Who wants to help clean house? Elsie, with her sweeping-cap on and her
new broom in her hand, says, "I." Susie, with her dancing eyes and her
dimpled cheeks, flies for the duster, and declares that she means to be
mamma's chief assistant. Jack and Tom, who are very strong, and like to
show what splendid muscles they have, are on the spot, ready to lift and
carry and do all they can to aid in the spring campaign.
House-cleaning is not the quietest work in the world, but it is work
that pays in the end; and good-natured people often find plenty of fun
in it.
Lost things often come to light in the May days, when everything is
brushed and beaten, pounded and shaken, washed and rubbed, polished and
painted, until the world puts on a new face. There was once a little
girl who said to a gentleman, in reply to his remark that it was a very
bright morning, "Yes, sir; mother washed the windows yesterday."
To return to the lost things, is it not pleasant to find them when they
have been out of sight for ever so long? For instance, the Postmistress
has a favorite paper-knife which came all the way from Japan. Some time
ago it mysteriously disappeared, and though hunted for in every
imaginable place, it could not be found. The other day, in
house-cleaning, it turned up suddenly. It had cozily tucked itself in
between the back of a sofa and the seat, and no doubt had laughed many a
time--that is, if a paper-knife can laugh--when it had heard its owner
wondering where it could possibly be. It would be a good plan for us
all, Postmistress and children, to adopt this old-fashioned rule: "A
place for everything, and everything in its place."
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