•74 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



happiness of our homes, and the state should make it possible for such an 

 education to be obtained. 



There may be some here to-night who will not be satisfied with the state- 

 ments and assertions that I have made regarding the necessity of having 

 better managed homes, and having schools or departments in colleges for 

 household education. There may be some here to-night who would insist 

 upon an inspection of homes before they would be convinced that something 

 indeed is needed to improve the condition of our homes. Most cheerfully 

 would I go with such a class upon a tour of investigation, and we would not 

 have to go away from the city of DeKalb, I think, to become convinced that 

 there are gross neglects and abuses in the management of our homes, and 

 that the cause lies in the ignorance of the housekeepers. 



We will form ourselves into a committee of inspection and in the first 

 place, before entering the house, we will notice whether the yard and sur- 

 roundings have drainage, either natural or artificial, sufiicient to remove all 

 surface water. If not, we shall be able to draw some conclusions in favor 

 of our theme. We will next observe whether the house has a cellar. If not, 

 there is danger of malaria ; and even with the cellar we shall not feel 

 satisfied with our investigation until we have been through the cellar. We 

 will go down and see how the cellar smells, and see if it has a drain in good 

 working order or any chance for ventilation, and inquire if it is ventilated ; 

 and not forgetting to look in the dark corners for half-decayed vegetables 

 and piles of nasty rubbish of all sorts. As we come out of the cellar we 

 might glance around the back kitchen door in quest of pools of dishwater 

 and slops and kitchen leavings, and castaways of all kinds, which will be 

 bad enough at this time of year, but infinitely worse in the warm, thawing 

 days of spring, when such old piles and pools seethe and smoke, breeding 

 sore throats and diphtheria as very vermin. If we*find everything tidy about 

 the back door we will step in and ask the housekeeper what she does with 

 the kitchen slops. She may point us in pride of the convenience to a sink, 

 but if we stop to examine it we shall probably find both sink and drain of 

 wood, and if not we shall doubtless find faulty pipes, either actually leaking 

 into the cellar or constructed without traps or means of ventilation, and 

 then carrying the water but a short distance into the garden or into a cess- 

 pool seldom cleaned or with no means of cleaning. Although soil has puri- 

 fying qualities yet there is a limit to its efficacy, and in time the very earth 

 around such badly constructed wastepipes becomes a magazine of filth and 

 disease. We must not forget to notice the locality of the well in our search 

 for cesspools, how far it is situated from all contaminating influences, the 

 kitchen slops, the heap of barn manure and the water-closet. And of the 

 latter I will venture to remark that there are not three in the whole town 

 that are constructed and cared for as they should be. I tell you there is a 

 chance for much information and improvement in the management of drains, 

 cellars, drinking-water, water closets and b^ck-yards generally. To their 

 mismanagement can be traced the typhoids, agues and epidemics that take 

 husbands, fathers and beautiful children from their homes, leaving wives 

 and mothers desolate, to learn too late the lesson of cleanly surroundings. 



We may next observe the plan of the house and see if a woman having 

 the health, comfort and happiness of the family, ease and convenience of 



