372 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
company with a gentleman, another gentleman, 
who should chance to meet her, should give her 
the precedence with a slight how. A lady should 
always acknowledge these courtesies by an an¬ 
swering bow. If well bred, she will receive no 
attention at any time, without a graceful bow or 
nod, although it may be a slight return. 
Gentlemen, when walking with ladies on the 
street, should take the side which will best pro¬ 
tect them from inconvenience. In the country it 
is usual to give the lady theinisdeof the walk ; 
in a city or village the gentleman should walk 
between her and the crowd, on which ever side 
it may be. If there be no crowd, it matters lit¬ 
tle which side be taken. 
If a gentleman meets a lady with whom he 
wishes to have a minute’s conversation, it is bet¬ 
ter to turn and walk with her rather than to de¬ 
tain her. This is especially important in cities 
where it is often a great inconvenience to have 
the side walk obslructed by those who are shak¬ 
ing hands and exchanging most kind and cordial 
greetings. Where ladies stop to speak to each 
other they should retire from the current, and 
not permit themselves to incommode others. 
It is expected of a lady to recognize a gentle¬ 
man who has been introduced to her. If she does 
not, he is not at liberty to recognize her. 
Gentlemen usually lift or touch the hat when 
bowing to a lady. Not to do this implies that the 
person saluted is an inferior. Gentlemen should 
raise the hat when meeting a gentleman acquaint¬ 
ance if he be accompanied by a lady, a mere nod 
would be considered disrespectful to her. If, 
when walking with a friend, you meet an ac¬ 
quaintance, it is not proper in ordinary circum¬ 
stances to introduce the friend. 
It is always proper for ladies to accept need¬ 
ed civilities from strangers, and such civilities 
should be rewarded with an “ I thank you, sir,” 
or a pleasant smile, or a courteous bow. 
Do not when talking with your friends place 
your hand upon them to give emphasis to your 
remarks. This “ nudging” is vulgar. There can 
be no surer indication of ill-bieeding. 
Do not giggle ; that is insufferably silly. Laugh 
heartily, but not carelesly. Smile when you feel 
like it, but don't let your face wear an unmean- 
ng smirk. 
Cultivate a quiet, natural, self-possessed man- 
ter. Self-possession is one of the distinctive at- 
■ributes of a lady, and prepares her for meeting 
any of the exigencies of life gracefully and prop¬ 
erly. 
The rule of politeness are not mere arbitrary 
regulations. They are founded on common sense 
A kind, loving, unselfish heart has in it the ele¬ 
ments of the most perfect courtesy, and no mere 
ceremonious civility can ever compensate for the 
want of it. Anna Hope. 
Colds, Coughs, Consumptions, etc., 
Or diseases of the lungs, are as prevalent as 
ever—we think more so. And no wonder ! Ev¬ 
ery improvement in the construction of dwellings 
or in modes of heating them, which has a tenden¬ 
cy to confine the warm heated air within, is so 
far an aid to the ‘‘lung doctors.” Reader, did 
you ever stop to think what an extended appara¬ 
tus you have in your lungs—made up as they are 
of millions of little air cells, covered with a thin 
delicate membrane constantly in contact with the 
air or other substances you breathe 1 According 
to the estimate of Dr. Addison, the united air cells 
of the two lungs number one billion seven-hundred 
and forty-four millions (1,744,000,000 !). The lin¬ 
ing membrane of these covers a space of fifteen- 
hundred square feet. Is it anything strange then 
that noxious or re-breathed air, miasmatic odors, 
etc , coming in contact with this vast surface, and 
with the blood through it, should not only irritate 
the lungs themselves, but also render the blood 
impure 1 This is a fruitful subject—we can now 
touch upon only one item—that of re-breathed air. 
During a single minute a person draws in and 
sends forth from 1J- to 3 gallons of air, which 
comes forth impregnated with carbonic acid and 
other impurities. A little calculation will show 
that ir. a small close room, a single individual 
would soon breathe all the air, and much of it 
many times over, as the pure and impure are 
mingled at every breath. The case is much 
stronger when several persons are in the same 
room, and still more so when a crowd of children 
are in a school-room, or a congregation in a house 
of worship or lecture room. We can not better 
‘‘•enforce” the subject than by giving the follow¬ 
ing appeal to the “ Sexton of a meeting-house,” 
which we find in our drawer. It is credited to 
the Detroit Tribune—we know not by whom 
written. The spelling is not exactly according 
to the dictionary, but it needs nt translation. 
Read and heed. 
A APPEA Jj FOB ABE TO THE SEXTANT OF THE OLD 
BRICK MEETINOUSE. 
BY A GASPER 
O sextant of the meeti nouse, which sweeps 
And dusts, or is suposed too 1 and makes tiers, 
And lites the gass, and surntimes leaves a screw loose 
in wich case it smells orful—worse than lam-pile ; 
And wrings the Bel and loies it when men dyes 
totiie grief of survivin pardners, and sweeps pathes 
And for the servases gits $100 per annum, 
Wich them that thinks deer, let em try.it; 
Gelin up befoar star-lite in all wethers and 
Kindlin fiers when the wether is as cold 
As zero, ani like as not grean wood for kindlers 
i would'rt be hired to do it for no some— 
But o sextain I there are 1 kermoddity 
YVich’s more than gold, wich doant cost, nothin, 
Worth more than anything exsep the Sole of Mann 
i mean pewer Are, sextant, i mene pewer Are. 
