n one."

They wet the cake of soap a little and rubbed the flannel on it and
scrubbed the mantel thoroughly, and then the hearth, rinsing them off
and wiping them dry afterward. They also wiped off the fireplace, using
a dry cloth here, too, for fear of rust, and then took a damp one to
wipe off the baseboard. If there had been a wood floor, that would have
had to be treated just as the halls had been--brushed up with the soft
brush, and wiped off with floor oil. And, her mother explained, if the
halls had been carpeted Margaret would have had to sweep them with the
broom and use the whisk in the corners and on all the stairs, one at a
time, carefully.

By this time there seemed to be no dust left in the air, so they wiped
the pictures off with a clean duster, especially on the top where
Bridget's duster sometimes failed to go. The sheets were taken off the
sofa and piano next, and they were lightly dusted again, "just to make
sure," Margaret said.

The piano keys proved to be very sticky, and in some spots there were
dark marks, as though a little girl had practised with unwashed
fingers,--though, of course, no little girl would really do such a
thing, the mother said. So Margaret got a little bottle of alcohol and a
flannel cloth and sponged off each key. If she had used water on the
ivory it would have made it yellow, but the alcohol did not injure it at
all.

The chairs were brought in after this, and the other things they had
carried out, and all arranged again. Some of the bric-a-brac was not
clean in spite of its dusting, and this had to be carefully washed in
warm water and wiped dry before it was put in place. "Anything but
soiled ornaments," her mother told the little girl. The curtains and
portieres were taken out of their bags and smoothed, and the bags and
sheets folded and put away till the next sweeping day. The parlors
looked beautifully fresh and orderly, but something seemed missing.
"Why, the palm!" Margaret said at length. "Bridget took it out this
morning for its bath and did not bring it back."

They found there had been no time for the bath yet, so Margaret and her
mother said they would attend to it. They wet the earth well, and while
the water drained off into a large pan they washed the leaves, using a
soft cloth dipped in a basin which held a cup of water and a cup of
milk.

"I did not know plants liked milk," said Margaret, as she helped sponge
the large leaves all over, the back as w