Household cookery and laundry work

Rooms in use should be brushed out daily with a short brush, and a dust-pan held in front of it. A hard brush is very wasteful for carpets, and brushing the dust out of the room into the hall or lobby sends it flying into corners, and causes much additional work. Afterwards the room ought to be carefully dusted with a clean, well-shaken duster. Once a week each room should have a thorough cleaning in every corner. Bedrooms require great attention as to cleanliness and ventilation, otherwise injury to health is the consequence. The fresh pure air inhaled is carried by the blood all over the body, and in its journey gathers up the impurity or waste of the body, and brings it back to the heart, from whence it goes to the lungs, and is sent out of the body by the breath exhaled. This breath is poisonous, and has often caused death; if persons must be in such a close space that no fresh air can be admitted, they are poisoned very quickly by the impure air they exhale. This impure air is much lighter than pure air, and ascends to the roof of a room first. The simplest way to ventilate a room is to have the window open a little at the top, to allow the impure air to escape, the space will then be filled with pure air, which will rush in under doors, at keyholes, and every available opening. A fire in a bedroom in sickness keeps the atmosphere of the room warm, though the window be slightly open at the top, and also ventilates the room by the current of fresh air that fire draws to it. When the room is small, and, it may be, several people sleeping in it, those precautions are absolutely necessary, otherwise headaches and injury to health are the consequences. Bedroom carpets ought to be so easily lifted, that they may be frequently shaken and the floor washed. Bedsteads ought to be drawn aside once a week, and the floor swept and washed underneath ; the blankets taken off, and the bed left for an hour, before being made, to cool and air. Every corner of the house ought to get a thorough turn over once a week, and a good housekeeper will so manage that a portion is done every day, and thus no one is incommoded, and the household machinery works smoothly. Personal cleanliness is more essential to health than the cleanliness and ventilation of the bedroom. The breath exhaled carries off a part of the waste of our bodies ; but our skin is covered with millions of small openings called sweat glands, and through those openings the blood sends a great portion of the waste of the body, just like the ashes dropping from a fire; and if the body is not washed frequently to keep the skin clean, the pores get filled up with sweat, and the blood is gradually poisoned. So that people must wash frequently, not only to look nice, but to keep the sweat glands open and allow the waste of the body to escape. Garments worn during the day next the skin, particularly flannel, should not be worn at night, as the dead organic matter coming out of the pores is sent back into the skin again, and is very unwholesome. INDEX Beverages — PAOE Apple Water, . .116 Barley Water, . .115 „ Clear, . 115 Black Currant Jam Water, . . .114 Boston Cream, . . 117 Cocoa, .... 121 Coffee, .... 120 Egg Drink, . . .111 Gruel, . . . .113 Koumiss, . . .116 Lemonade, . . .114 Lemon Syrup, . .117 Lemon Whey, . .116 Orange Syrup, . .118