FILLING IN THE CHINKS

New Zealand Tablet, 7 December 1911, Page 2501

FILLING IN THE CHINKS

‘I? Oh, I just fill in the chinks.’ The girl laughed as she said it, but her mother added quickly: The . chinks are everything. You haven’t the slightest idea what a help she is, and what a load it lifts from my shoulders, this “ filling in the chinks ” . as she calls it.’ The busy woman spoke warmly as she smiled happily at her daughter. ‘You see, when she was through school, there didn’t seem to be anything definite for her to do. Her father and I wanted her at home, for awhile at least, before she undertook to go out into the world. ' Our one servant does all the heavy work, of course, and I am kept pretty busy with the children, and so she looked around and noticed the little things that should be done to keep a home neat and orderly, and which a servant never does, and I have very little time for. The "left-overs” 1 always called them— Oh, but it is a comfort to have them all done.’ ’ And what are they?’ I asked of the girl as she sat pulling out the edges of a lace mat and making it 9 look fresh and fluffy. ' b ‘ Oh, I don’t know,’ she answered, f there are so many of them and such little things, you know.’ She spoke almost apologetically. ‘Let me see. Well, I began in the parlor, of course. All girls do at first. There were some little silver vases that were seldom shined. I kept these bright, and the silver on the afternoon tea-table. You have no idea how much it tarnishes. And the little cups always dusted, and the dollies fresh and clean, and the tidies..also. Really, that is a -work by itself and mother used never to have time. Then the picture moulding. The brass hook that holds the -picture cord was never dusted. I kept those clean, ■ ‘ Then in the bedrooms, I look out that fresh towels are on the bureau and stand,, and that the hair receivers are not jammed full. *•

It is really too funny the way I found them packed when I first began. And the soap dishes clean; and fresh soap when it is needed, and dusters in their bags, and waste baskets emptied— yes, and buttons sewed on the shoes. I believe I sew on half a dozen every day. • I go over the house daily, in the morning, right after the children are sent to school. I begin by picking up the things they have diopped, and putting them in their proper places. ‘Then I go into the library, sharpen the pencils that need it, fill the ink well, see that the pens in the penholders are' good, the blotting pad not too old, the waste basket empty; then I go through the other rooms, and if you’ll believe me, I always find something to be done, something aside from the regular work of cleaning up, sweeping, or bed-making—these belong to the girl to do. ‘ You see I only do the little things that get left for the general cleaning or neglected altogether. It is pleasant and helps —at least mother says it does.’ " J Yes, said the mother, ‘ and no one else knows what a difference, it makes to have those "chinks filled.” ’ —Good Housekeeping.