——

28

DOMESTIC MANNEBS OF THE TEÜSSIANS.

every week. Moreover, wo sliould, by such means, avoid thecold vapour-bath that an Englishman is obliged to submit toupon cleaning-days, and be no longer required to sleep inrooms the boards of which had that morning been soddenedwith wet, and from which an impcrceptible mist must continueto rise for, at least, a day or two afterwards.

Still, some may think it a debatable matter as to whetherthe French-polishing plan be preferable to the English-scrub-bino; method of house-cleanin»;.

Nevertheless, there cannot be any dispute as to the Rhenishmodo having all the sloppy inconveniences of the Englishwithout any of its cleanliness. A Prussian " braves Mädchen "(maid-servant), when she thinks it requisite to clean theboards of your rooms, dips a cloth into a pail of water, andtwisting the wet rag round the end of a broom, proceeds tosmudge the planks over with it, so that any dirt or dust thatis on the floor is rubbed indelibly into it — for no provioussweeping has removed it thcnce. Even the stairs, commonto the whole house, are never scrubbed from year's end toyear's end, but merely smeared occasionally over with amoist cloth, while the stone passages are cleaned with a hardbrush at the end of a long handle—" hearth-stoning " bcinga process of which the Rhenish housewives are supremclyignorant, and whitened doorsteps and passages never seen inthe land. Indeed the staircase of the house in which welodged—uncarpeted and filthy as it was — coxdd have found aparallel only in a common lodging-house in St. Giles's.

The above-described muddling, slobbery mode of cleansingis practised, it sliould be added, only upon such parts of therooms as are unencumbered by furniture; for your " bravegirl" (braves Mädchen) takes care not to overheat herseif bymoving any table, chair, or sofa, that may be in her waywhile engaged in the Operation, but smears her nasty damp

■