Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1910-08-16
phlIosonhv ANA Iiousekeeplng.

Once upon Q time IL was supposeu
that housekeepers were born, not made.
Moreover, they consisted Of odd ma
terials unfit for any other purpose. A
plain, stupid woman, for instance, with
no taste for society and without sufficient
education for any intellectual pursuits,
would do we'll enough for housekeeping.
Heaven evidently intended her for this.
The housekeeper herself was satisfied
with her status. She usually got Q
husband, and that was more than many
Of her brainer sisters could do. Her
housekeeping became in fact an a6,
sorbing passion. 1t crowded out Gil
other interests, until she ceased to care
for anything else.
The march of progress has changed
all this, or, rather, is rapidly bringing
about change. The various branches
of housekeeping have been set upon q
scientific basis, and schools of domestic
economies have raised the pursuit to
high intellectual level. Some Of the
finest scientific minds have been de-
voted to the problems Of the kitchen and
nursery. One has no longer to contend
that housekeeping requires brains.
Much remains to be done, however, be-
fore old prejudices are entirely overcome
and old mistakes corrected. Science Is
not the housekeepers only need or
highest desideratum. Scientific meth
DDS, as we all know, may in themselves
become a bondage. The housekeeper
wants to be raised out Of domestic ruts
into larger life. To produce the per-
feet art Of housekeeping, science must
be combined with philosophy. No
other walk in life requires more thor
oughly-the philosophic spirit, and none
other profits more fully by 1t.
For housekeeping consists OF an enor-
NOUS amount of detail which, II not mas
tered, will surely have the mastery.
The household without law and order
is chaos, indeed. Only careful system
and method can keep things running
smoothly, with clear, logical mind at
the helm. And herein lies the paradox
of housekeeping, that it is governed BY
rules, yet the rules can never be literally
followed. More than any other occupa-
ton 1t depends upon system, while more
than any other occupation 1t Is subject
to accident. Every detail of the rou-
tine depends more or less upon outside
conditions-the weather, the market,
the trains, the telephone, and q thou
sand and one circumstancesi,which no
single individual can control. The
DAYS menu may have to be rearranged
half dozen times by the failure of the
butcher, the grocer, the baker, the milk
man or the ice man. A rainy day pro-
hibits window cleaning and rug beating,
unexpected visitors postpone the mend
ing, the children's illness brings clean
ing to standstill, and SO on through
the list. The way in which the house
keeper meets all such accidents is the
test of her calibre. 1t requires philoso-
ply in the first place to make plans,
and more philosophy to break them.
II woman Is determined to carry out
her original intentions, willy-nilly, woe
to the household. When the passion
for rule has her in its grip, she is ready
to move heaven and earth to 20 through
her routine. No less rigid than the
law of the Mosaic Sabbath is the law of
her wash-day, her sweeping day and
her baking day, while certain great
events like house cleaning, dressmaking,
painting and planting are regarded as
sacred festivals. Should circumstances
prove to much for her, she yields only
with bitter complaining. Nervous and
irritable, her unhappiness casts gloom
over the whole family. The domestic
machinery being put out of gear by a
single mishap, she seems powerless to
readjust it. This type Is too familiar
to need description. We are try.
ing to get away from 1t to a saner
standard.
The ideal housekeeping scheme runs
systematically, but not mechanically,
smoothly, but not carelessly. 1t has
the flexibility of living organism,
rather than the rigidity OF a machine.
1t hits the happy medium between the
hard -and-fast and the happy-go-lucky.
The ideal housekeeper believes that
housekeeping was made for man, and
not man for housekeeping; that cooking
and cleaning are means to an end, and
not ends in themselves. She has cult
waited the two great qualities of adap,a-
bility and resourcefulness. When one
thing fails, she adopts an alternative,
and no one is the wiser. She takes things
az they come and makes the best of
them, turns accidents to good account,
is unruffled by disappointment and
undaunted by disaster; in short she is
philosopher. Inwardly she may be
chaiing with irritation, or all a.futter
with anxiety, but she realizes that her
own safety and the family welfare de-
pend upon her self-control. Her phi
losophy includes theory Of repose. OF
course this paragon is not quickly made.
Many failures must contribute to her
perfection, but there is great gain in
the way when one sees clearly this ideal.
Temperament has no doubt much to
do with a smoothly-running house, and
an "easy" husband must be reckoned
an asset. But the woman with brains
and character ought to attain self-con-
troll which is better than natural dis
position.
The philosophic spirit affects ones
relations to persons as we'll as to things.
1t studies the proper management of
children, the wise direction of servants,
the tactful dealing with tradesmen,
and thoughtful consideration of all in
the household. We are apt to expect
too much of others and not enough Of
ourselves. The perfect home is CO.
operative Institution.
Housekeeping requires, at times, in
tense mental concentration, and this
is doubtless the reason why the woman
OF a bygone generation attempted moth
ing more. 1t is for the modern woman
of larger culture and training to learn
how to relax the tension when the need
| is past. There is time for everything,
as a wise old writer has told US, and the
mind should be flexible enough to at
tack different subjects by turns. The
housekeeper may be none the less skill
full in domestic lines, and she is also an
accomplished musician or artist, per-
haps even business woman or lecturer.
She has time for church, clubs, charity
and society, provided that such COM
binatlons are in suitable proportions.
She is slowly working towards the ideal
of an all-round womanhood.
It is the function of philosophy to
see things in their true relations. This
is the browning achievement of the
successful housekeeper. She distin-
cuisines the major from the minor, the
rule from its reason, the main issue
from the subordinate point, the essen
tial from the trivial, not only In the con-
Germs of the household, but In the rela-
tions of the household to other interests
in life. She knows where to draw the
line between household drudgery and
true domesticity. Her philosophy con-
verts house into home. For after