abiding place it is, and,
whether it be palace or cottage, its
single claim upon our respect and re-
gard is summed up in the four little
letters which make the word "home."
II Mrs. M. E. Sangster, in Christian
Inteligencer.