The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1900-12-25
PLEA FOR Palmer ROOMS.
The American Woman a Slave to Uss
less Rubbish.

The American Woman a Slave to Use
less Rubbish
There are no people on the face OF
the earth who litter up the rooms of
their home with so much useless, and
consequently bad. furnishings as do
the Americans. The curse of the Am
erican home today, is useless bric-a-
brac room in which we feel that
we can freely breathe is SO rare that
we are instinctively surprised when
we see one. 1t is the exception, rather
that the rule, that We find restful
room.
| AS a matter of fact, to this COM
| mon error of overfurnishing so many
| of our homes are directly due many
of the nervous breakdowns of our
women. The average American wom-
an is a perfect slave to the useless
rubbish which she has in her rooms.
This rubbish, of costly nature where
lplenty exists, and of a cheap and taw
dry character in homes of moderate
incomes, is making housekeeping a
nerve-racking burden. A goOdly num-
iber of these women are conscious OF
their mistakes. Others, if not absolute
lily conscious, feel that something is
wrong in their homes, yet they know
not exactly what it is.
But all are 10th, yes, l may say
afraid, to simplify things. They feal
the criticism of the outside world tha
their homes are sparsely furnished
they dread the possibility that thei
rooms may be called bare The.
= fear to give way to common sense. |
!. is positively rare, but tremendousl
7. lexhilarating, to find woman, as on
IS does now and then, who is courageou
l., enough to furnish her home with a
W eye single to comfort and practice
d utility, and who refuses to have he
,r home lowered to plane of mediocrit
by filling it with useless bric-a-bra
s. jimcracks, the only mission of whic
seems to be to offend the eye and a,
es cumulate dirt.
If our women would learn this lie.
h son and put it into practice it woul
10. soon be apparent to them that tn
tn whole question goes much deeper tha
simply furnishing. More simplicity
tn our homes would make our lives sir
pier. Many women would live full
IS lives, because they would have mo
time. AS it is, hundreds of wome
es Iof all positions in life are today Il
slaves of their homes and what th'
20 have crowded into them. They a
the slaves of their furniture and us
,s- less bric-a-brac. One hears men co
stantly complain of this. The conc
IS tion is not a safe one for wives.
No woman can afford to allow
nd of unnecessary furnishings to rule
life. She should be their mastt
nd Comfort is essential to our happine!
But with comfort We should stop. TIL
we are on the safe side. But we e
49, on and over the danger line when '
" go beyond. Not one-tenth of t
things that we think are essential
our happiest living are really so.
fact, we should be an infinitely happ'
. and healthier people If the nine-tent
were taken out of our lives. 1t is {
tonishing how much we can do wit
out and be a thousand times better
1T. And it doesn't require much to tt
M this gospel of wisdom. We need or
II to be natural; to get back to our re
Il inner selves. Then we are simple
t 1t is only because we have got aw
from the simple and natural that
many of our homes are cluttered
~ las they are, and our lives full of lit
- things that are not worth the whi