CHAPTER XXVIII.

HEALTH.

Purity of the air in our apartments. Purity of clothing-furniture-cellars-drains-wells, &c. Personal cleanliness. Its expense not to be considered. Various modes of exercise. Household labor. Exercise in the open air. Walking. Riding. Health, in our own keeping. Health of the husband. General remarks.

ALTHOUGH Several chapters in other parts of this work, especially those on Economy and Neatness, treat of health in many important points, yet I should leave my plan in a very unfinished state, if I should neglect to mention, under a general head, a few particulars which are not included elsewhere. The subject of bodily health, in itself, but more especially in reference to its connection. with mental health, is of too much consequence to the class of persons for whom this book is designed, to be lightly passed over.

And first, let me speak of the purity of the air in our apartments. Need I remind my reader that there are a thousand substances connected with every kitchen, which should be speedily removed,

or they may be a means of producing disease? Does she not know enough of chemistry to induce her to prevent, to the utmost of her power, the accumulation of any other gas, within her precincts, than that mixture of oxygen and nitrogen-the atmosphere-which has been prepared for our use by the Creator?

Whether carpets render the air impure, to an extent which favors the production of pulmonary diseases, as some German writer has recently told us, I am not certain. But the known facts that they entangle and retain with readiness much bad air, and that they often prove an excuse for neglect of sweeping and washing our rooms, should lead us to doubt, very much, their general utility.

But whether carpets be used or not, the utmost pains should be taken by every young housewife— and the sooner she forms the habit, the better-to keep the floor and the walls of every room perfectly clean, and the air perfectly sweet. To this end, all rooms should be frequently aired. All clothing, whether it be wearing apparel or bed clothing, should be frequently shaken well and exposed; and the more frequently, in proportion to the warmth and moisture of the surrounding atmosphere. Beds, whether slept in or not, but especially if used, should be often thrown open, and duly exposed to pure air.

All furniture, large or small, should be constantly watched, and kept perfectly sweet and clean. There should be no putting away the implements of eating and drinking, in such a state as to render the things themselves acid or impure, or the air around them unfit for healthy respiration. I speak now of a healthy state of a family. In sickness, the caution is more important still.

I have seen families accounted perfectly neat, who yet suffered so many things to spoil in the house, that I wondered not, on the appearance of an epidemic disease, to see it break in upon them, and carry off from three to six of their number. I have said they were accounted neat; but were they truly so? Look at the cellars, the kitchens, the drains, and the yards! See the putrefied vegetables and fluids, the half spoiled meat, the offal matter, the heaps of manure, the vaults! See the well, with which it is ten to one but some of these communicate, but which, perhaps, has not been cleansed for four or five years!

You will say that all this belongs to the husband, rather than the housewife. Granted it were so, it can do no harm to remind the housewife of it, that she may remind him. He is busy here and there, and may overlook it; but the organs of sight and smell, of those who are hourly annoyed, will not so readily permit this. It is not, however,

true that the matter belongs exclusively to the husband. It belongs to both. God has established the institution of matrimony, in part, for the mutual education of the parties; and a due attention to each other's health is a most important portion of the great work. Besides, reason as we will, all these things are attended to or neglected, according to the housewife's estimate of their importance.

But personal cleanliness is not less important, in this respect, than the cleanliness of our dwellings, and everything around them. The young wife must not only sustain the husband's efforts, as far as he seems inclined to go, but even urge him on.

There is not one husband in a hundred who will not need this assistance. There is not one in a hundred who, notwithstanding his neatness, or rather particularity, in some points, will not find his health and happiness essentially promoted by giving heed to the promptings of a judicious companion, in matters pertaining both to purity of person and clothing.

The truth is, that females make discoveries that their husbands are very apt to overlook. They see the smallest specks of dirt; and observe the tendencies to negligence, in their most incipient state. They may not, indeed, without instruction, understand to the full extent their bearing on

health; but they know, full well, that all is not right; and wo to the husband who despises their suggestions and counsels, merely because he cannot count their worth in dollars and cents.

It is not my purpose to enter deeply, here, into particulars. Indeed, in regard to dress, I cannot; and my readers must not expect it. In regard to cleanliness of person, a few remarks may be of some service.

I

The importance of local washings-of the hands, face, neck, feet, &c.—is generally conceded. do not say it is generally practised; for half the work of this kind which is done, is only half done. Multitudes of busy as well as fastidiously delicate people, instead of washing themselves, do little more than to make a mockery of it. To wash is to make clean, and not merely to make believe we have made clean. But I have said enough on this point, under the head of Neatness.

Perhaps I ought, however, to say something of the manner of performing our ablutions. This may be either with simple water or with soap and water; the temperature of the water may be high or low; and the mode of application extensively various. There is the cold bath, the warm bath, the hot bath, and the vapor bath; and either of these may be simple or medicated. I am not, however, now prescribing for the sick, and must