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will be advised by her, she will put you upon such a method of doing every thing about your house, as will soon give it a very different appearance.
Mrs Mason did indeed feel herself very uncom-
fortable amidst so much disorder and filth—and was determined to effect a change if possible. It was with much difficulty she could obtain from Mrs MacClarty the assistance of Grizzy, to make her own appartment comfortable: the stout girl fell to work, and when the lower vallence was removed, it dis- played a scene most extraordinary;—a hoard of the remains of the old shoes that had ever been worn by any member of the family; staves of broken tubs, ends of decayed ropes, and other articles all covered with blue mould and dust.
Mrs Mason perceiving what an unpleasant task she
should be obliged to impose on her assistant, deemed herself in justice bound to recompense her for her trouble; and, holding out half a half-crown piece, told her, that if she performed all she required of her, it should be her own. No sooner was Grizzy made certain of the reward, than she proceeded to wash the bed posts with soap and water. After which the chairs, the tables, the clock-case, the very walls of the room, as well as every thing it contained, all underwent a complete cleaning.
The window, in which were nine tolerably large panes of glass,
was no sooner rendered transparent, than Grizzy cried out in ecstacy. “that she coud’na have thought it would have made sic a change. Dear me! how heartsome it looks now, to what it use’t!” said the girl, her spirit rising in proportion to the exertion of her activity,
“And in how short a time has it been cleaned?” said Mrs Mason.
“Yet had it been regularly cleaned once a-week, as it ought to have been, it would have cost far less trouble. By the labour of a minute or two, we may keep it constantly bright; and surely few days pass in which so much time may not be spared. Let us now go to the kitchen window, and make it likewise clean. Grizzy with alacrity obeyed. But before the window could be approached, it was found necessary to remove the heap of dusty articles piled up in the window sill, which served the purpose of family library, and reposi- tory of what is known by the term odds and ends.
