The Bulletin. 37 



It is sometimes easier to prevent dirt than clean it. Were it alone it could 

 be wiped off, but uniting with the greasy vapors of the kitchen it goes through 

 the house and settles everywhere, unless an open window allows it to escape. 

 Water cannot be applied to waxed wood, but on all painted, varnished, oiled 

 or stained surfaces water with soap or ammonia may be used. Kerosene or 

 turpentine on a soft rag cleans polished surfaces with rubbing. Almost any 

 good polished furniture is improved by rubbing it hard with a soft rag on 

 which are a few spoonfuls of boiled linseed oil. White or very light painted 

 surfaces can be cleaned with whiting. It should be applied with a woolen 

 cloth and the water should not be allowed to stand on it in spots or to run. 

 Rinse it in clean water and wipe. 



The troublesome dust spots on floors or carpets usually have grease as their 

 basis. Remove the grease with ammonia, chloroform, ether, alcohol, gasoline, 

 turpentine, benzine or naphtha, rubbing it well and in a large circle. Then 

 the dust can be removed by washing in clear or slightly soapy water. Ox-gall 

 soap is old fashioned and good for cleaning carpets. It does not fade if used 

 continually, as do ammonia or salt. 



When you dust use a dampened cloth. If the furniture is varnished use a 

 little oil instead. Wash out the dust cloths and do not let them hang for 

 the dust to get around the house again. Burn up your feather duster. All 

 it does is to scatter the dust from one place to another. At a recent meeting 

 of doctors the question came up, "What is the greatest distributer of disease?" 

 The answer that received most attention was, "A feather duster in the hands of 

 a nigger porter." 



SANITATION. 



By Mrs. SUE V. HOLLOWELL. 



To cure disease was the voice of the past ; to prevent disease is the voice of 

 to-day. When we take into consideration the pain endured, the lives yielded 

 up, the waste of time, the money expended in answer to the voice of the past, 

 we turn with gratitude to the voice of to-day, and are ready to put aside all 

 prejudices, because of the lives that have been sacrificed upon the altar of 

 prejudice ; all ignorance, because the adage, "When ignorance is bliss it is folly 

 to be wise," is a fallacy that has worn well because it sounded well; and 

 this bit of stupidity, added to a great deal of selfishness, has proved a danger- 

 ous thing. We are ready to lay aside ignorance, and eagerly listen to the 

 voice of to-day, if it does tell us incomprehensible things about "germs," 

 "animalcules," the wonderful healing properties of such simple things as fresh 

 air, sunshine, nourishing food, sleeping in well- ventilated rooms, free from 

 dust which finds lodgment over the windows, under the carpets and mattings, 

 back of picture frames, in the books and photo albums, that furnish a home 

 for the germs, and every time we open the windows and doors the air that 

 should be life-giving — and is, in its purity — is filled with germs. In the 

 September number of the Woman's Home Journal is a most excellent article 

 on the "Education of the Nose" as a means of detecting enemies of health. 

 This is a timely article. Every one who travels is disgusted with the odors 

 in railway stations that emanate from the water-closets; the musty, mildew 

 smell that greets us in the hotel bed, in the towel, even in the water pitcher 

 that is filled day after day without being washed, by ignorant house-maids, who 

 suppose because they are kept filled with water they do not need cleansing. 

 The odor that greets one in the upstairs hotel porches from innumerable out- 

 side closets is most disgusting of all, because it could so easily be prevented 

 by the use of fine sand, dry earth, solution of carbolic acid or kerosene ; and 

 yet they are left open as a breeding place for flies— a propagating plant for 

 disease, dispensed by these same flies, on our food, milk pails, water-buckets 

 and baby bottles. 



