The practical housewife : a complete encyclopædia of domestic economy and family medical guide / by the original editor of the "Family friend", the "Housewife's reason why", etc.

  • Philp, Robert Kemp, 1819-1882.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The practical housewife : a complete encyclopædia of domestic economy and family medical guide / by the original editor of the "Family friend", the "Housewife's reason why", etc. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    35/360 (page 15)
    By this latter we do not mean actual eating, but abstinence from per- nicious viands, as pastry, sweetmeats, rich gravies, unripe fi'uit, &Ci Pork, veal, and various kinds of Vegetables can only be eaten sparingly and occasionally by some persons. Spirits should only be used medi- cinally-, that is to say, at times when common sense tells us they might be of benefit. To take them habitually is equivalent to slow poison. Besides the benefit a woman derives in her health and person from attention to all matters relative to personal care, she will gain another in the effect of her example upon her dependants; for we are all, to a, certain extent, creatures of imitation, and prone to follow example,, ] be it good or bad. Servants who see before them one who consistently practises the virtues of economy, regularity, personal cleanliness, and general neatness, will never run diametrically counter to all this, Dut will in some degree shape their conduct accordingly ; while all the precepts in the world, without practice, will but go in at one ear and out at the other. ' Where only one or two servants are kept, the mistress will do, well not to leave her chamber before she has opened her windows and laid the bed-clothes back over two chairs, so as to ensure the sheets and blankets, heated by the contact with the body all night, being well aired and cooled. No bed should be made, or night-dress folded up, until it has been aired, and suffered thoroughly to cool for at least two hours. Nurseries should be aired while the children are at breakfast, and while they are taking their morning walk. Dining and drawing-rooms require a current of fresh air passed through them at least once every day, to dislodge all the vitiated air tainted by the smell of food, flowers, &c., and by having been inhaled by those using the rooms. Many of our readers have doubtless been struck, on entering some houses, by the close, faint, unwholesome smell they, coming from the fresh air, at once perceive. Those who dwell in it habitually are not conscious of it. They dread the chill of fresh air, or the dust or smuts it will bring with it into their rooms ; and therefore shut it carefully out, and cherish in its stead a species of slow poison—a heavy atmosphere loaded with all sorts of pernicious gases. Light, too, is another forbidden luxury in some houses. Heavy Venetian blinds jealously protect the delicate hues of the curtains and carpets from its influence, and the inmates consequently fade, instead of the upholstery ; for a human being can no more do without light tlipai can a flower, and we only need place this latter in a cellar for a few days, and we shall see how it will look. It must not, how- ever, be supposed that we would recklessly suffer the noonday sun to. shine on our damask curtains or tapestry carpets, or that we should open our windows when rain, hail, or snow beat full upon them ; all we wish to do is to advise such a use of Grod's choicest gifts as health requires, and common sense dictates. Nor is it only with a view to exercising a salutary influence upon, her domestics, and strengthening herself, that we would counsel our housewife to pay strict attention to all matters of sanitary importance. A female writer of some celebrity has said— If before marriage a.