Simplicity In Living

Simplicity in LIVING 

"I am about to lecture before our club on the subject of simpler living," remarked Mrs. Up to Date. 

"Dear me!" exclaimed little Mrs. Housekeeper. "I wish I could make it work! I have so much to do. I can hardly snatch a moment to pay you people a call."

"And yet there are only three of you, and your house is small! What would you do if you had to change places with me?" Mrs. Largefamily sighed. 

"You may think my responsibilities don't amount to anything," put in Miss Bachelorgirl, "but between my invitations and my charities and magazine articles I write in order that I may eke out my income and the dresses and hats I evolve in order that I may present a decent appearance on the said income I assure you my life is a burden. At times I am worried to death. Oh, by all means let's hear about simpler living!"

"Its one of the crying needs of the age. I can tell you that," returned Mrs. Up to Date. "Charles Wagner says, 'Nothing is simple any longer--neither thought nor action nor pleasure; not even dying.' And he is right. Time to think is what we need--time to read, to improve ourselves, to enjoy the real things of life."

"I'd like to know how you're going to do that when you have a whole house to take care of and haven't that means to keep an army of servants," retorted Mrs. Housekeeper indignantly. "I like things artistic, too, but it takes a lot of trouble to keep them just so."

"Then don't have so many of them. that master of interior decoration, William Morris, used to say, 'Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful,' and he was wont to advocate the simplest possible furnishings in a room. It is the bric-a-brac, the tortured moldings and chair legs, the heavily carpeted floors and the clumsy upholstered furniture that waste all the housekeeper's time and energy. Simple lines in furniture and decoration are far more artistic, even leaving out of consideration their practical qualities. Study the empire rooms, with their plain, beautifully tinted walls, their hardwood floors and their few pieces of furniture, each piece being chosen for its simple elegance, and then turn your eyes back on our own overcrowded museums of rooms"--

"So much for the housekeeping end of it, bt what if you have a whole lot of children?" interrupted Mrs. Largefamily. 

"Bring them up simply. Dress them sensibly--plain little frocks of good, durable materials, which can be run up by a family seamstress and which don't need tiresome frills or accessories. Give them wholesome food, teach them to enjoy nature, books, simple amusements. When you have rearranged their mode of life, you will find your own much easier. The trouble with modern youngsters is that they are miniature men and women, and its all this extra fuss which wears out the parents lives."

"And where do I come in?" laughed Miss Bachelorgirl. 

"You know, Dotty, you really ought to buy fresh white chiffon for the yoke of that gown you are wearing," was the lecturer's unexpected reply. 

"Oh, I know! Isn't it a disgrace?" replied Miss Bachelorgirl lightly, but she flushed nevertheless and hid it with the front of her expensive fur coat. "The fact is, my dear girl, it'll have to go that way for another week or so. I'm broke. I've just bought a dear of a pearly gray tulle boa, and my last article was refused. I sat up until 2 in the morning writing it too!"

Mrs. Up to Date smiled. 

"A plain, well fitting tailor made a smart, serviceable hat, good gloves, good shoes, a well made stock, the body clothed artistically and durably at comparatively small cost, peace of mind and pocket money to go to lectures, musicals, the theater, to buy new books--in a word, to feed one's soul; time to think also," she suggested softly. MAUD ROBINSON