The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-14
MRS. BROoKE's HOUSEKEEPING
Waging War On vermin In San Juan
Castle.
philadelphia Bulletin.)


Just outside of Media. about fifteen
miles from Philadelphia. stands
building which in years gone by was
known as the Brooke hail." and famed
far and wide in this country as the
foremost female seminary of its time.
The principal. Miss Maria Eastman,
was herself widely known as an edu-
Gator of women. and among the girls
who once played pranks aroun1 the old
Brooke hail. and now grown 10
womanhood might be mentioned Mrs
William Mckinley. the wife of General
Otis, and Mrs. Brooke, the wife OF
General John r. Brooke, governor gen
eral of Cuba
At Il recent gathering of the alumni
of the institution held annually to COM
memorate the birth of Miss Eastman,
the following letter was read from Mrs.
Brooke, who. though she could not be
in body with her former schoolmates,
remembered them from one of this
country's newly-acquired possessions
Madame President and Ladies of the
Alumnae of Brooke Hall: A greeting
from a foreign land-Long years ago
when the Yankee girl amused her
schoolmates at Brooke hall by saying
Nicely, thank YOU in answer to their
morning greeting. no thoughts of living
in palaces came into nor mind. She
had dreams of travels in her own, and
foreign lands, all of which were real
lied. Twenty-one years and six months
ago she was married Her wedding
journey was a march with troops of $50
miles away from a railroad. Two thous-
and miles had been Travelled by rail
before the march began Three months
in tents in the cold northwest. and
over ten years of garrison life, far from
any mode of travel, except by horse or
mule power seemed sufficient expert
ence for one life.
But one knows so little of what is in
store for her. Last October found her
in San Juan, Porto Rico. with palace
for a home. 1t sounds like a. princess
in a, fairy tale; but, alas, the reality
was far different. The Santa Catalina
had never known d housekeeping.
The old part was. so far as one could
gather. $50 years old The new one was
built in 1916. 1t really did need good
New England house cleaning. SO the
Yankee girl, grown into a mature wO-
man. rolled up her sleeves, tucked up
her skirts and began work.
plain dust of ages was not worry
ing but the bugs seemed hopeless
closets had closed doors, doors that
surely had not been opened for years.
She had the temerity to open them. and
out came mice-surely those things
were nicely the dozens, scurrying
into all directions. The Yankee Wo-
mans skirts were duly tucked UP and
a nearby chair resorted to. Upon
closer examination the mice proved to
be only reaches, which cleanliness and
plenty of borax finally reduced from
dozens to a comparative few. Still
they were there. Eternal vigilance was
not enough. for last evening one, only
one mark you. held the large stairway
against ME for a few moments. What
would you good women. say to din
ing room in which the chairs cannot be
placed near the table until the family
is assembled ready to sit down? Other
wise up the legs, onto the table. go
myriads of little ants, but few mo-
merts and the cloth is black.
This is the dark side-'Every cloud
has a silver lining One need but go
to any of the latticed blinds, which
form three sides of the private sitting
room, open. look out and all is forgot
ten. The view of the picturesque har-
Dor. the green luxuriant mainland.
Moro castle, Castle Blanco (the very
castle Ponce de Leon went out to find
the Fountain of Perpetual Youth and
found our F'lorida), the attractive
Notwithstanding town of San Juan, and
last but not least, the beautlful troplc-
al garden of the palace, all in one pic
t,1re so beautiful one could not re-
member dust. reaches and servants.
who dropped to sleep, if left alone, or
thought manana the best time 10 do all
things.
Just as all was about completed.
Porto Rico fitted out of the Yankee
woman's life and Cuba came in. The
Havana palace needed many repairs.
such as men only could do. A bright
blue house. two stories high. with rooms
opening onto wide piaZzas and glorl-
Gus view. from the roof, has been sub
stituted for a time.
IAN this sounds as if life were
pleasure, and it would be but for the
constant undercurrent of dread because
of the climate An American house
makes life easier for the housekeeper
than a. palace in a foreign land.
MRS. MARY S. BROOKE"