Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-07-02
DISHCLOTHS IN RHYME.
Novel and Interesting Bee for Brides
Benefit.

A prospective Chicago bride was the
object of interest at an afternoon party
recently where the other guests were
her particular girl friends. After
luncheon a large work basket was
brought in, containing an imposing
heap of cloths of every description
There were floorcloths and tea towels
some crash and some huck-a-back.
There were pink, white and blue
cheesecloth busters. There were towels
for glass and for china And there
was the humble but useful dishcloth
Each girl selected one cloth. from the
pile, and, after hemming it, embroid-
cred her initials in the corner. At the
end Of the afternoon the results of the
'sbee" were handed over to the bride
elect, to be preserved for future refer
ence.
The girl who gave the party had
previously invoked the muse and pro-
duced some parodies, so that the bride
to-be had also poetry in plenty with
which to begin housekeeping.
To a foorcloth was pinned revised
version of HamIet's famous soliloauy:
To scrub. or not to scrub. That's the
question.
Whether tbs nobler in the mind to
suffer
And let Chicago dirt accumulate,
Or to take arms against a sea of foul
ness.
And, by opposing, end it. To scour. to
scrub
Continually requires some aid. Ay,
there's the rub,
But here it is, my lady fair-a floor
cloth,
Such as thou needst must crave. Per-
chance
Twill serve thy handmade.
A dish towel bore this inscription:
Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand.
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.
Larger drops of water,
Administered by hand,
Cleanse both cup and platter
Without the aid of sand.
Use fine crash for drying,
It's worth you'll understand.
Pinned to fine crash towel was this
amusing parody on Macbeth's dagger
scene:
Is this towel that I see before me,
All ready to my hands? Come, let me
clutch thee,
Thou art not a false creation, incapable
Of action or of use. Not so; indeed.
Thou art not a towel true and strong;
an instrument
Fashioned for hard and honest work,
such as
Will serve purpose in this city,
Where dirt and darksome smoke pre-
dominate.
To a gorgeous pink cheesecloth
buster with some especially well-work-
ed initials in the corner was attached
these lines with apologies to Bryant
To her, who in the love of houseWorlz,
holds
Communion with her visible forms. she
speaks
A various language. For the morning
hours
She had a wealth of dustcloth such as
these,
An eloquence of beauty, which shall
glide
Into the darker corners of a fair
apartment
And steal away the SCOT flakes ere one
is aware
Nor was Longfellow forgotten.
This appended rhyme was pinned to a
glass towel:
Lives OF housewives all remind us
We can make our lives sublime
And, departing, leave behind us
Finger marks along the line.
If we use our towels bravely
We can make each goblet shine
Every dish will sparkle rarely
When we too sit down to dine.
These towels, with the accompany
ing verses, are exhibited with grea.
pride among the more pretentious
presents and thelbride declares she will
never soil them by using them. "Why
think" she says, ''of really washing
the floor with a cloth hallowed by such
associations! Or of busting a fair
apartment with a square of pink
cheesecloth that had been immortalized
in songs!"