The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1909-04-08
GOOD HOUSE KEEPER
VERSUS PUSSY ONE
The Pussy Housekeeper Plunges Every
One lnto>a State of Discomfort
Coed Honsekeeper Has Just
Opposite Effect.

tirely different one. Who has
not suffered, more or less, from
this form of housekeeping! Do we
not all know what it is to staying
III house where, from morning to
night, the wheels of the internal
machine are creekiEg and groan.
ing; whose mistress, like Martha
of old, is careful and troubled
about many things?' There seems
to her to be scarcely any subject
in heaven or earth worth con.
sldering compared to the we'll
being of her MENACE
She is eternally arranging and
rearranging her furniture and her
household generally; she changes
her tradespeople and her servants
continually, always hoping to get
something better, something cheap
err, something superhuman in the
shape Of domestics. Economy is
her watch word, and yet she often
contrives2to be woefully extrava-
gent.
Another dreadful thing about
the fussy housekeeper is that, she
is'everlastingly cleaning something.
You meet her ON the stairs in odd
corners surreptitiously Ticking
imaginary spects Of dust, OR giving
something an extra brush !. or
polish. 1t is necessary to be clean
and, rs we all know, it is one of
the first principles of health; but
for pity sake, do not let it be
so much in evidence Why
should the whole family, visitors
included, be plunged into a state
of discomfort because, no matter
how announcement it happens to be,
it the day for turning out' a
certain room! The rigid punctu-
ality of the fussy housekeeper is
also a TERROR to those luckl less
members of the family. who may
chance to be a few moments be-
hind time at meals.
She makes no allowance for the
discrepancy of clocks, for the
missing of train, for the hundred
and one delays and mischances
that sometimes beSet ones home
ward way. This luckles offender
is greeted with an acidulated
silence that speaks volumes of
disapproval. or with fussy apollo
gies for the GOODNESS or spoiled con-
dition of the meal.
The fussy housekeeper is of the
opinion that servants cannot be
trusted to do their work unless
they are perpetually driven and
supervised, forgetting that the
modern domestic will rarely put
up with this; besides if il servant
is worth her salt and knows her
work, She ought to be trusted to
do it without constant nagging.
Servants are not perfect. and
their ways are often eXaSpcr rating:
also there are cases in which a
vigorous and decisive line of
action becomes necessary if we are
to remain mistress of our own
house, or preserve our own dignity
and the respect of others: but l am
not speaking now of the graver
offenSeS, nor of neglect Of work
but of those petty failings and
little impertections that are really
of no great moment, and to which
it is sometimes polite to be "a
little blind She can never for
get. never put aside her house
hold cares: her life is veritable
treadmill, and the house She SO
devotedly fuses over is never
really enjoyed, for she has neither
leisure no strength to be quiet.
In the multiplicity of detail she
loses sight of the broad principle
that. above all things, home is in
tended to comfort, not to worry
US. and it is our own fault. in a