LECTURES AND ESSAYS READ AT INSTITUTES. 195 



omanutions, tiiid really become a nuisance to those of more cleanly habits. 

 This habit is almost sure to be coupled with neglect of bathing, Avhicli two 

 habits form twins of most ungracious mein. 



No person ought to sleep in the same garments that he wears through the 

 d?.y. Undergarments should never be worn more than one week without 

 change. To be sure they arc hid from view, but that will be poor comfort to 

 one who knows his duty and has a conscience. The plea of economy is even 

 more inexcusable, as long life, both to the garment and the wearer, demands 

 the frecjuent cleansing of this inner clothing. The same argument holds for 

 the purification of the bed clothing. Happy the person who never knows that 

 stifling atmosphere which hangs as a cloud in the sleeping room of the 

 uncleanly. Like a lumber camp, or the slums of a crowded city, where bath- 

 ing is unknown, and where the clothing comes off when it falls off; the very 

 air is loaded with the seeds of disease and death, which "still as the breeze 

 but terrible as the storm" only wait for a little brief time to victimize those 

 who tolerate their terrible presence. 



For inner garments, or those that are worn next to the body, nothing is 

 so wholesome as woolen or flannels. These are sieve-like, and permit the 

 ready escape of the poisonous emanations from the body. Those who have 

 once tried them are slow to set aside woolen, under garments, even for summer 

 wear. Hold a thick woolen blanket over steam and note how readily the 

 vapor passes through the meshes. The passage is not so free with cotton or 

 linen, while a bed quilt sliuts it off* as surely as does rubber. Ventilation 

 then is a term which can be applied in speaking of the clothing. Even the 

 outer garments ought not to be too long worn without change and airing, or 

 they too will become foul with the excreted refuse of the body. We are told 

 that in the New Jerusalem there shall be clean robes ; what a glorious trans- 

 mutation will that be to him who has dwelt in dirt and filth during all his 

 •earthly sojourn. 



It is now a well established fact that some of the most terrible of oui- dis- 

 eases result from our inhaling putrescent germs ! Thus an imperfect sewer 

 or a filthy cellar is the nursery \^here are sprouted the fungoid spores, which 

 bring diphtheria, typhus, and scarlet fever into our homes, and carry away our 

 loved ones. Foul drinking water often in the same way, hangs the crape on 

 the door, nor does it discriminate, but gathers up the rich and poor alike. 



We sec then that our surroundings should be looked after with an eye — the 

 nose may often aid greatly in the search — quick to seek out the noisome mat- 

 ter. The farmer, in fact every householder, should look personally to the 

 thorough drainage of his place, to a cellar inoffensive at all times to the most 

 sensitive nose in the community, to the thorough drainage of all low places 

 about the home, to a generous space separating sties, barns and their yards, 

 from the house, and — very important — such water-tight vaults, and dry earth 

 closets as will render the out-houses inoffensive to the last degree at all times, 

 •even during the sultry days of midsummer. The bottom of the vault should 

 be made of plank, or better of artificial stone, so that no water could pass 

 through it; the vault should be well ventilated, and in the room above, close 

 beside the seat, there should be a dry earth bin, with a shovel and dry road- 

 dust always in it, and a neat door, opening just above and at one side of the 

 seat. The floor of the bin should slant down to the door. Another door out- 

 side permits the easy filling of the bin with the dry earth. The whole seat, 

 as well as the special lids over each opening, is hinged to the back so as to be 

 easily raised up. The water-tight bottom prevents any drainage, so there is 



