For Health and Beauty

1895

The Doctor Says They Both Depend on Clean Bedchambers.

The room in which one sleeps is the room in which one breathes and absorbs, whether it be pure or impure air. A dust laden atmosphere will clog up the lungs in a very short time, and bad air will lay the seeds of consumption, fevers and all the horrors which flesh is heir to and which come through careless neglect of the simple laws of life as anything else.

The ideal bedchamber is airy. It opens on free air and is bathed in sunshine all day. It has matting on the floor, and if the occupant is an anaconda by nature a rug of fur or wool flung in the center of the room. The windows are securely screened from cracks by well fitting frames and weather strips, and so obviate the necessity for heavy draperies, which accumulate dust and disease germs. The muslin curtains which adorn the windows, hung on slender brass rods, are washed as soon as they are at all dusty. The furniture is to suit the occupant's fancy, but is not too cumbersome to be easily moved aside and frequently dusted. Hygienic wall paper, which can be wiped off with a damp cloth, covers the walls.

The bed is of brass or iron, without draperies, with spring hair mattress and no flat bolster, no pillows. The bedclothes are light and warm, blankets being used instead of heavy quilts.

In this healthful apartment the occupant sleeps from eight to ten hours, going to sleep before 12, and here the gas is turned out, and the window opened for 15 minutes every night before the sleeper goes to sleep.

In the morning an hour's airing, with the windows open, is not too much for the healthful woman's room. The matting should be wiped up with a damp cloth every day or every other day, and dust should be fought as one would death or disease — not only for appearance and happiness' sake, but for health and beauty's sake too. — New York Advertiser.