166 ANNUAL REI'ORT OF THE Oft. Doc. 



very much of disease and death in the country can be traced to the 

 bad condition of the ground around the house and premises and to 

 the water that has been contaminated thereby. If there is not a 

 system of running water and sewers, then all refuse water should 

 be carried away in drain pipes. If drain pipes are not ijossible, then 

 some sort of a receptacle, such as a small barrel in a wheelbarrow, 

 or a barrel cart should be placed near the back door, and all liquid 

 refuse poured into it, and twice a day in hot weather it should be 

 wheeled away and emptied around the plants in the "truck patch," 

 or the trees in the young orchard where it will do some good and 

 no harm. Xever, no never throw dirty water on the ground near the 

 house or well or spring. 



Another place we should watch carefully is our cellar. I have 

 in mind a friend who one spring lost three of his children with diph- 

 theria. There were no cases in the neighborhood, and upon investi- 

 gation the doctors found considerable decaying vegetable matter in 

 the cellar and attributed the disease to this cause. Cellars should 

 be kept well whitewashed. If your cellar walls are rough and 

 uneven, don't bother with a brush, but after sweeping down the 

 walls thoroughly, daub on the whitewash with a broom. It does 

 not matter so much about the looks, nor how smooth you make it, as 

 that you get on plenty of whitewash. 



My friend's cellar may have been the cause of his trouble, but it 

 had a strong ally in the lack of fresh air and sunlight in the house. 

 His is a peculiar family and I doubt if the house was once properly 

 aired from fall until spring. Even in summer the windows were 

 kept closed and the blinds closely drawn in every room not con- 

 stantly occupied. We should air and sun our bed-rooms every day, 

 and sun and air the bedding. Toss it over chairs near the open win- 

 dows, and expose it to the sunshine, allowing it to stream in upon 

 it long enough to perform its office of purification. Some one may 

 say "sun fades the carpet." What if it does? A faded carpet is 

 much to be preferred to sickness in the home, and anyway you should 

 not have carpet on your bed-room floors. Did you ever see the floors 

 in the wards of a hospital or sanitarium covered with carpet? Stain 

 or oil your bed-room floors, and then you can lay some pieces of car- 

 pet, or nice light rugs here and there, which can be taken up and 

 cleaned easily. I am glad to say that the day of carpeting bed-rooms 

 is fast passing away. If your floors are very rough and uneven, then 

 I would suggest covering them with some pretty matting which is 

 preferable to carpet. And now while we are in the bed-room, let me 

 say, do not shut ou4 the night air when you retire, for no matter how 

 well ventilated our rooms may be through the day, we cannot well 

 get along without the pure fresh air from the outside to replenish 

 that which becomes poisoned not only from the exhalations of the 

 lungs, but also from the exhalations of the body. So if you would 