O it is plenty out o dores, so plenty it doant no 
What on airth to dew with itself, but flys about 
Scalering teavs and bloin of men’s halts ; 
in short, its jest “ fre as are ” out dores. 
But o sextant, in our church its scare as piety, 
scarce as bank bills wen agu.ts beg for tnischuns, 
Wich some say is party often (tsint nothin to me, 
Wat i give aint nothin to nobody) ; but o sextant 
it shet 500 men, wiirimen and children, 
Speshally the latter, up in a tite place, 
Some has bad breths, none aint 2 swete. 
Some is fevery, some is serofilus, some has bad teath, 
And some haint none, and some aint over cleen ; 
But every 1 on em breethes in & out and out and in, 
Say 50 tunes a minit, or 1 million and a half breths an our. 
Now how long will a church-fill of are last at that rate. 
1 ask you, say 15 mi nits, and then wats to be did? 
Why then they must brethe it all over agin, 
And then agin, and so on, till each has took it down 
At least 10 times, and let it. up agin, and wats more, 
The same individible dont have the priveledge 
of breethen his own are. and no ones else ; 
Each one mils take whatever comes to him 
O sextant, doant you no our lungs is bellusses, 
To bio the fier of life, and keep it from 
going out: and how can bellusses bio without wind 
And aint wind are ? i put it to your conschens. 
Are is the same to us as milk to babies, 
Or water is to fish, or pendlums to clox, 
Or roots and airbs unto an injun Doctor, 
Or little pills unto an omepath. 
Or boys to gnrls. Are is for us to breethe. 
Wat signifies who preeches if i cant breethe ? 
Wats Pol ? Wats Polltis ? to sinners who are ded ? 
Ded for want of breth ? why sextant, when we dye 
Its only coz we cant breethe no more—thats all. 
And now. o sextant, let me beg of you 
2 let a little are into our church. 
(Pewer are is sertin proper for the pews) 
And do it weak days and Sundays tew. 
it aint much trouble—only make a hole 
And the are will cum in of itself 
(it luvs to cum in whare it can git warm) ; 
And o how it will rouze the people un, 
And sperrit up the preecher, and stop garps, 
And yawns arid figgits as effectooal 
As wind on the dry Boans the Profit tells of 
Chapped Hands. 
These are very common “ about these days.” 
Cold weather chills the surface of the skin and 
prevents a free circulation of the blood, arid con¬ 
sequent warmth, and thus induces or aggravates 
the difficulty. One of the primary causes of 
chapping or cracking of the skin is tlie action of 
soap. The alkali in this eats away the cuticle or 
outer skin, and ihus destroys the natural covering. 
In cold weather especially, the hands should al¬ 
ways be thoroughly rinsed in clean water aficr 
washing them with soap It will he found highly 
beneficial to wash the skin in a weak solution of 
vinegar and water, after using soap, and then 
rinse in clean water. The acetic acid of thevin 
egar neutralizes the alkali of the soap, and pre 
vents the fun her action upon the skin, which 
will take place if the slightest amount of soapy 
water be left on the hands when they are dried 
with a towel. On washing days it will be of spe¬ 
cial advantage to have a vessel of water with a 
little vinegar added, to dip the hands inio when¬ 
ever they are taken from the washing water. 
Whenever we find it necessary to wash with 
soap, we rinse the hands in dilute vinegar, or a 
very weak solution of any acid, such as a few 
drops of oil of vitriol ^sulphuric acid), muriatic 
(hydro chloric) acid, or nitric acid (aqua-fortis). 
in a quart of water. Any of these acids will 
neutralize the alkali of the soap. Since adopting 
this practice we have never been troubled in the 
least with chapped, or even rough hands, though 
we do not put on gloves or mittens half a dozen 
times a-year. 
We would add further, that in washing the 
hands it is usually better to use a stiff brush 
instead of soap, unless they chance to be covered 
with oil or tar. A brush is more convenient, 
more effectual, neater, cheaper, and better every 
way than soap. 
-i > > 
Saleratus—Cooking Spinach. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
I am very glad to see in the Agriculturist for 
October an article on bread. I have read such 
terrible accounts of the injurious effects of the 
bread made with soda and cream of tartar, that 
you have relieved my mind greatly. As a gene¬ 
ral thing I should ever prefer bread made from 
hop yeast. My husband is, however, very fond 
of the nice, light, fresh biscuits made from cream 
oftartar and soda, as a change or variety for break¬ 
fast, particularly in Winter. 
Now, whenever I have had the weakness to 
indulge his appetite in this respect, my conscience 
lias troubled me very unpleasantly, and the hor¬ 
rors of a ruined digestion, caused by my hands, 
has been a kind of incubus in my quiet hours. I 
shall from henceforth cast my fears to the winds. 
... .Some two or three months since I noticed in 
your paper a question from a lady about the 
COOKING OF SPINACH. 
But I have not seen it answered. My way, and 
what I thought the general way of conking it is 
as follows; Take an enameled saucepan, pu* a 
small piece of butter in the bottom, then lay m 
the spinach (after being well washed an-d the 
water shaken from the leaves), sprinkling from 
time to time a little salt. Sufficient water will 
adhere to the leaves to cook it. Let it he packed 
in closely, and the saucepan covered. When 
tender, take it up and place it on a dish ; put a 
little pepper and some small bits of butter over 
it. Lay some nicely poached eggs around on the 
dish, or not, as you require ; if eggs are used, it 
makes a dish of itself; if it rs to be eaten with 
