THE BED-ROOM AIR. 
TT seems to the ambitious housewife who wishes to 
A keep her domain in good reasonable order and yet 
“ get through sometime” that she may gain time for 
higher things, that the ordinary processes of sweeping, 
dusting, washing and airing should be sufficient to 
maintain wholesome living and sleeping rooms: noth- 
ing, however, is sufficient that leaves impure air lurk¬ 
ing in the corners, and the riddance of this must still 
be the testing point of the thorough housekeeper, 
and where, two generations back, she was submitted 
merely to the scrutiny of the naked, but awful, eye of 
neighbor or mother-in-law, in these days it is the 
instruments of science that must find her out. If any 
one fancies these less awful in what they may reveal, 
let him but read the hundredth part of what is said by 
investigators of the germ-theory of disease. In the 
light of these deliverances, the words impure air take 
on a new and terrible meaning, and the element itself 
is peopled with a million millions of germs, microbes, 
bacteria and their ilk, that are the ghosts and demons 
of this day, and will not down at the conjurer’s touch 
or the witch-doctor’s charm. Reports of the experi¬ 
ments of Cornet concerning the infection of tubercu¬ 
losis from the dried and desiccated expectoration of 
consumptives, give a new meaning to the word dust; 
but while the knowledge shocks, it greatly enlightens; 
so let us who keep houses know and do more 
in certain directions, and less in others if ^ 
need be. 
Now the currents of air that sweep through 
the house, no less than the broom of the hasty 
housemaid, fail to circulate well in the cor- (l\ 
ners, where the bad odors are allowed to hide II 
and give themselves up again to be breathed 
into the lungs. It is the closet, however, the ^1 
bed-room closet, in which they best love to 
dwell, and a small crack or key-hole is suf- I 
ficient to let them in. 
If you wish to test the circulating power of f 
an odor, leave the lump of charcoal out of the 
pot some day when boiling cabbage or tur¬ 
nips; after dinner is cleared away, and the un¬ 
pleasant smell has all gone from the kitchen 
and dining-room, go into the next room ; 
you will probably notice it and open the win¬ 
dows : then go to the room that has been 
farthest removed from the kitchen, and which 
has been most closely shut—say the spare 
chamber—and you will be likely to say 
something uncomplimentary concerning cab¬ 
bage. Air the room thoroughly, and then go 
into the closet, and there you have your 
“ boiled dinner ” in full force. “ Pervasive ” 
and “insistent” you might be tempted to 
call the odor, if you happened to have been 
reading Miss Murfree. 
In the closet of the family sleeping room you may 
not notice an unpleasant, “close” odor, though more 
likely you will ; but be sure, if nothing special has 
been done to prevent, that the air and all the clothing 
hanging there are fully impregnated with the evil 
gases exhaled from the lungs and pores of the sleepers. 
Some special method of warfare needs to be incorpor¬ 
ated into the regular system of purifying to keep the 
closet from being a reservoir of poison. The clothing, 
of course, needs frequent airings of a bright, breezy 
day ; but before doing this, it wo aid be well to take 
an old tin can with lid attached, put in it a few spoon¬ 
fuls of sulphur, place it on the back of the stove and 
stir a rag around in it while it heats. The sulphur 
will become gummy and stick to the cloth. This is to 
be set on fire, the lid pressed down, the can put in the 
closet on a pan of ashes or something of the kind for 
safety ; then the door may be closed until all is burned. 
This fumigating process would surely be beneficial if 
carried into the corners under the beds—if they must 
stand in corners—or into the cellar. The room where 
there has been sickness, as well as all the clothing 
used about the patient, should be well fumigated, the 
latter in a tight closet; this kills the germs of con¬ 
tagious diseases. 
Faith in the unseen is not a characteristic of the 
rising generation of workers. Young people desirous ] 
of getting ahead do not intend to spend time or 
strength without reaping speedy and .visible results ; { 
this is particularly true in the West, where all achieve- i 
ment is most superficial. A young man with plenty 1 
of this typical go-ahead-ativeness, but impatient of 1 
attention to details, assured me the other day that 1 
they had spilt any quantity of milk on the dirt floor of i 
the cellar at his own home, which “they never bothered t 
to clean up,” and it had never hurt any of them in the s 
least. In like manner a man will say: “ I’ve used t 
tobacco all my life, and see how tough and hearty I 
am !” to all of which it seems useless to reply. The 
results of breathing foul air are not so immediate or 
so violent as to attract attention to the cause in the 
minds of the thoughtless. They are rather of the 
sneaking order, and assail their victim with insinuat- 
ing headaches, backaches, weariness in the morning, 
chilliness and indigestion and various eruptions. Most 
often these are classed under the head of malaria— 
i. e., bad air—and promptly ousted by a course of 
quinine and whisky. So much for neglecting the 
ounce of prevention. 
I have effectually cured an obstinate course of fore¬ 
noon headaches by having a box of turnips removed 
from the cellar. 
The whole subject is worn threadbare in print, and 
yet, even on that campus there seems to be need of 
more energetic warfare ; for is it not in the columns of 
popular periodicals that we read the numberless entic¬ 
ing directions for draperies, cushions, tidies, uphol¬ 
stery and embroideries in all textures, including plush 
and velvet ? And these even for the adornment of 
bed-rooms, as if the more securely to provide store¬ 
rooms for disease germs ! 
