System Absolutely Necessary.
Every house certainly should have a thorough cleaning every year, that there may be a check put upon the accumulation of dust or dirt which might breed disease, even if no other reason influenced the housekeeper. This yearly cleaning need not be a season of discomfort to the family. If possible, a little extra help should be engaged; but even if this be out of the question, the work can be done in such a way that every one shall not be worn out by the time the cleaning is finished. Too much should not be attempted at once. If one room be taken at a time, and be finished before work is begun in another, the whole house can be cleaned without any great difficulty. It is always wise, if possible, to wait until the necessity for furnace or stove fires is past. If the house be heated by stoves, and there be some rooms in which a fire is needed only in the coldest weather, such rooms may be cleaned first, the stoves in the other rooms being removed later. There should be a perfect system in doing this work. Housekeepers differ in regard to the part of the house where the cleaning should begin, some starting with the attic and others with the cellar. Since the furnace must be cleaned some time, and dust may escape through the pipes into the various rooms above, it seems to me that the proper place to begin is down-stairs.