The Lakeland evening telegram., 1912-09-07
g.lAHHY 0!!' HER
DAu1.ITER-IN-LAn

too much Simply stultifes.
Frances. my son Arthur's wife.
came to visit ne just at the time all
well regulate housekeepers think they
have to go through the deadening
process known as hOusecleaning, she
went on. 'Now. don't breathe it t.
a soul, but never clean house. Ger
tainly try to keep things nice am.
comfortable. but my natural Instinct
is to avoid dirt. My attitude is tha,
If it will leave me alone | will leave
it alone,
who minds a little dust undc. the
beds and in the closets will answer
my own conundrum by telling you th
Frances does. She is perfectly iHtc-
Grant about it. She is constantly taIk-
ing about germs and microbes. Since
| am confessing all my shortcomings,
will admit that | don't believe In mi
crobes. anyway. They're far too small.
Frances does, though Oh, dear. yes,
she does.
She simply cant sit down and read
happily unless the house has been
thoroughly swept and garnished. can
do it without a tremor. can leave
dishes nnwashcd until every dish in
the house has been used and not feel a
Gualm Frances has the dishes round
cd up and washed SO quickly after
they have been used that she leaves
YOU with defrauled feeling. as
though YOU had been done out Of part
of your meal.
"The morning after she came ! saw
her eyins the living room curtains,
which I must confess We're not i'm
macuate
"DOn't look at those curtains,
Frances | said. in my merry, light.
hearted way. L know they're not very
clean, but I'm going to have tn"
la,ndrcss wash and iron them Mon.
day
Frances half opened her mouth,
then shut it again wondered At III"
time why she didn't say whatever il
was she had on her mind, but later in
the day I found out.
Mother she said tacfully-
Francis is very tactlul-that afternoon
when we were sitting in the living
room having what con.idcrr, a coy
little chat, I've been wondering il il
wouldn't be nicer il We should get
some curtain stretchers and stretch
the curtains on them instead OF hay
ing the laundress wash and iron them.
ITO make n long story short. she
dragged me downtown that very after
noon and we bought curtain stretch
ers. The next morning. with her own
hands, she washed those curtains, Oh,
there IS no doubt that she Is wonder.
full. stand in the greatest awe OF
any one who can wash things clean. l
never could. They're always much
worse when finish with them than
when | began.
after the curtains were arranged
to suit her happened to mention that
I had some material which I intended
to make into comforters when the
spirit moved me. Again speaking
metaphorically. she fell upon that ma.
terial tooth and nail. Then for days
she and struggled and pcrspired
amid billows of cotton.
when one morning she accicnlal-
ly opened the door of the chamber OF
horrors thought she was going to
faint. The chamber Of horrors. by tho
way, is the room into which it is the
time honorcd custom OF the family
to pitch everything that the family
wishes to rid itself Of Personally,
got along very nicely by simply shut
ting my eyes. opening the door 81 hit.
ly and shying in the article Then
after the door Is shut | have no fur.
ther Qualms. But Frances got quite
white when she looked in. She made
me feel-she did 1t tactfully-that no
decent. self-respecting woman could
exist in house with chamber Of
horrors. So together we pulled and
hauled and worked and suffered and
threw things away and had a perfect.
~ horrible time generally, but We fine.
ly emerged in that pathetic and
despicable condition called las neat A
PIN
1T took us days to 10 1t and ws
were both nearly dead when We got
through. But the very next morning
after we finished, il you can believe
me. found her with her head on, OF
the window and the air of "A hound
that is just getting the scent. She was
listening to vacuum cleaner that
was chugg;ng across the street.
"'Oh. mother she said I'm going
out to see if those men can't cone to-.
morrow
Frances said. Won viii DO moth
Ing OF the kind. | positively reuse
to be any cleaner than am From
now 10 the end of yenr yisit intend
to have my kind of a good tine e,en
if there isn't a floor swePt or ash
washed
Il did it," said Mrs Darlington.
eloatingly. Il kept Frances Nhie''iiag
in a perfect vortex of na-..aes anil
lnncheons and afternoon 's aal I
Ind a beautiful iiI'e. BGt ! rt'eatea
lie day before she Went AKA, ard let
hnr clean up the house io- re.