Woman's work. (Athens, Georgia) 1887-1???, May 01, 1888, Image 6
DON’T WORRY.
Don’t worry at trifles and troubles,
Nor fret when misfortune appears;
Repining, each burden but doubles,
And evils delay not for tears.
Time wasted in useless complaining
Is wealth we might use, thrown away,
Better wisely to use that remaining,
Employing each hour of each day.
Don’t worry if fortune has dowered
Some others more richly than you;
Sad grieving but makes one a coward,
Success means to dare and do.
Time’s chances have not all departed ;
Rich prizes are waiting a claim ;
But they fall not to those who down-hearted,
Creep'feebly toward fortune and fame.
Don’t worry o’er past tribulations,
They’re gone, and their lesson is taught,
Look forward! The future relations
Are with grand possibilities fraught.
Who conquers the present, improving
Each hour of the here and the now.
Gains a place in that circle which, moving,
Brings the prized laurel-wreath to his brow.
—B.
AIRING ROOMS.
It is a great mistake that the whole
house, particularly the sleeping rooms and
the dining room, receives little ventilating
and purifying of the air, when it can he
done with so little trouble and no expense.
A pitcher of cold water placed on a table
or a bureau will absorb all the gases with
which a room is filled from the respiration
of those eating or sleeping in the apart
ment. Very few realize how important
such purification is for the health of the
family, or, indeed, understand or realize
that there can be any impurity in the
rooms, yet in a few hours a pitcher of cold
water—the colder the better and more
effective—will make the air of the room
pure, but the water will be entirely unfit
for use. In bed-rooms a bucket or pitcher
of water should always be kept and chang
ed often if any one stays in the room dur
ing the day, and certainly be put in fresh
when the inmates retire. One should
never drink such water; if it is needed for
drink, use a - I
using water from a pump or reservoir for
drinking or cooking, one should pump or
draw out enough to clear the pipes before
using it, particularly in the morning, after
the water has been standing in the pipes
all night.
A CONSPICUOUS CARPET.
A room is badly furnished if the first
thing that strikes a person upon entering
it is the carpet, and modern taste is so far
educated that in well appointed homes one
is seldom called upon to admire a parterre
of brilliant flowers upon the drawing-room
carpets, or to tread upon trees whose
branches shelter humming birds. The
aesthetic movement has had one good result
in modifying scarlets and greens, and if
we are sometimes inclined to wish that the
favorite colors were a little less sombre, it
is a fault in the right direction, as far, at
any rate, as carpets are concerned. Neu
tral tints are to be preferred, and if the
walls are dingy, or there is any other rea
son for wishing to introduce a little bright
ness, the coloring should be in the border
of the carpet rather than in the center.
SOME QUESTIONS FOR HOUSE
KEEPERS.
How do you treat your household serv
ants? “None of my business.” But it is
yours; and for fear you should forget it, I
take the liberty to call your attention to it.
Are they overworked? underpaid? indif
ferently fed? Do you ever give them a
holiday? Do you ever give them a leis
ure evening? Do you remember that they,
like yourself, have fathers, mothers, sisters,
brothers, toward whom a good word or
kind action from you might be the pivot
upon which their whole life should turn,
for good or evil, joy or sorrow? Perhaps
some young girl among them, dependent
and oppressed, despondent and discour
aged, to whose side you might step, and to
whose heart you might bring that delicious
joy, the sense of protection, for the want of
which so many despairing feet turn astray
forever. None of my business? Make
it yours then; for a woman’s heart beats
in your kitchen—over your washtub, over
your ironing table, down in your cellar, up
in your garret. A kind word is such a
little thing to you—so much to her. Your
cup is so full, hers often so empty, so taste
less. And Love so wings the feet of Duty.
Think of it. Fanny Fern.
IS HOUSEKEEPING IGNOBLE?
This subject, like so many others that
make life enjoyable, is ever old and yet
ever new. Occupations are noble or ignoble
according to the manner of their handling.
In every vocation, knowledge, special
knowledge, is required. This thought, in
this wonderfully free America, is not suffi
ciently appreciated. It is a great joy to
feel a qualified fitness for whatever call
ing we engage in, and, in this New World,
where nothing but bare nature is found at
hand, and ten thousand things seem neces
sary to be done in a moment, we have in
some respects become superficial. It is so
with housekeeping. This is especially a
woman’s right, and the women, as well as
men, are ambitious to achieve something
at least new, if not great, and time is short,
so short, that too frequently the science of
housekeeping is looked upon as a drudgery
rather than a science.
