Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-06-21
AS ONE WOMAN SEES IT
study Of the Present by the Light Of
the Past Summed UP In the state.
ment That We Are Slaves to
Our PIumblnu
BY SARAH ID, LOyyRIE

dinner chat INDUCED in after they were
sure they 'werc not being overheard by the
younger persons of the party, who had on
tneir part cautiously removed themselves
10 another room for the more serious pleas
ures OF dancing.
The subject of the conversation was
ppath,ing pat, The bravest. or perhaps, the most
naruened, OF the group confessed that In
ms ms youth ne had known the pleasures and
tne duty of the biweekly bath. Fired by
MIS-, MS iraankness the rest matched experiences
with him and some outmatch him. Two
confessed to weekly bath and one acknowl-
edged that hers had been INDUCED in in n
I'm tup In the dining room. as being con-
vsnient to the kitchen both for purposes
OF emptying and Of fillng-the house having
no bathroom, nor even so much rs a faucet
except those of the kitchen sink.
MOhE than one Of those present recalled
AVA reluctance on their part to take ad-
vantage even OF those scant privileges when
tne day and hour arrived, as though the
tendency was to postpone or even to escape
the opportunity under the plea that he or
she was clean enough
one OF the group recalled an occasion
wheh, on the omission of his bath by one
OF the boys In the family. their great aunt,
VINO had somehow constituted herself as
the monitor Of the family ablutions so far
rs the children went. herself ran steam
ing bath in the middle of the morning,
with the remark that If Hugh would not
take It at night like Christian gentle-
man, he would have to inconvenience him
SELF by undressing in the middle of the
morning. And when all was completed in
the way of preparation she went forth to
san an!e M MN IN. She supposed she had him;
for she pounced upon a boyish figure seated
on the piano stool, strumming gay and
spectacular tune.
Come! ~ said she, "you need n bath.
sir!''
very much alarmed piano tuner extri.
Gated himself from her grasp. supposing he
had to deal with an insane woman. She
did very little to assuage his fears. for
she did not explain, but nonchalantly pick
ing up fan from the table, swept from
the room, moaning with suppressed laugh
ter.
From the subject of baths our conversation
ranged over the whole field Of household
economies in the days of our youth. Break
fast Tor most Of us was n sevcn-t thirty
six or six thirty. The tables of our youth
may have been served with larger helpings
than those of today, but there were fewer
courses and no course Of just place plates
to be removed, or finger bowl plates to be
set down.
We had saucers for sauces, but no bread
and butter plates with knives to match.
and you could not count the number of
courses to come by the number of forks
and spoons stretched beside your first plate.
Doilies were unknown, but straw mats upon
which were placed the vegetable dishes
graccd the table. Gives and nuts We're
absent but some kind Of pickle and the
round stand for vinegar and pepper and
mustard were ever present. Every one had n
napkin ring and napkins lasted longer on
that account. Much was passed from hand
TO hand. as everything from the soup to
the dessert was apporticned and served on
the table. One remembered the waitress
mostly rs a carrier-in of great dishes of
food. and somewhat breathless and hurried
at the task. In her other function Of
removing empticd plates she made an i'm
preston of being also hurried and given
to piling the crockery. Beyond the dining.
room our memories were less vivid. but
most of us had no memory past nursery
days of turned down beds at night or con-
venient drinking water on Il stand by the
bed. or Of anything in the nature Of valet
ing of male or female sort at the beck
and call Of casual visitors. No one could
remember ringing n bell when guest at
n private house in extreme youth except as
joke. One had to be i'll to breakfast in
bed, and as a rule only the family had n
shy at the family bathroom. The pitcher
and basin In the guest room with the elab-
crate towels were meant for business. In
some houses there were certain duties Of
a household nature undertaken by the FEM
mime members Of the family and It was
the part of politeness on the part of FEM
mime guests to say:
"Oh. cant help? love to shell peas ~
Or. II am perfect shark about making
beds.''
nARNING stockings and mcnding chill
Ddren's clothes and seasonal dressmaking
were as much 4 matter OF course as sym.
phOny concerts every week are in the same
type Of households nowadays. For these
"reminiscences of other days were not from
persons that had been brought up in SER
vantless homes. The people who now use
their incomes for a greater ceremony of
living have most Of them no more, II rs
much income than their families possessed
in the days of palmer habits. What in
tcrested us in the comparison was that we
demanded moro service and q more pro-
fessonal type of service. and we lived more
elegantly. even those Of us who went out
to restaurants. than was the custom in the
days of our youth. All Of which makes
our margin for saving out of our incomes
much less possible than it was for our
fathers and mothers. The wedding presents
that our children of today get are hundred
per cent more valuable than their grand
mothers received, except, as some one re-
marked to me at a wedding the other day,
"You never see any more card living some-
where among the gifts with---'
AND n mousse ana lou ana cOlnple1c 1ur-
nishings as present from etc. etc.
But the ncwlyweds either have to have
servants to take care of all those presents
or they have to shut most Of the china and
silver away under lock and key as too
valuable to use without expert supervision.
In fact. we concluded as Il result of our
delving back into our pasts that they had
been better for us than our chldren's pres
ent was for them.
vTJIIE Adam and Eve experiments are
i hardly, however, step in the right
direction. One does not even have to be
n Robinson Crusoe to find out what are
the essentials and what are the superfuites
Of good living. | think, however, it is well
that we should pull up stakes once and
so often and try not so much roughing
it as simplifying it.
very wise mother of a large family
that | knew used to take her household
minus the servantS-to a ranch each sum-
mcr. where the horses staked out their own