The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-12-26
RUSSIAN HOUSEKEEPING.
An American Woman Tells What She
Discovered in a Furnished House.

An American Woman Tells What She
Discovered in a Furnished House.
Finally we grew very tired of living in
hotel and concluded we would rent fur
nished house for the season. There was
one which had taken my fancy greatly. 1t
was occupied by people we knew and was
particularly picturesque.
The owners were rich people aud they
had furnished it in sem-Oriental fancy,
which pleased me tremendously. Since
Russian Influence has become paramount
in Persia the best of the Persitn looms
confine themselves to supplying the Rus
sian market, and the walls of this house
were hung throughout with the most
beautiful rugs / had ever seen. 1t made
the most charming picture when one went
in out of the bitter cold TO have cup Of
afternoon tea there, and was ushered into
this drawing-rOom, hung with these goT-
geous mosaics of color, wide, low divans
all round the room, more splendid rugs
under foo, the SamoVar steamlDg on a
pearl-inlaid table. low lights making a
soft, rich gloom, and faint smell of in
cenSe mingled with the perfume of the
heaps of dollhouse flowers. So that when |
heard these acquaintance were going to
Paris and wanted to let their house as it
stood 1 said at once | would take it, with
out taking the precautiOn OF examining ii.
The day after they left went over from
the hotel to have a look about and see if
there were any little Heterogeneous /
wanted made before moving 10, and to or
der thorough housekeeping. To my
amaZement | found no bed chambers.
But where did the family seep?" ]
asked OF the woman in charge "Oh. nc
place in particular" she replied, quite as
if that were a matter of course; "where-
ever they happened TO be when they were
sleepy. Sometimes in the drawing. room,
sometimes here; there are divans every
where, you see."
but didn't they take off their clothes ?'
| gasped in horror.
"Generally, but one doesn't need bed
chamber for that. One just rings for SER
want to bring some negligee or night dress.
and that same servant. takes away the
clothes one drops off and fetches d
duret to spread over one" That was
enough. That drawing-room had lost all
its charms for me. Inquiry developed that
when one woke no In these haphaZard
beds in the morning one called servant
VINO came with breakfast tray and one
ate where one had slept. Inves-
tigatlon showed that in the midst of all
this luxury and beauty the cOmmonest ne
cessities and eonveniences were wanting.
With a sinking heart l made out list as
long as my arm of what il would be neces-
saTy to purchase TO make the house a
possible abode for an American. Then ]
took up the subject of housecleaning and
suggested that all the rugs had better
come down from the walls snd be thor
oughly cleaned and shaken before being
hung again. The servant was very dubi-
Gus. They had not been taken down for
years.
''Al the more need for it, them" said
l. and lifted one corner only to drop it
again with a cry of disgust Behind
these glowing colors and rich designs
were peacefully dwelling untold thousands
of beetles, reaches and creeping things
not to be named. l gave me swift
glance under the divan. and, picking up
my skirts, fed for my life. Apparently
for years when the rooms had been swept
everything had simply been pushed
under the convenient hiding places of the
divans, and my hastY Inspection showed
an indescribable collection of dust, hair,
moldy crusts, dirty gloves, combs, broken
glass, pins, sndkerchiefs-apy and every
thing that would ordinarily be found in
an American aShcan.
| finally realized that the whole incident
was very characteristic of Russian civiliZa-
ton. They are people who say, "Give
us the Injuries OF life and we won't ask
for che necessities" - Philadelphia In
qulTer.