In a thorough study of nature and human
nature, it is apparent that woman is in
tended for many fields, not one field simply;
yet it is equally apparent that the science
of housekeeping was designed to be
feminine and not masculine. The thought
then of how best to ennoble the idea,
or system of housekeeping, is to
regard and dignify it as a science, and es
pecially a woman’s science, and this will
create a pride and taste and popularity
that will make housekeeping in every in
stance noble, and never ignoble nor menial.
LJCyia noblo, fvn€L tAiere 18
nothing more noble, and few things as
much so as housekeeping, which is made
so by its being surpassed in its importance
and value to general comfort and health
by no other science extant. Our object
being to prove conclusively that house
keeping is not ignoble, there is no clearer
way than to present the subject in its true
light, and this light is purely scientific.
Where the ability exists to employ do
mestic help, the necessity for a scientific
understanding of the work cannot be ex
cused on the part of the landlady. It
should be regarded as an accomplishment
as well as an art and a science. Fortu
nately for the convenience of man this
new view is rapidly growing. There is no
knowledge more important than a practi
cal knowledge of cooking, still, even this
art is too much slighted.
As agriculture is yet pursued by far, too
unscientifically, so the indoor work of the
household continues slow in showing signs
of happy progress. The care of the sick
largely comes under our title.
As a man is expected to be easy and at
home in the drawing room and counting
room alike, so the woman should oscillate
between the parlor and kitchen with an
ease and grace in a manner so captivating
as to be really queenly. We are not of
those who would inveigh against fashion,
for in the department of ornament there is
an example in nature superior to anything
which art can ever equal, and which is so
enjoyable, permanently enjoyable, that
fashion has ground enough for its exis
tence. When the science of home duties is
sufficiently dignified there will no lenger
be danger of being carried away by fashion.
As life becomes to be guided and con
trolled more and more by scientific knowl
edge, it will be more orderly, and order is
economy.
Those who have the most system have
the most leisure. System and a duly en
lightened understanding, make more sav
ing and less waste. Right knowledge also
makes every natural ingenuity more avail
able. Man is a three-fold being—spiritual,
mental and physical, and while the science
of housekeeping is not expected to furnish
all that is demanded by these different
natures, there is a limited degree in which
some knowledge of the demands of each is
required. All of the sciences are of such a
social disposition that some knowledge of
each is almost indispensible to a perfect
success in either separately. The more
systematically housekeeping is understood
the more heartily will the work of it be
enjoyed. While it might seem to have the
effect of creating monotony by increasing
system, the very reverse is the result.
Also it sweetens temper and cheers the
disposition.
All the virtues of life are not centered
in the single subject of housekeeping, but
it is not extravagant to say that they com
mence here.
A DAINTY SLEEPING CHAMBER.
The satin wall-paper is a delicate pink
ground, strewn with tiny brown rose buds,
and leaves so connected as to have the
appearance of a dainty straying vine. A
deep border, of a rich brown with a dash
of pink, is headed with a gilt moulding
having small movable hooks for pictures.
The wood-work is painted pink and drab ;
base board drab, moulded edge pink ; all
the panels drab, and casings and mould
ings shades of pink and drab, the wood
bordering on the paper a darker shade of
pink than its ground color. Brussels carpet
dark brown ground, largely covered with
small figures in Chinese patterns in shades
of pink and drab, handsome border corres
ponding in style and colors. The broad
windows are curtained with pink sateen,
over which hang lace curtains, suspended
on heavy gilded rings—on a heavy gilded
rod, finished at the ends by arrows, so that
the curtains, parting in the middle, can be
thrown by a touch entirely off the window.
The furniture consists of seven pieces, each
painted in delicate shades of pink and drab,
i panels all drab, main body of all the pieces
pink. The bed, for instance, has running
over the pink moulding of the foot and
head boards a delicate vine-work of trail
ing arbutus; the panel at the foot a bunch
of field daisies; two panels at the head,
the larger, a mixed bouquet, consisting -of
pink and white fuchias and sprays of mig
nonette and smilax, the lesser, a spray of
mignonette and a few sweet peas, pink and
white. All kinds of delicate flowers, like
lily-of-the-valley, snow-drops, forget-me
nots and pinks; on the rails bands and
simulated panels. The bed is furnished
with a white lace spread and pillow shams,
lined with pink silisia. Shield back of
washstand the same. Toilet ware of pink
and white china. Cushion of pink satin,
on which is painted in water colors a bunch
of pansies; a ruching of quilled ribbon,
pink satin, is placed around it, with a dain
ty bow on one side. A glass bottle of
good size is covered with drab satin, the
upper edge fringed and gathered at the
top so as to set up around the neck of
the bottle, and drawn and sewed securely
at the bottom; a bunch of flowers to match
the cushion. An elegant ground glass stop
per heightens the effect. A few choice
paintings on the walls and a quaintly fig
ured cream-colored china basket suspended
at the parting of the curtains and filled
with white and blue lobelia, falling like a
mist around, add the finishing grace to this
most complete and charming apartment.
