The Editor will gladly answer queries pertaining to individual problems of interior decoration and furnishing. When an immediate reply is desired, 
please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. 
Spring House Cleaning 
T ought to be the “good new days" 
when we think of the awful process 
called house cleaning that our grand¬ 
mothers or even our mothers went 
through—we needs must pity them. Every¬ 
thing torn up from attic to cellar, no¬ 
where to sit in peace, nowhere to rest 
one’s head, the bureau drawers turned to 
the wall, the beds pulled into odd places, 
the floors bare and splintery and wet, and 
over all the smell of yellow soap. No won¬ 
der the poor family thought, if this be 
cleanliness, then give me dirt! For a fran¬ 
tic, forlorn week or two this went on, and 
•then things settled down for another year. 
The worst thing about it all was that it 
was so often unnecessary, for the aver¬ 
age house then, as now, was kept clean 
all the time. It was considered, however, 
almost immoral not to do it, for carping 
neighbors would call one ’’slack,” and to 
be that was to be disgraced. 
Nowadays it is quite a different story. 
Women understand that there is no need 
of the tyranny of house cleaning, but that 
one must keep up the fight year in and 
year out. With all the modern household 
inventions it is not such a hard task as 
it sounds. Don't let things accumulate, 
thinking that some day you will look them 
all over and get rid of them. Do it in 
the beginning; it means an easier life for 
you, and also the things are more useful 
to the person to whom they are given. 
If what goes by the general name of 
“trash" once gets the better of you, you 
are lost. People in the clutches of the 
trash habit will look at a little piece of 
cloth with hungry eyes, and carefully put 
it back in the piece trunk for fear it may 
be needed for an iron holder some time in 
the future. Economy and common sense 
are needed in every house, but not trash. 
It is also a good plan to eliminate the sur¬ 
plus bric-a-brac as well as the things use¬ 
less or ugly. Banish them. It simplifies 
life and improves the appearance of the 
room. 
Of course in the spring all winter things 
have to be carefully put away from the 
ravages of moths. If the hangings are 
very handsome and heavy, so that sum¬ 
mer dust will spoil them, they should be 
packed away, and light summer ones 
should take their place. 
There is nothing so unhomelike as bare 
and staring windows, and to see the gen¬ 
tle blowing of a thin muslin curtain on a 
hot day makes one feel cooler. Summer 
rugs may take the place of valuable ori¬ 
ental ones, and the whole house can be 
given a charming summer air with very 
little trouble. Velour hangings should be 
rolled with the nap, not folded. One room 
should be done at a time, so there will 
never be a feeling of having things up- 
An attractive lighting fxture of dull brass 
or silver. Shades can be had to harmonize 
with the decorations 
set, even if painting and papering is to 
be done. By planning the cleaning and 
re-decorating, matters can be so arranged 
that the person turned out of a room can 
use the guest room, and things will con¬ 
tinue to go smoothly. A vacuum cleaner 
is one of the greatest helps in keeping a 
house clean that has ever been invented. 
It fairly eats up dust and dirt. There are 
many sizes of brushes and cleaners in the 
outfit, and they should be passed over walls 
and woodwork, the cracks in the floor, the 
books in the bookcases, the furniture, 
hangings, rugs, mattresses, pillows and 
cushions, all the out-of-the-way crooks 
and corners and last, but not least, one's 
own street clothes. It naturally will not 
take marks from paint, so that must be 
washed afterward, but there will be no 
dust to bother with. White paint should 
be washed with whiting, not soap. There 
are vacuum-cleaning companies in nearly 
all towns that will clean the entire house 
for one at a moderate cost, but a private 
cleaner of one's own is a far better plan. 
Two or three families could purchase one 
together and take turns in using it. 
If one still likes the feeling of spring 
house cleaning so much that one cannot 
get through the year without it, have it 
done in the simplest way possible. First 
of all have the furnace and the furnace 
pipes and chimneys all cleaned, and any 
part of the cellar that would make dust go 
through the house. After that is done 
begin at the attic and work down to the 
cellar again. This simple method saves 
a deal of work as no rubbish is carried 
through the already cleaned parts of the 
house. 
An Artistic Lighting Fixture 
N interesting and inexpensive electric 
light bracket is shown in the above 
illustration, the new feature involved be¬ 
ing the “candle holder,” or white cylinder 
with arms to support the shade. 
The candle holder is made of one piece 
of metal, the lower portion being finished 
in dull brass, silver or other metal color, 
to correspond with the fixture, and the 
upper part (or candle) in white or cream 
enamel. The holder can be set over the 
socket of any fixture or chandelier, and 
does not require the use of tools or any 
fastening. 
The shade shown is made of chintz, 
with gimp binding over wire frame, meas¬ 
uring about 5 inches in height, each 
shade requiring about one-sixth of a yard 
of material. 
(172) 
