278 THE FARMERY. [Chap, in 



rooms of equal ventilation, liglit and drainage, some of wliicli liad white 

 walls, and others yellow or buft-colored, the oc'cnj>iei's were not equally 

 ciieerfid and healthy. The workers in rooms Avith colored walls were all 

 inclined to melancholy, and complained of pains in the forehead and eyes, 

 and were often ill and unable to work. By having the color removed and 

 replaced by whitewash, miiform health and cheerfulness were ever after 

 securctl. In architecture, a course of progress is distinctly marked from the 

 cave, the wigwani and hut of the savage, who rudely supplies his few wants; 

 from the tent and mosque of the Arab ; from the cots beneath the castle and 

 beside the palace ; from the negro quarters to the mansion-house ; and we 

 wish we could say, progressing upward to comfortable, light, cheerful, ele- 

 gant homes tor every American farmer. 



Let them learn that they cannot live rightly in dark dwellings. The 

 mother who, in the fulfillment of her office, preeminently receives and 

 appropriates from all the life sustaining elements, suffers a twofold wrong, in 

 the injury to herself and otispring, by dwelling in darksome apartments; and 

 childhood in such homes is pale and puny — often worse — is squalid and most 

 pitiably diseased. The predominance of the chemical rays in Spring-time 

 is undoubtedly one of the adaptations of this season to the young of animals 

 which then begin their existence, and it also e.xerts a decided influence upon 

 our own physical health. The invalid desires the return of Spring, for he 

 instinctively ieels that nature without will then come to the aid of nature 

 within ; and who, after the cold and lifeless Winter, does not love to seek the 

 wind-sheltered nook, there to drink in the warm sunlight, and to receive upon 

 the brow its life-giving blessing? "Who has not felt the glorious influence of 

 '■ liathing in the sunshine?" Tlien, M'e conjure you, let the sunshine into 

 your house, and do not be afraid of letting in the air, day or night. 



An extraordinary fallacy is the dread of night air. What but night air 

 can v,'e breathe at night? The choice is between pure night air from 

 without and foul night air from within. Most people prefer the latter. An 

 unaccountable choice. What will they say, if it is proved to be true, that 

 fully one-half of all the disease we suffer from, is occasioned by people 

 sleeping with their windows shut? An open window, most nights in the 

 year, can never hurt any one. In sickness, air and light are both necessary 

 for recovery. In great cities, night air is often the best and purest air to be 

 had in the twenty-four hours. I could better understand shutting the 

 windows in towns, during the day, than during the night, for the sake of the 

 sick. The absence of smoke, the quiet, all tend to make night the best time 

 for airing the patient. One of our highest medical authorities on consump- 

 tion and climate, has declared that the air in London is never so good as after 

 ten o'clock at night. Always air your room, then, from the outside air, if 

 possible. Windows are made to open, doors are made to shut — a truth 

 which seems extremely difficult of application. 



304. Tbc Location of a Farm-house. — Adaptability is the word that farm- 

 ers should study, above all others, when about to build a house. It is the 



