"Mother often tells Aunt Hetty," said I, "to dip the end of the broom in
a pail of water in which she has poured a little ammonia--a teaspoonful
to a gallon. The ammonia takes off the dust, and refreshes the colors
wonderfully. We couldn't keep house without it," I finished, rather
proudly.

"Did you bring some from home?" asked Marjorie, looking hurt.

"Why, of course not! I asked your mother, and she gave me the bottle,
and told me to take what I wanted."

"A little coarse salt or some damp tea-leaves strewed over a carpet
before sweeping adds ease to the cleansing process," said Mrs. Downing,
appearing on the scene and praising us for our thoroughness. "The reason
is that both the salt and the tea-leaves being moist keep down the light
floating dust, which gives more trouble than the heavier dirt. But now
you will all be better for a short rest; so come into my snuggery, and
have a gossip and a lunch, and then you may attack the enemy again."

"Mrs. Downing, you are a darling," exclaimed Lois, as we saw a platter
of delicate sandwiches, and another of crisp ginger cookies, with a
great pitcher of milk. "We didn't know that we were hungry; but now that
I think about it, I, for one, am certain that I could not have lived
much longer without something to supply the waste of my failing cellular
tissue."

"I think," replied Mrs. Downing, "that we would often feel much better
for stopping in our day's work to take a little rest. I often pause in
the middle of my morning's work and lie down for a half-hour, or I send