196 FARM HOMES, Itf-DOORS AXD OUT-DOORS. 



It is your right to have eight or nine hours out of the 

 twenty-four for sleep. Let nothing but sickness shove 

 aside this important corner-stone of health. It is all 

 wrong to rise at day-dawn in summer, and long before 

 sunrise in winter, feeling only half rested, and as if you 

 would "give the world" for one more hour of sleep. 

 Nothing is gained by lashing nature on to extraordinary 

 feats of endurance. Sooner or later she will show that 

 she does not submit to such things without ample re- 

 venge. If there are portions of the year when farm- 

 work, and consequently housework, must be rushed, or 

 it seems necessary to use the "cool of the day," viz., be- 

 tween four and six o'clock A. M. , an afternoon nap, even 

 if it lasts but ten minutes, will go far to soothe the nerve- 

 weariness that comes of lost sleep. Indeed, my home- 

 keeper, a ten-minute nap is always beneficial to you ; and 

 when you lay your baby down for his after-dinner repose, 

 remember that you, too, are in need of a little refreshing 

 rest. Lie down beside him, or what is better, lie down 

 away from him, and resolutely close your eyes for fifteen 

 minutes, whether you sleep or not. You will rise feeling 

 stronger and clear-headed, and the afternoon work will 

 come easier to you than if you had plodded on without 

 stopping. 



Plan easily-prepared breakfasts and suppers, and have 

 the brunt of the day's work in the forenoon, when you 

 will naturally feel most like grappling with it. There 

 are some women who are always in a whirlpool of work, 

 yet they do not accomplish as much as their calmer and 

 more systematic sisters, who find time for a little reading 

 or out-door recreation now and then. To rise in the 

 morning and cook potatoes, bake biscuits, fry or broil 

 meats, spread the table, attend to small children, and 

 strain and set away the morning milk, as I have seen 

 more than one farm-wife do, is enough to tire one out in 

 the very beginning of the day. A breakfast of white and 



