The House Cleaning Mania

"I would rather live in tho dirt up t.i my knees," said Mr. Varron, as lio carne home one day in the dead of winter, and found everything " topsy-turvey " with houseclcaning "Itwou'd be preferable to sueh a f'Jss uvery othor weak the year around." "Well, if I had sucli a refined taste, I would not speak of it," said bis wife, putting on quite iin injured air. " It is all the thiiiiks we ever get for trying to keep things decent. You know 1 nevep eleau house oftener thau once in three montlis." " I only know the carpets are always up," said Mr Warren, persisteutly. " I Buppose it saves but one miglit better have none at all as far as I can see." ''Are you so wise as to suppose tbat things can all be taken up and put down the sarao day ? You know I have a very large house to go over." "I ouly wish it covered an acre of ground. Thon it could be cleaned by quarter sections, aud the family might tnigratc to tho-e parts not delugcd, whilc the rest was being soused.:' Mis. Warren was accustomed to have her eflbrts for cleanliness looked upon wilh an unappreciative eye. So slie did uot condesceud to waste inoro words m endeavoring to impresa sucli stupid minds with a sense of il 8 advantages. Viees are said to be "only virtuea carried to an exeess," nd certainly Mrs. Wurren's uetness liad become u positivo vice. The family had never auy assurance'Hhat they wcre ' settled down," for the next fly that traveled aerosa the oeüitig might turn thein all out of thcir confortable quarters The cliildrcn had no particular rooms for themselvcs, Jbut al ways slept in somo in one that happened not to be " under water." ïhe boys, afas, learned very early to üke the street better than a home so eheerless, where they wcre constantly cautio'ied and repritnanded about making dirt, or disarranging souiething. Tliev did rot, possess the respect for their (nother which they might, liad they been accustomed to see her neatly attired, I with a smile and a cheerful word for them when they entercd their home. Taateful orderly dress tells poweifully on the forming miuds of children. The irnpressions they receive now with regard to their mother will go down to the gi-ave with them, Mrs Warreu's house keeping mania left her little time or opportunity for attending especially to her own personal appearance, and not unfrequently she made tea for her family in the soiled morning dress she had uot taken time to chango. Such a course, persisted in, will do a creat deal towards alieuating the affectioüs of the m st devoted husband, and such habita grow with added years. It is stratige that one so neat in regard to" her carpets and wiudows should be so uutidy with respect to herself; but it is quite common where the "vice" of neatness exists. The "virtue" of eleanliness consists in such a neat ordorly arrangement of the house as shall promote the comfort and good hea-lth of the family. When these are systcmatically sacrificed the virtue ceases. I know good uouse keepers who manage so cloverly to clean house in the spring and fall, that no one is discotnuioded by it, so quietly is it all carried on. All the rooms are not put into con fusión at once, but only one is tuken at i time. So the members of tho family who are not engajred in the work, n;ay have a safe assyluln from the storm, ind not bo eompeiled to wish, as Mrs. War ren's children sometimos did, that they ''lived in a eomfortable log cabin with bare floors." "I presume, theii," said unappreciative Dick, "that mother would pull up the boards to scrub the other sk!e." A home where neatneBB, comfort and a sunny atmosphere prevails is indeed a bleesed spot, to which the mind turns back with loving remembrance as we plod life's dusty highw;iy. Oh, leave your ehildren this legacy, if you hiive no treasures of gold to fjive them. It will prove a richer blessing all through life's journey. "There is no cap'tal to begin life with," says a practiele writcr, "that cutí eqaal a sunshiuy childhood."