XLVI.GREAT MISTAKES.
WHEN the weather becomes so warm that furnaces and large fires can be dispensed with, the regular “spring cleaning” is usually commenced in earnest. Until then, the most perfect housekeeper cannot prevent the accumulation of ashes or fine dust, which, ascending from the furnace or stove below with each morning’s renewal, will find a lodgment in carpets and furniture, and can be fully removed only by a longer process than can be given weekly. Were it not that the carpets and furniture would be utterly ruined by the insensible deposit of dust and ashes in the winter, and by flies, spiders, damps, and mold of the summer, which by fall have been too much for the most vigilant care, the great domestic terror over which gentlemen so pathetically lament—a general “house-cleaning”—could easily be dispensed with. Without those special troubles, we could get along, by good management, with but very little general disturbance of the regular routine of household cares, and no derangement of family comfort but what the most fastidious could patiently and cheerfully submit to.
The last touch to the perfect purification of the house, in the estimation of many notable housekeepers, is to have the fireplace or grate brightly polished, and the bricks on the back and sides either whitewashed or painted (slate, drab, or some neutral color), and this once satisfactorily accomplished, they are very sensitive if any wish is expressed to have a fire kindled again before fall, preferring to risk fevers or any of the malarial troubles so likely to result from damp or cool nights and mornings, rather than seetheir clean, nicely painted grates blackened by the action of fire.
Now, we cannot but think this is a great mistake. So much sickness and suffering may, we are convinced, be prevented by kindling a small fire every night and morning, that all pleasure in the beauty of fresh, pretty-colored grates and fireplaces is lost in the knowledge of the price paid for it. A wellblackenedgrate has more attractions for us, as it speaks of dry rooms, rosy cheeks, and good health, whereas unused and spotless bricks tell of rheumatism, chills and fever, and pale, sallow faces.
We first learned the great importance of these morning and evening fires at the West, and should have been thankful to have learned it by an easier way than through the rough school of experience. What was a good theory and better practice in the new Western life is equally beneficial in any locality where cool nights and mornings precede and follow each day, or where sudden changes from dry to damp or rainy weather may be expected. It is not at all necessary or wise in warm weather to build large fires that will heat a room. Only so much is needed as will suffice to dispel the chill damp of the atmosphere, of which one is usually conscious on entering a room early in the morning or soon after nightfall. A few sticks of light wood or a small fagot of brush will suffice. In the city it is not always easy to find material for this purpose; but in the country, whether in an old place or new, there is no difficulty, and no excuse for neglect. Small sticks, and any quantity of brush, from constantly needed repairs or pruning, are always scattered about, which, if not daily gathered up, will soon accumulate, till heaps of unsightly rubbish will meet the eye at every turn. If only for the sake of neatness, and tosave time, all this should be daily removed. It is not much labor, and a very short time is sufficient. If you have young boys or girlswith you, rightly trained to be useful, an hour or two of outdoor labor will give them pleasant and healthful occupation. Provide them with a child’s saw-horse and saw, a small, light hatchet, and a ball of strings, and let them daily go out and collect such brush as may be lying around. Show them how to cut it in proper lengths, and to tie the fagots neatly. Then they can easily, with a light wheelbarrow, take them to the wood-house or shed, and pile them ready for use. A half-hour’s or an hour’s work every day will do this, and the young folks will not feel it a burden. But if left a week or two, the brush becomes tangled, the heap grows larger, and what should be only pleasant recreation becomes a burden, perhaps really too heavy for children to undertake, and either a man’s time must be given to the work, or industry and labor be made repulsive to the young. That is also a great mistake. But by having this work regularly done, at certain hours daily, by your children, a threefold good may be gained: the house, grounds, and surroundings can be kept free from disagreeable litter; the means secured at the same time, with little labor and no cost, to preserve a healthful atmosphere all through the house; and your children taught a lesson in neatness and industry which they will not in after years forget, and which, whatever their position in life, will always be valuable.
While among the pines and palmettos in the newly settled parts of Florida, we looked with envious eyes on the “fat wood,” as it is called, which lies around the clearings in the greatest abundance. A few small sticks from these pine knots, at the first touch of a match, start into a wonderfully bright flame, before which, while it lasts, the light of our best kerosene lamps is obscured, and the morning and evening dampness is expelled, so that comfortable but not heated air is secured. We were pleased to see in these brilliant fires, regularly kindled, strong proof of good common-sense.
We believe full half the sickness which abounds in newly settled countries or in malarial districts could be entirely prevented by this easy, simple practice. At any rate, it would certainly be quite as effectual as the innumerable and abominable doses which each section of country accepts as the only cure; and it would have the advantage of being a pleasant remedy, warranted not to produce some disease far worse than the first.
Another great mistake is the exclusion of sunlight from our houses. We have spoken of this some time since, and wish the importance of admitting the light of the sun freely, as well as building these early and late fires, could be properly impressed upon our housekeepers. No article of furniture should ever be brought to our homes too good or too delicate for the sun to see all day long. His presence should never be excluded, except when so bright as to be uncomfortable to the eyes. And a walk in good, bright sunlight, before the heat is too intense, is very beneficial, so that the eyes are protected by veil or parasol when the light is inconveniently strong. Asun-bathis of far more importance in preserving a healthful condition of the body than is generally understood. A sun-bath costs nothing, and that is a misfortune, for people are deluded with the idea that those things only can be good or useful which cost money. But remember that pure water, fresh air, sunlight, and homes kept free from dampness, will secure you from many heavy bills of the doctors, and give you health and vigor, which no money can procure. It is a well-established fact that people who live much in the sun are usually stronger and more healthy than those whose occupations deprive them of sunlight.