Surgery has become antiseptic; how far may we 
hope that our daily living shall become so ? The best 
beginning that can be made by us, whose business it 
# I 
0177 C 
o r Ke re 
Fig. 31. 
is to provide home comforts, will be in the way of in¬ 
telligent cleanliness at the expense of a certain excess 
of prettiness. u. j. smalley. 
A GIRL’S ASPIRATIONS. 
® have all noticed that when two people fall 
“ V into heated discussion, it often happens that 
the disagreement is due more to a misunderstanding 
of each other’s positions than to real diversity of 
opinion. Prudence has been accused of having too 
little faith in girlish aspirations ; but she begs Melinda 
to consider that if she failed to say an encouraging 
word to the girl with definite ambitions and purposes, 
it was because she was thinking rather of those vague, 
unformulated yearnings from which many girls suffer, 
and was addressing, just then, those whom duty or ill 
health compels to a life of self-denial ; and if she has 
unduly delayed her latest word, it was because she has 
been thinking, thinking, for many weeks upon the 
subject. Not one girl in twenty is called upon to stay 
on and on in the home nest. Like our cheery-hearted 
Dorothy Deane, many a daughter can add more to the 
home life by gifts and loving help, and the cheer her 
weekly letters may carry to the stagnant rural atmos¬ 
phere, than by settling down supinely at home. The 
mother, living her life over again in her daughters, 
wUl gain through them the refreshment of new expe¬ 
riences, advance and a reasonable success. 
Again, many a farmer—thank Fortune !—is able to 
give his children liberal opportunities for self-develop¬ 
ment. If, as sometimes seems, such fathers usually 
have stupid or unambitious children, we must conclude 
that thus Dame Fortune evens up her favors. We all 
know how gloriously courage and determination have 
again and again triumphed over poverty and restric¬ 
tions. Old people used to say, “ Better have a thou¬ 
sand dollars in than with a wife.” It might be made 
to read, “ Better haye a thousand-dpllar intellect than 
' a thousand-dollar credit with which to get an educa- 
s tion ”—if you cannot have both. Rather than discour¬ 
age a girl’s ambitions, those who study the lives of 
! those about them are ready to bid her God-speed, con- 
1 fident that she can, within reasonable limits, be and 
do almost what she will. 
But she must purpose earnestly, and had best de¬ 
cide as clearly as possible what she aims to do. Then 
she can fall to work, and work after all is the greatest 
of blessings to the able and discontented. Nothing 
can equal it as a cudgel with which to drive away the 
blues and such moods as E. B. M. once put into words 
for us. 
A worthy purpose dignifies even the humblest effort; 
better have a goal before you even though it be 
hopelessly remote; for fortune seldom fails to reward 
those who will not be discouraged, and a kind Pilot 
often brings the craft into wider harbors than the 
mariner had power to imagine. If the angel of suc¬ 
cess, like Jacob’s opponent at Peniel, will sometimes 
yield only after a long night of wrestling, maybe it is 
because he has other blessings to give than the one 
demanded, and will not let us off with the lesser one 
only. May not the toughening of mental fiber and the 
strengthening of moral nerve gained in the long 
struggle be its best issue? 
To return to the question of aspirations ; reflection 
leads one to conclude that worthy longingsto 
be can be. counted upon to bring a blessed 
-y - fulfillment, but that yearnings to lmve often 
% go unsatisfied and breed unhappiness. As 
"7 for the croquet playing, I scarcely know a 
i, I farmer’s daughter who has not time for it if 
\ she chooses to spend her leisure in that way. 
In long summer afternoons usually come 
several hours free from any compelling duties. 
ACt? As is suggested, we do quite as well, when 
y\ we have only our own pleasure to consider, 
if we fare a-field and study the birds and 
flowers, or simply sit ourselves down and 
I enjoy Nature, as when knocking wayward 
balls through obstinate arches. Croquet is a 
neglected pastime now, but there is still time 
for it. It may be otherwise outside of New 
I i. \ England, where farmers are more progressive 
\-jtj and are making money faster. We do things 
1 y? more leisurely in Connecticut, eating some of 
\ our cake as we go along, prudence primrose. 
HOME-MADE PORTIERE. 
O FTEN with a little ingenuity very pretty 
things can be made for the adornment 
of the house out of materials found on the 
farm. At Fig. 31 is shown an imitation 
Japanese bead and bamboo portiere made of 
corn stalks and horsechestnuts—the draw, 
ing will explain how they are strung on strong furni¬ 
ture twine. If a needle of suitable length cannot be 
procured, an eye can be made in a knitting needle by 
heating the end red hot and bending it around as in 
Fig. 2, at left of cut. Very pretty patterns can be 
made by cutting the stalks into different lengths and 
putting in more or less chestnuts to suit the fancy. 
The nuts should be fresh, or soaked in w r ater until so 
soft that a hole can be punched through them. The 
curtain pole is a straight, smooth sapling of any tough 
wood, dried with the bark on and varnished, m. l. r. 
One cent will carry this paper to your friend in 
any part of North America after you have written 
your name on the corner to show whom it is from. 
The hypophosphites of lime and soda 
combined with cod-liver oil in Scott’s 
Emulsion improve the appetite, promote 
digestion, and increase the weight. 
They are thought by some to be food ; 
but this is not proved. They are tonics ; 
this is admitted by all. 
Cod-liver oil is mainly a food, but also 
a tonic. 
In Scott’s Emulsion the cod-liver oil 
and hypophosphites are so combined as 
to get the full advantage of both. 
Let us send you a book on careful 
living ; free. 
Scott & Bownk, Chemists, 132 South 5th Avenue, New York. 
