On habits and manners

As soon as she herself is dressed in the morning, she gives the children such help as they require in washing and dressing, making sure that they begin the day with clean skins, if nothing more, and then, after thoroughly shaking up the beds and opening the windows, she goes down stairs to get breakfast, her husband having, in the meantime, made the fire. However simple the breakfast may be, if it should consist only of coffee and cornbread, it should be neatly served in the eating-room, on a clean tablecloth and from clean dishes. To this meal, and all others, the family should sit down promptly and together ; their food should be eaten in a clean and orderly way, and, if possible, should not be eaten in the same room in which the cooking, washing, etc., are going on. I have already drawn your attention to the fact that a careless, disorderly habit in respect to serving and eating food should be carefully avoided, not only because it indicates ignorant and T46 on habits and manners. coarse tastes, but also because it is injurious to health, and I would once more lay down, as a cardinal principle of good housekeeping, that the eating-room should not be used as a cooking or sleeping-room, that the table should be neatly set with a clean cloth, clean china, glass, etc., and that the food should be served and eaten in a neat and orderly way. You will find that there is no one thing which will more affect the comfort of your family than that the meals should be prepared and eaten with regularity and order, and though those of you who have never made the attempt may feel that it is not worth the trouble you think it will cost you, you will find, if you will but make an honest trial, that the trouble is nothing in comparison with the increase of comfort and the satisfaction of feeling that you are educating your children in some very important particulars, But to return to our diligent housekeeper ; by this time she has, I think, finished her breakfast, cleared her table and washed her dishes in the way I have already described. This accomplished, she will put away the articles used, in their proper places on the cupboard shelves, in drawers, etc., will sweep and dust the room and then go upstairs to the bedrooms, which she will proceed to put in order for the day. And here I must say a word about the care of the beds and bedsteads, a duty the neglect of which never fails to produce most unpleasant results. If there is one thing in your house about the cleanliness of which you should be absolutely sure, it is the beds, and the only way to obtain such certainty is by constant care. The beds should be thoroughly shaken up every morning as soon as the occupants are out of them ; and by this I mean that you should not only take off the coverlids, blankets, sheets, pillows, etc., and spread them out upon chairs in such a way that the air may have tree circulation about them, but that you should also take off or throw back the bed or mattress itself, so that the framework of the bedstead will be exposed to the air and light. You should let the beds and bedclothes lie in this way for at least an hour every morning, and in addition to this, you should, as often as once a month, remove everything from the bedstead and wipe it off carefully with hot soapsuds, and then turpentine, going th