River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1895-07-18
COMFORT AND DISPLAY.
House Attire Too Often Neglected for odt-
door Eleg ance.

door EicE tnCc.
Volumes have been written on the
necessity of neat home attire, yet there
are still hundreds of families where
anything is good enough for he
house, if snowy outfit can be Sc
cured for display outdoors.
This state of things will probably
exist until people have learned to live
above sham and falsehood. There arc
thousands of families who appear in
sillSen attire to the outward world.
while they wear the most slovenlv
dresses in their own houses when
nobody is around. Such a condition
as this means a disordered house, a
house where comfort is invariably sac
rifc-d to show. 1t consequently
means an unhappy home, where the
petty vexations of life bring about
continual chickering's Nothing so
wears upon the temper and so tries
the disposition as disorder. A house
where everything is out of place is in
variably a most uncomfortable resi-
dence. The few hours of pleasure in a
gorgeous street appearance can not in
any way compensate for the many
hours of discomfort in an improperly
furnished home, or for the positive
bodily distress that results from wear
ing insufficient or unsuitable clothes
within doors.
The first essential must be comfort
warm undertaking and warm whole
stockings for winter. and neat house.
dresses and aprons for the house,
keeper. and the essentials for thu
lrs~.har, nd 4 sr,ar lafo
elaborate display clothing and parlor
outfits are secured. How few your
people go to housekeeping in this
spirit how many begin by furnish-
ing their parlor. and expect TO secure
the furnishing of their kitchen with
the money that is left. One method
means a comforta BILE home, with littls
show, the other improperly served
meals. badly cooked for want of insult
ficient materials and all the train of
evils that come in the wake OF
such management 1t is not too
much TO say that hundreds of homes
are swallowed up in Charybdis of
domestic mismanagement. There IS
very little human affection that will
survive greasy beefsteaks and under
destroys the temper.
Undoubtedly one Of the strongest
movements toward temperance among
the poor of the tenement-houses has
been the cooking-school. Ifsthe wives
of poor men in this country could learn
to market wisely and cook intelligent
y, as the French peasant women do.
there would be some chance of coping
with the great evil of strong drink. u
is a noteworthy fact that in America
and in England the amount Of drink
ing among the poor classes is greatly
in excess of that in France. where
though light wines are con-
humed, strong stimulants are
almost unknown to the peas
4ntry, which is never I'M
ierfed, and seems to feel no
such appetite for strong alcoholic
stimulants as the American and Eng
ylish workmen. just in proportion as
the living space of the familyis limited
to the poor. lone tenement-house dis
Sricts of the great cities, does this APP
petite increase The American work.
man in the country is a sober man.
The American workman in the city is
too frequently Incorporate. These
matters show conclusively the effects
of home discomfort. The countryman
has sufficient space to live in and pure
air to breathe. His wife has fewer
temptations to buy snowy clothing and
is more inclined to spend her income
in substantial food and to take a pride
in prepar ing it welL-N. Y. Tribune