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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1875 edition. Excerpt: ...ball alley of time along with a thousand other productions of uselessness, cropped from the beery brains of the senile fogyisra of the mediaeval ages, or whether it didn't, is a matter for the investigation and speculation of those who may have the time and patience to devote to the solving of this mysterious problem. It is sufficient to know that the evil has an unquestioned existence; that it is in the habit of blooming annually, but sometimes (such is human depravity) more frequently, and that it cannot even be classed under the head of that species of wrongs that may be committed in order that good may result. It has been argued with that tenacity for which advocates of soap and water are famous, that it is a matter of necessity that a house should thoroughly be cleansed at least once a year (implying thereby that the oftoner it is done the better); that the attrition of the dust, and the presence of moths in the carpets, if allowed to remain and multiply, would soon blot out the beautiful figures and colors forever; that the walls would become so blackened as to offend the eye of even the most careless observer; that the enamel upon the furniture would disappear; that the stoves would present a piebald appearance disagreeable to behold; that fever would lurk in every crevice and corner. The same arguments are also urged on the score of economy. Now, is this so? Is it cheaper to attack a carpet with dismantled broomsticks, breaking the meshes of the worsted, tearing the fingers with hidden tacks that cling to the edges with pertinacious energy, and so give your heart's best blood in defence of a principle, than to allow the carpet to remain quietly upon the floor and gradually pass down into a cherished, and fading old age, and, by careful...
