The Afro-American., 1896-06-27
Miss MARGARET BLACK,
Care of heaAfro- American,
1916 N. FREMONT AVE
A WORD FOR HoUsE-cLEAN1NG.

For human interest we must 60 to
the old houses where the old-fashion
people live-the houses that have
"homen to successive generations of
| the family. The man who boasts
that he burns nothing" is invariably
| the man whose wife will tell you that
neither does he put anything in its
proper place ; and that is the man
whose house is beyond comparison
the most difficult to clean. And yet,
| the houses of such men, need cleaning
and indeed, are cleaned year after
year, by mute, ingIorious housewives,
who have learned in long years tq}t tq}tt
labor how to minggl4w ming viii ffR% %consesrated ed
rubbish. There is realIv no occasion assr
in life that ministers to woman's
pride, and especially to her intellect
| ual pride, like that of Spring clean.
ing, especially when there is con
siderable collection of books to be
death with. 1t is fact we'll estaD,
lIshed by scOres of households that
only an educated woman can be
trusted to turn out a library.
Men cannot clean their own librar-
les, because, it is absolutely necessary
while busting the outside of books.
to abstain rrligtOusly from looking
at their insides And that j. what
man who loves his books cannot be
drilled into doing. AS the volume he
knows SO we'll is handed to him to be
busted, he involuntarlly open it to a
favOrlte passage and falls upon read
ing it to himself or possibly declaim-
ing it to womankind who has volun-
teered to help. This is fatal to
progTe ess, and with three or four such
suspensions, the day is passed and
the library is not yet cleaned.
1t is delight to the truly great
house wife to tuck up her sleeves and
plunge favorite china INTO bowl Of
scalding water. and then snatch it
out quickly and wipe it with q hot
glass-cloth 50 that it is dry and
glistening in the twinkling of an eve.
There are some who maintain that
the spring cleaning is a superfuity,
and that, were life properly ordered
and man dturnally clean and tidy,
"the dust of an earthly today" would
not live to become ''.he earth of q
dusty tomorrow. ."- that the diIiyent
housemaid, plying her duster and
broom as she should do, would keep
the enemy down by a dull m0notonv
of daily scOurings and scrubbings. If
is not the nature of man tC be ALWAYS
clean and tIdv 1t is not to be ex-
pected of woman to wage a never
Tagging warfare against An enemy
so contemplate as the dust of each
days gathering Besides, who could
live in a world where tall steps aud
brOOms, white washers, chimney
sweepers and carpet beaters, were in
continual operation, as they must be
ii house cleaning were chronic in
stead of periodic By all means let
surface dust be removed day by day.
but in mercy leave the dark corners
behind the book cases ard the ward |
robes to collect the symbolic fue in
which che spirited housewife meets
at least once year ner insi 1iOus ad- |
versary in a form sufficiently grim
and substantial to make her feel If |
worth while to have made the assault |
with a full staff of assistants and an
army OF brOOmS and mODs.
Besides, even if the world could be |
kept clean and all housewives happy |
without spring cleaning, society can
not afford TO let the institution 90. |
For 1t affords us once 8 year d topic |
Of conversation as universally interes- |
ting as the weather, aud even more
beneficial az an outlet for everybodYs
need Of grumb'ing. IS. 8. Times.
The above is SO appropo that it
seemed almost impossible to pass it
oy after reading it without giving it
IN full to our readers. We trust,
therefore, to be pardoned for giving
= quotation this week in the place Of
9ur usual original matter. ED.