Sometimes starch will stick and coat the irons. In such a case, it is an assistance to sponge the starched pieces all over lightly with cold water and a clean cloth, and to scrape the irons thoroughly and rub them with beeswax. If, after this, the starch is still unmanageable, rinse the clothes in clear water, and if they are then too limp stiffen them with cold starch. This really takes no more time and strength than struggling to iron sticky clothes; it also prevents garments from being torn, which is an invariable part of the vexation and anxiety occasioned by starch which sticks. A sentence containing two words like vexation and anxiety may not be allowed to end a chapter. I will put here, instead, that well-worn reproach of housework, that it is ephemeral--work done merely to meet passing necessities. For this reproach is a great source of contentment in the work. Most thankfully I can remind myself that things over which I could cry with weariness to-night will not exist to-morrow; most thankfully I realize that this day's work is only one of hundreds like it, and in all those days, even I can learn to do the work acceptably. XIV HOUSE CLEANING JOKES about house cleaning have somewhat decreased in number, which makes one hopeful that the miseries of house cleaning have also decreased. Certainly there has been an earnest effort on the part of many housekeepers to make the performance an inconspicuous piece of work instead of an orgy. House cleaning is of two classes: that which is done when the house is continuously occupied, and that which is done when a house is opened or closed after a season of absence or of occupation. For either class, a careful preparation removes half the difficulties and for both ample time should be allowed. One should especially beware while house cleaning of what Bishop Hall calls the "lust of finishing." Try to clean only as much each day as can be put back into habitable order by the time the men of the household come home. One room a day is all a woman unaided should try to do. Mankind are pleased to make jokes about house cleaning and glad am I that they can take it that way, for really it is a trial of character to come home tired and hungry and find the house cold, the rooms in disorder and a picnic supper spread in the kitchen by an overwrought wife. Preparation for either class of house cleaning includes, for one thing, a decision as to what renewals and repairs are to be made. Painting, papering, floor renovation, carpet and wall cleaning, upholstering and whitewashing are all matters to be decided before the cleaning begins, that they may not conflict, and that those which make dirt and litter may be done before the actual cleaning of the rooms.