In all human probability George Eliot was not thinking of carpet buying, or anything whatever relating to spring cleaning and refurnishing, when she wrote these lines : " 'Tis an assured good to seek the noblest. 'Tis your only good now you have seen it ; for that higher vision poisons all meaner choice for evermore ; " and yet they flashed into niy mind as I stood in the carpet room of a large store the other day watching the different buyers. I was particu- larly interested in one. customer, a young woman with a thoughtful, refined face, and with all the little evidences which assured one of her good taste and fine instincts. It was interesting to see her hesitate over the different grades of carpet and then give a determined little shake of her head as she settled the question, and, with Axminster and body Brussels staring her in the face, asked in a moderately loud tone for a low-priced ingrain. It is true, I believe, that the more self-respect a woman has the more intense TALKS UPON VARIOUS SUBJECTS 127 is the inner consciousness that the best there is is not too good for her, and a happy, sweet-natured woman who knows a great deal may. wonder why these things do not gravitate to her. It may require an effort of which she is abnost ashamed to choose as she ought ; indeed, she is quite ashamed when she says to herself that it is all she can afford to have, and that she ought to be content to think that she isn't obliged to patch and turn the old one this year, as she did last, and that she needn't burden her memory, and always when the door-bell rings pull the big chair over a particularly bad place in it ! I fancied that this woman went to her home satisfied with the new carpet, which, though not very handsome, yet was fresh and pretty, and in keeping with the other appointments of the roomi for which it was intended. Happy, indeed, is she if she is con- tent to regulate all her expenditure by this simple rule : To have only what she can afford to have 1 There is a ^^ higher vision " even in carpet buying. DRESS IN THE KITCHEN. " Our Elizabeth looks pretty fine when she comes out on the street in the afternoon, but you ought to see her in the morning in the kitchen and around the house." So said a terrible old man, who was a friend of Elizabeth's family, to a young man who aspired to be something more than a friend to the girl. It was true that the young man, seeing her only in the afternoon or evening, in silk attire, and with glossy braids of golden hair, would hardly have recognized her in the carelessly-dressed girl who ran to hide herself if she heard the door-bell ring, and who did not dare present herself at window or door in the morning. The time consumed in concealing herself was sufficient to have made an elaborate toilet in, not counting the mortifi- cation she sometimes endured. She was not untidy either in a personal sense, but was simply negligent and careless. 128 nOUSEUOLD HINTS. There was not the least need of it ; indeed, it has always seemed as if Cinderella herself might have kept out of the ashes even if she was obliged to stay in the kitchen and to work. To look well while about house-work is worth while. A neat calico dress, short enough to clear the floor, smoothly brushed hair, a clean collar, and a plentiful sup- ply of aprons, are all within the reach of any woman, and I maintain that she will do her work better, and feel more like doing it, if so prepared for it. "Dress, indeed," says Mr. Boswell in his superior tone, "we must allow has more effect upon strong minds than one should suppose having had the experience of it." A KITCHEN MOTTO.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

In all human probability George Eliot was not thinking of carpet buying, or anything whatever relating to spring cleaning and refurnishing, when she wrote these lines : " 'Tis an assured good to seek the noblest. 'Tis your only good now you have seen it ; for that higher vision poisons all meaner choice for evermore ; " and yet they flashed into niy mind as I stood in the carpet room of a large store the other day watching the different buyers. I was particularly interested in one. customer, a young woman with a thoughtful, refined face, and with all the little evidences which assured one of her good taste and fine instincts. It was interesting to see her hesitate over the different grades of carpet and then give a determined little shake of her head as she settled the question, and, with Axminster and body Brussels staring her in the face, asked in a moderately loud tone for a low-priced ingrain. It is true, I believe, that the more self-respect a woman has the more intense is the inner consciousness that the best there is is not too good for her, and a happy, sweet-natured woman who knows a great deal may. wonder why these things do not gravitate to her. It may require an effort of which she is almost ashamed to choose as she ought ; indeed, she is quite ashamed when she says to herself that it is all she can afford to have, and that she ought to be content to think that she isn't obliged to patch and turn the old one this year, as she did last, and that she needn't burden her memory, and always when the door-bell rings pull the big chair over a particularly bad place in it ! I fancied that this woman went to her home satisfied with the new carpet, which, though not very handsome, yet was fresh and pretty, and in keeping with the other appointments of the roomi for which it was intended. Happy, indeed, is she if she is content to regulate all her expenditure by this simple rule : To have only what she can afford to have 1 There is a ^^ higher vision " even in carpet buying. DRESS IN THE KITCHEN. " Our Elizabeth looks pretty fine when she comes out on the street in the afternoon, but you ought to see her in the morning in the kitchen and around the house." So said a terrible old man, who was a friend of Elizabeth's family, to a young man who aspired to be something more than a friend to the girl. It was true that the young man, seeing her only in the afternoon or evening, in silk attire, and with glossy braids of golden hair, would hardly have recognized her in the carelessly-dressed girl who ran to hide herself if she heard the door-bell ring, and who did not dare present herself at window or door in the morning. The time consumed in concealing herself was sufficient to have made an elaborate toilet in, not counting the mortification she sometimes endured. She was not untidy either in a personal sense, but was simply negligent and careless. There was not the least need of it ; indeed, it has always seemed as if Cinderella herself might have kept out of the ashes even if she was obliged to stay in the kitchen and to work. To look well while about house-work is worth while. A neat calico dress, short enough to clear the floor, smoothly brushed hair, a clean collar, and a plentiful supply of aprons, are all within the reach of any woman, and I maintain that she will do her work better, and feel more like doing it, if so prepared for it. "Dress, indeed," says Mr. Boswell in his superior tone, "we must allow has more effect upon strong minds than one should suppose having had the experience of it." A KITCHEN MOTTO.

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