TO FARMERS' WIVES. 195 



less ! Don't run out of the heated kitchen to wrestle 

 with the line full of frozen clothes, bare-headed and 

 thinly shod. Don't sit up sewing at night and let the 

 fire go out, thinking it silly to burn wood just for your- 

 self. Don't sit up at all beyond bedtime hours, unless 

 it is a case of sickness or some strictly necessary sew- 

 ing, and then do not go cold and shivering, or faint 

 and hungry, to bed ; but keep a comfortable fire, and 

 before retiring take a cup of hot milk and tea, and 

 some bread and butter, or a bowl of chicken broth or 

 oyster soup. Never keep damp stockings and shoes on 

 your feet or sit in a room where you feel chilly. If you 

 have headache, or backache, or a " wretched cold" 

 (you will not be troubled with these ills very much if you 

 take good sanitary precautions against them), do not 

 try the sometimes too smart remedy of "working it off," 

 but coddle yourself to the best of your ability, and let at 

 least a part of the work await the sure coming of another 

 day, and do not "fret" about it, else the shirking will 

 do no good; but just rest a little and get well. Do 

 not wear tight or dragging clothes. When going to ride 

 in winter, put on an extra pair of stockings and button 

 a newspaper or a piece of flannel inside your dress over 

 your chest and lungs. 



Be friendly and good to your stomach. Do not live 

 on hot biscuits, incessant pork, pie-crust, cake, and del- 

 uges of tea and coffee. The farm generally affords plenty 

 of milk, eggs, poultry, wheat, fruit, and vegetables. You 

 are surrounded with a world of delicious and healthful 

 foods. As for tea and coffee, they are not food at all, 

 except for the accompanying sugar and cream. But 

 one cup of good coffee, or one cup of good tea, does 

 no one any great harm, and is often the gentle stimulant 

 and "care-breaker" that a woman needs. It is an out- 

 rage on the stomach to drown it at meal times with any 

 kind of fluid, ice-water being the most hurtful of all. 



