The Well-Ordered Household 



FROM THE STANDPOINT OF A PRACTICAL WOMAN 

 CONDUCTED BY MARTHA VAN TiENSSELAETi 



[Editor Cornell University Eeading Course for Women.] 

 SANITATION IN THE HOME 



IN a well-ordered household the right 

 conditions of sanitation are such as 

 to promote health and add to the 

 esthetic influences of home life. 



Not many years ago little was known 

 about the germ. Even now but few 

 know much of the practical science of 

 bacteriology", but a knowledge of the sub- 

 ject has done much toward preserving and 

 prolonging life. There are many absurd 

 notions about this study of germs. The 

 germ craze, or, as someone has called it, 

 'T^acteriaphobia/' takes the "pleasure 

 away from eating" with some individuals, 

 and makes others nervous, destroying the 

 ^'poetry of life." Some of these germs, 

 however, are exceedingly friendly, and to 

 them we are indebted for health and life, 

 as they tear to pieces oi:ganic matter and 

 render it capable of being used in living 

 forms. It is, however, the germs which 

 cause disease that we are to oppose and 

 try to keep out of the well-ordered house- 

 hold. The mistress of the household must 

 know the condition of sinks, cupboards 

 and bed-rooms as well as parlors. Dan- 

 gers are increasing aljout us. Not that 

 more bacteria abound than before we 

 knew so much of them, but because we 

 are in greater danger from a more com- 

 mon exchange of household commodities 

 and more frequent traveling, the use of 

 telephones and the handling of money, 

 goods, etc. Germs are carried in the 

 trains of ladies^ skirts, in the outside coat- 

 ing of fruits and other articles exposed in 

 the market, in the common drinking cup 

 and in the upholstering of car seats. 



Fresh air and sunshine are great anti- 

 dotes, Imt many are afraid to take these 



in sufficiently large doses to counteract all 

 the bad influences furnished in dark 

 places, in moisture and in poor air. 



One of the first things for us to investi- 

 gate in ordering our househgld is the con- 

 dition of the soil about the place. If it is 

 damp and sour^ and not fit for vegeta- 

 tion, it may not be fit in its present condi- 



THE OLD WAY 



tion for human habitation. The living 

 rooms are just over it and perhaps one 

 sleeping room ; if the furnace gets its cold 

 air supply from out-of-doors, it takes it 

 from over the soil near the house, warms 

 it and sends to the rooms to be inhaled, 

 loaded with impurities, if there be any. 

 Sometimes near the doorway there is a 

 place where dish and wash water have 

 been thrbwn for a long time. Too often 

 this is near the well and the bacterial 

 crop of the dish-pan, wash-tub, and milk- 

 can thrive in this moist soil and perhaps 

 find their way to the well. Impurities 

 may thus be transmitted by the porosity 

 of thie soil; organic matter may add its 



