THE HOME AND THE HOUSEHOLD. 971 



how to make good bread. It can be made, all the elements are at hand, but, either through 

 ignorance or carelessness, a large proportion of it is heavy and indigestible, and what is 

 really one of the most important and nourishing articles of food greatly impaired in its 

 usefulness, and even made the vehicle of harm to the system. 



So I might go on and mention other articles and methods of badly cooked food as, for 

 instance, the boiling of potatoes, which, improperly done, brings to the table hard, water- 

 sogged masses, instead of a delicate, feathery, nutritious article of diet. The whole matter 

 may be summed up as follows: too much haste in compounding and cooking is allowed this 

 partly from multiplicity of duties and partly from carelessness. But, above all, there is a 

 lamentable want of knowledge on the part of the wife and mother, of those principles which 

 shoul 1 guide her in the preparation of the daily food of the family. It is not chimerical to 

 say, that the housewife should know the general divisions into which food is classed, and 

 what elements each class tends to build up. She should know theoretically what many have 

 found practically, that half-boiled potatoes cannot readily undergo solution in the gastric 

 juice, and that pie crust reeking with fat cannot be absorbed into a healthy system without 

 poisoning the blood, and that it produces a nauseous emulsion in the stomach, which can 

 never be assimilated into healthy fat and tissue. Did she know these simple truths, she 

 would take a maternal interest in preparing such articles of diet for her children as they 

 needed, and would point to her rosy-cheeked, well-developed offspring, as the results of her 

 labor. 



Clothing. Passing to the consideration of clothing, there are one or two points where 

 our country residents display a degree of carelessness which cannot be otherwise than 

 injurious, although, as a rule, they are sufficiently well clothed. One point is the neglect to 

 wear proper clothing next to the skin, and especially in summer. It is a common practice 

 among farmers to dispense entirely with the wrapper or undershirt during the summer, and 

 wear only an ordinary cotton shirt next to the skin. Such a practice is dangerous, for when 

 work is stopped, then there is a sudden cooling of the skin and lowering of the temperature, 

 and a consequent liability to the induction of disease. Rheumatism, stiff -joints, and kidney- 

 disease are all produced by this sudden suppression of perspiration and lowered temperature of 

 the body. Now, a flannel undershirt of proper thickness, or simply a flannel shirt, worn during 

 the summer, would lessen the danger by graduating the condition of heat. Again, mothers 

 are apt to forget the delicate structure of their infants, and neglect to give proper attention 

 to their clothing. In summer the dress is too light; thus they are exposed to those 

 atmospheric influences which produce cholera infantum and kindred ailments; while in 

 winter, from the same cause, they are made liable to pneumonia and bronchial diseases. 



Habitations. This is an important point, and one in which there is room for and need 

 of much improvement. What then, are the considerations which influence a man for the 

 most part when he builds a house in the country ? If he be a new-comer he reasons 

 substantially in this way: I must choose a pleasant, healthful location; it must be convenient 

 of access, and near my farm or place of business ; or, if it be a pleasure house, near the means 

 of communication with other places.. If he is an old resident about to construct a new house, 

 he very likely demolishes the old house and builds upon exactly the same spot; or, if he selects 

 a new location, he reasons generally like the former. In other words, both are guided in 

 their selection for the most part by the considerations of eligibility, economy, or beauty of 

 construction, and least by the apparent minor conditions which are to afford the household 

 health. He neglects in the internal arrangement of the house to provide the best means for 

 warming and ventilation, and the proper discharge of the sewage. And in the arrangement 

 of his outbuildings he will very likely counteract in the most systematic manner the benefits 

 of his naturally good surroundings. He will locate his barn within a few rods of the house, 

 in order that it may be convenient, and lay out his barn -yard upon the side facing the house; 

 or he will dig his well in close proximity to his house, and at the same time make the outlet 

 of his sink drain discharge within a few feet of it, or his privy will be located within a few 

 feet of the doorway; it will have simply a vault as a receptacle, which is not often cleaned 

 or disinfected. Again, his cellar may be dug in springy ground, from which water and 

 dampness are constantly exuding, to rise and chill the rooms above. This matter of damp 

 cellars is one of great importance, from the frequency of their occurrence. It is not 

 uncommon even to find cellars in which water is constantly standing, often mixed with 

 decaying vegetable matters and the filth which has gradually accumulated there through 

 neglect and carelessness. The writer has in mind such a home, in which one of the family 

 was taken down with typhoid fever and died. A short time after another was also attacked 