There is a big, sleepy, hollow chair and
foot-rest, a desk on which stands a bust of
Poyche in marble, a dainty little table on
which is a large lamp, pink and white with
a globe of immense size, white, with a moss
rose and bud painted on it. The mantel
has a beautiful clock, bronze and gilt, then
a small silver vase, full of flowers, winter
and summer; a little ornament or two of
costly make, and a tiny fancy box in which
is a shoe and glove buttoner, pearl and sil
ver, a small pen-knife and a gold pencil.
Would it not be an elegant occupation for
a lady to decorate her own house and fur
niture with her own hands and brush?
Belle. i
CHEERFULNESS.
“ It can so impress the mind
With quietness and beauty and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Nor greeting where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of common life
Can e’er prevail against it, or destroy
Our cheerful faith that all which we behold
Is full of blessings.”
****«•■»
“This unclouded atmosphere of the mind,
is, perhaps, the most precious gift with
which humanity has been endowed. It
outlives youth and strength and beauty;
although not hope, for that ever attends
the cheerful; nor love, which is a portion
of their being. And some there are, the
darlings of nature, who seem to have been
born cheerful. ‘ A star danced at their
birth.’ ”
An imaginative writer, in his eulogy
upon this beautiful virtue and its posses
sors, says: “The thunder-cloud over their
heads never darkens the comforting vision
of the sunlight beyond. The hard prob
lems which puzzle sadder intellects, never
perplex their faith or crush their energies,
for with an insight like unto instinct, they
are let into the secret of that sacred alchemy
by which patience transmutes calamities
into Wisdom and power.” * * *
Yet, as by far the greater portion of man
and womankind are less richly gifted with
this “sweet grace of nature,” can that felic
ity of disposition be acquired? Assuredly.
Observe the loveliness of the cheerful-tem
pered and the charm'which seems to radi
ate arqund them, “making sunshine in a
shady place.” Endeavor, oh, seeker after
happiness, to resemble these, and if you
only secure immunity from the many little
frets and trials of daily life, your labor will
not have been in vain !
Even Cai-lyle, whose nature was less
rugged than his thorough earnestness
would imply, sincerely advocated this
sweet and gracious quality. “ Wondrous,”
he asserts, “is the strength of cheerfulness;
altogether past calculation the power of its
endurance. Efforts, to be permanently
useful, must be uniformly joyous, a spirit
all sunshine, peaceful from very gladness,
beautiful because bright.”
Nor is it merely the holiday making and
playtime cheerfulness that we desire. ’Tis
easy to wear this aspect when our brows
are wreathed with roses, and our hearts are
gladdened by the song and music of the
fete. Wait till the work-a-day afterward,
and see the contrast between one who was,
perchance, the ball-room belle, now weary
and languid, and another who, if regarded
less brilliant by society, is blest with that
sweet home spirit of usefulness which lends
dignity to labor and makes our duties
light.
Study, then, this charm of cheerfulness,
which throws sunlight on all the paths of
life, in Charles Swain’s words:
A charm to banish grief away,
To smooth the brow of care,
Turn tears to smiles, make dullness gay,
Spread gladness everywhere.
And yet ’tis cheap as summer-dew
That gems the lily’s breast;
A talisman for love, as true
As ever man possessed. —C. A.
The King of the Belgians has given the
Sultan of Morocco a railroad. It has been
laid in the park sunounding the imperial
palace at Mequinez, and was lately opened
with some pomp. The railway has been
purposely laid with several sharp curves
and steep gradients, byway of showing
the Moors the wonderful things that steam
can do. The saloon carriage, of which, in
addition to the engine, tender and guard’s
van, the rolling stock consists, is elaborate
ly decorated and upholstered in a style
which, although somewhat bizarre to the
European eye, was thought to be suitable
to the taste of a Moorish Sultan. Muley
Hassan did not dare to trust himself in the
strange conveyance on the opening day,
but he made some of his male relations
and ministers take several trips and re
count to him their experiences, which
seemed to be thoroughly satisfactory.