apple barrel. "When the inundation comes, barrel-hoops, wash-tnbs, 

 turnips, onions and apples are loosed from their resting places and 

 lioat upon, or sink beneath the surface of the water. Accidents 

 happen to the milk, pork and vinegar. When the water subsides, 

 it is spring time, and the decaying cabbage, potatoes and onions 

 lend their disagreeable odors to those of the gases escaping from the" 

 damp soil. 



The clothes line hangs across the yard in the rear of the house 

 and a woman pins a light shawl over her head, goes in a heated 

 condition from the steaming wash-tub to the snowy pathway and 

 with the wet clotlies stiffening in her fingers hangs them on the line 

 to freeze harder before drying. The, result on many occasions is a 

 disagreeable cold from which she hardly recovers before the next 

 wash day. 



Unused parlor and " spare^^ room.. — The parlor, always closed, 

 is musty and damp. The little sleeping room adjoining is used 

 only for the occasional guest who shivers between the sheets and is 

 kept awake by the smell of must and disused bedding. The rooms 

 are filled with bric-a-brac and heavy draperies which serve as a 

 lodging place for dust. An ingrain carpet covers the floor. It was 

 bought in the earlier days when carpeting was of better quality and 

 the colors are bright and the figure large. The housekeeper religi- 

 ously stirs up the dust on the sw^eeping day only removing it from 

 its resting place of the week before to allow it to settle in new 

 spots. 



The children hug the sheet iron heater during the evening with 

 backs cold and faces warm and dread going to their sleeping rooms 

 where the snow drifts in, if the rooms are ventilated, and where 

 they lie awake shivering until they " warm the bed " or sleep makes 

 them forget they are cold. • 



There are many dark corners and dark closets where dangerous 

 dirt has accumulated and where mice and moth escape the eye of 

 the most diligent housekeeper. The space underneath the kitchen 

 sink is encased with boards and it is difficult to clean around the 

 pipes. Dirt and damp have full sway and one is reminded of the 

 old expression " Where daylight cannot enter the doctor must." 



500 



