she had done all the halls. However, she put away the oil and
cloth and floor-brush, and, setting the front door open to let the air
come in and dry the wood and carry away the odor of the oil, she dusted
the rest of the halls with her ordinary dust-cloth, wiping the tops of
the pictures well, and the hall table and chair, which Bridget helped
her put back. They brought in the step-ladder, too, so that Margaret
could get to the chandelier and the top of the doors, and wipe these off
thoroughly.

The vestibule had been swept and dusted early in the morning, and there
was nothing to do outside, but the glass in the front door looked dingy,
and Margaret wiped it off with a clean, damp cloth and polished it with
the chamois duster and shook out the lace which hung over it, and dusted
the edges of the glass and the wood of the door. Then she ran and got
the rugs and spread them down, and called her mother to come and see how
beautiful the halls looked.

"Beautiful! I should think so, indeed!" her mother exclaimed. "I could
not have done the work better myself. What made you think of the glass
in the door? I forgot to tell you about that."

"Oh," said Margaret, "I pretended I was a new maid, and that you were
showing me all about the work, and first I said to myself, 'Next, Mary
Jane, the front door,' and then I was Mary Jane, and did the front
door, you see!"

Her mother smiled. "Well, certainly, Mary Jane does her work
thoroughly," she said. "I am sure I shall keep her. Now if you are not
tired we will do the parlors."

These two rooms took all the rest of the Saturday morning lesson. The
window-curtains and portieres were pinned up and put into bags, long,
loose ones, which kept them off the floor and out of the dust, but did
not muss them. They dusted the piano and large sofa and covered them
with strong sheets. They wiped off the book-shelves, and tucked
newspapers in and out until all the books were entirely covered and
protected. They brushed off the cushions of the chairs with a
whisk-broom as they had the sofa, and wiped their woodwork, and then
carried them into the dining-room; the sofa-pillows were shaken and
beaten and put there also. All the ornaments on the tables and mantels,
and the lamps, were wiped and put on the dining-room table.

When the rooms were as empty as possible they shut the doors and
sprinkled bran on the carpets just as though they were sewing garden
seeds, which Margaret thought was gr