shaken and "whipped" (they deserve it) two or three times a year, and
swept, maybe, every day. The shaking is very well, but though it seems
neater to sweep them, yet for actual cleanliness of the whole room,
carpet and all, I suppose it would be better at the end of six months
if they were swept--not once! For whatever can be removed from a
carpet by ordinary sweeping is comparatively clean and harmless,--that
which sinks out of sight and remains is unclean and poisonous.

[Illustration: DUST TO DUST.]

There are two ways of lessening the evil without exterminating the
cause. One is to shut the room, never using or opening it, except for
the spring and fall cleaning; the other is to lay the carpet in such
way that it may be taken up and relaid without demoralizing the entire
household. Talk about the carpets fitting the rooms; there should be a
margin of two feet--a few inches, more or less, is unimportant--at
each side. Then if you have a handsome floor, the carpet becomes a
large rug--no matter how elegant--that may be removed, cleansed, and
put back again every morning if you like. You may fancy a border of
wood either plain or ornamental, the surface of which shall be level
with the top of the carpet. This is easily made, either by using
thicker boards around the edges or by laying wood carpeting over the
regular floor. One caution concerning fancy floors; don't make them
too fanciful. We don't like to feel that we're treading under foot a
rare work of art, and I've seen certain zigzag patterns which merely
to look at fairly makes one stagger. Thresholds are on the floor,
but not of them, nor of anything else, for that matter, and though
somewhat useful in poetry, are often provoking stumbling-blocks in
practice. Necessary at times, doubtless, but we have far too many and
too much of them. Even where rooms are carpeted differently they are