Personal Cleanliness 209 



virtue which is '^ next to godliness," and if 

 properly arranged they do away with many sani- 

 tary dangers. Personal cleanliness is irksome 

 enough with every convenience for washing and 

 bathing. When there is no convenience except 

 a wash basin and a quart or two of hot water, 

 habitual cleanliness is practically impossible. 

 In this respect town and city life have an im- 

 mense advantage over rural life. A woman who 

 had moved from town to coimtry for the sake 

 of her husband's health, was asked how she 

 liked it : she said, " It is delightful, but I some- 

 times think I cannot endure it on account of 

 this nasty privy and no bath-room." Cleanli- 

 ness of the skin is hygienically far more im- 

 portant than cleanliness of clothing. In ath- 

 letics and gymnastics, the bath following the 

 exercise is considered an essential part of their 

 hygienic value ; how much more necessary, then, 

 is opportunity for frequent bathing, where the 

 family, both in and out of doors, do daily 

 manual labor which causes much perspiration, 

 and which is often very dirty! The recent 

 movement in cities to provide public bath-houses 

 for the poor in tenements should not outstrip 

 the farmer's effort to obtain equally good 

 facilities. 



If there be a sufficient water supply avail- 

 able, there should be in every house a hot water 



