698 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



HEALTH NOTE! 



DAILY bathing; thk importance of being 



WASHED ALL OVER EVERY DAY. 



I find so many good people among our 

 friends and acquaintances who think they 

 cannot get time to be washed all over every 

 day, and who also seem to think it is not so 

 very important, I feel constrained to say a 

 few words in regard to it. Now, lest you 

 think that I get into a bath-tub every day, 

 using a large amount of soft water (which 

 is not always to be had without inconven- 

 ience), I will explain how I take my daily 

 bath down in our Florida home where we 

 do not have up-to-date toilet conveniences. 

 As it is often too cold to wash with comfort, 

 especially for elderly people, I take my bath 

 right by our little cooking-stove. It is a 

 part of Mrs. Root's religion to have tlie fuel 

 fixed in the stove so it will start quickly 

 with a match. She also keeps a kettle of 

 soft rain water on top of the stove. When 

 I first get out of bed I light the fire. If it 

 is quite cool I drop my night-dress down to 

 my waist or perhaps further down. I first 

 get warmed up with a big dry rubbing of 

 my arms and limbs, and, in fact, every pait 

 of my body, and no matter how cold the 

 morning may be, I can, by this sort of exei-- 

 cise, get up a circulation so I do not feel 

 the cold; and one can have an air bath at 

 the same time, which I am sure is vei*y 

 beneficial. If the weather is so cool that 

 you need to have the water warmed as well 

 as the air in the room, by the time you get 

 through with your brisk rubbing the water 

 will be found to be warm enough. I used 

 to stand in a tub so as to avoid slopping on 

 the floor; but a tub is too much bother to 

 get down and hang up again ; so I use a 

 large-sized dishpan. You can get one made 

 of cheap tin for a few cents, and it will be 

 light and easy to handle.* Pour some water 

 in the dishpan, and in that way you can give 

 your feet a little soaking while you aie 

 scrubbing the rest of your body. Now have 

 the wash-basin for water on a box just high 

 enough to be handy; and the box should be 

 large enough to hold the soap-dish as well 

 as the wash-basin. I think Terry does not 

 use any soap in his daily bath; but with the 

 sort of work I do, and the profuse perspi- 

 ration I get into every day in Florida, I 

 prefer a little soap for my head and face, 

 and especially my arms and hands. Give 

 both a good scrubbing with soap and water ; 



* When I am away from home, or where the dish- 

 pan or tub is not available, I simply spread a large 

 towel on the floor and stand on it. With a little 

 care one can avoid getting any water or any thing 

 else on the floor and surroundings. 



then, holding your arms over tlie wash- 

 basin, or perhaps resting one hand on the 

 washdish bottom, scrub one arm clear up to 

 the shoulder, and then the other arm the 

 same way. Then scrub your body all over, 

 going through the same exercise you pre- 

 viously did to get warm. With a little 

 practice you will learn to touch every spot 

 on your body with the bare wet hand. I do 

 not want any sponge nor rag. After you 

 have scrubbed every part of your body from 

 head to foot, go over your feet most thor- 

 oughly, scrubbing between the toes; and if 

 there is any part of your feet that is dis- 

 posed to raise corns, give that a little extra 

 scrubbing with soap ; and while we are 

 speaking about corns, I think the daily bath 

 will cure them if you have shoes nicely 

 fitted and suffioiently ventilated. I am led 

 to believe that corns are oftentimes if not 

 always nature's protest against a lack of 

 ventilation. After every inch of your body 

 is wetted and rubbed, then give it a good 

 scrubbing with a coarse towel until every 

 part of the body is dry and warm. Do not 

 forget to check the stove or you will find the 

 room too hot to be comfortable before you 

 get through with it. I prefer to take my 

 bath with doors and windows open, and I 

 do most of the time. 



Now, with practice you can do all I have 

 mentioned inside of ten minutes; and I 

 think if I were rushed for time I could do it 

 in five minutes,* and half a gallon of soft 

 water is all that is needed. I know there 

 are various machines and inventions to help 

 this daily bath; but I prefer what I have 

 described to any one of them. In my north- 

 ern home we have a porcelain-lined bath-tub 

 and wash-basins, but I like the plain simple 

 way given so much better that I rarely use 

 a bath-tub. For one thing, it is too hard 

 work for an old man to lie down in a slip- 

 pery bath-tub and get up again. 



Now, besides improving our health there 

 is a tremendous saving in washing dirty 

 clothes. The clothing that 1 wear next to 

 me is so clean that I often use it two weeks 

 instead of one; and by taking a little extra 



* In order to be sure that I am right about the 

 time required, this morning I timed myself by the 

 watch. It took .iust fovr minutes to do the washing 

 and scrubbing off with a dry towel. Now, everybody 

 wants to wash his head and ears and neck and 

 bands every morning, any way, and this operation 

 will take at least one minute; so if you are as spry 

 as I am (at the age of 75) it need not take more 

 than three minutes additional to wash all over. Of 

 course this has nothing to do with dressing or un- 

 dressing. I take it that everybody nowdays removes 

 every " scrap " worn during the day before he gets 

 into bed. If he does not. somebody ought to take 

 him in hand and do a little " missionarj' work " 

 with him. 



