stand was finished, and the top wiped off with the white
cloth, the cloths were both washed out in the bathroom and put away,
with the soap. The towels were folded in the creases they had been
ironed in, and pulled into shape and rehung; the wash-cloth was wrung
dry and shaken out before it was hung up on the rack. The cake of soap
had been washed off in the bowl when that was washed, and it was now put
back in the clean dish. "Whatever you forget, Margaret, never forget to
wash off the soap!" her aunt warned her.

There seemed a good deal to do to make the room nice even after the bed
and wash-stand were done, for the closet was opened and everything taken
out and put on chairs around the room, and then put back. The dresses
had to be hung up by the loops on the skirt, and the waists which
matched hung each on the same hook with its own skirt by the loops at
the sleeves. The petticoats had to go by themselves in a separate part
of the closet, and the shoes were all put in pairs in the bag on the
door, instead of being left on the floor in piles. Margaret did not like
to do these things, but she had to admit that she could dress faster in
the morning when she knew just where everything was, and when she could
find mates to her shoes in just half a second, instead of having to take
a minute or more to hunt them in the corners of the closet on the floor.

Arranging the bureau was still worse than making the closet tidy. All
the drawers were emptied out, and everything sorted in heaps and put
away. Some pretty boxes without covers were brought from her aunt's
bureau and put in Margaret's upper drawer, one for gloves, one for
handkerchiefs, one for ribbons, so that everything should be where it
belonged, yet as soon as the drawer was opened one could see where
everything was. Underclothes were made into neat piles, and arranged in
the drawers below, one sort of thing in one pile and another in another,
and the stockings laid in a nice row, mates together, folded and tucked
in, ready to go on.

The top of the bureau had many pretty silver ornaments, but they were
dull and shabby, and Margaret had to get the silver polish and a bit of
chamois and make them shine before they could go on the fresh
bureau-cover the aunt put on, and she was given a bit of velvety stuff
to tuck in a corner of a drawer, ready to use every day or two, so they
would not grow dull again.

When all else was done they brushed up the floor, dusted ev