Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1887 — Dirt on the Mind. [ARTICLE]

Dirt on the Mind.

“Recollections of my Mother, ” by Susan T. Lesley, gives an interesting picture of life in Northampton fifty years ago. The mother was Mrs. Lyman, famous for her hospitality and her devotion to reading. Here is a suggestive bit for housekeepers: “One day a friend came in who had just visited Mrs. , who was one of the exquisite kousekeepers. She began to tell my mother about the perfect condition of that house from garret to cellar, and rang the changes on the brightness of the brasses, the admirable shine of the glass and silver, the entire absence of dust on every carpet. My mother stood it just as long as she could, though fidgeting uneasily in her chair. Then she exclaimed: ‘I think Mrs. is the d rtiest person I ever saw in my life!’ ‘Oh, Mrs. Lyman, what can you mean ?’ cried the friend. ‘What I say is true,’ said my mother, bringing down her hand with muchTforce on the table. ‘From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same that woman’s mind is on dirt, the live leng day. Now, I would rather see mere of it on the carpet and less of it on her mind.’” —Boston Record.