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The American woman's home, or, Principles of domestic science : being a guide to the formation and maintenance of economical, healthful, beautiful, and Christian homes

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

GIFT OF

Martha Green

NEW YORK J.B.FORD&CO.

1869.

AGRICULTURE Add'1

GIFT

I THE

AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME:

OR,

PRINCIPLES OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE;

A GUIDE TO THE FORMATION AND MAINTENANCE OF ECONOMICAL HEALTHFUL, BEAUTIFUL, AND CHRISTIAN HOMES.

BY

CATHARINE E. BEECHER

AND

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.

NEW-YORK : J. B. FORD AND COMPANY.

BOSTON : H. A. BROWN & CO. PHILADELPHIA : CHAS. S. GREENE & CO.

CHICAGO : J A. STODDARD & CO. CINCINNATI : HENRY HOWE.

SAN FRANCISCO : FRANCIS DEWING & CO.

1869.

AGWCULTUSE

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by J. B. FORD & CO.,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District

of New York.

UNIVERSITY PRESS: WELCH, BIGELOW, & Co., CAMBRIDGE.

AGRIC. LIBRARY

TO

TIE WOIEN OF AMEEICA,

IN WHOSE HANDS REST THE REAL DESTINIES OF THE REPUBLIC, AS MOULDED BY THE EARLY TRAINING AND PRESERVED

AMID THE MATURER INFLUENCES OF HOME, •

THIS VOLUME IS

AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.

363

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

I'HB chief cause of woman's disabilities and sufferings, that women are not trained, as men are, for their peculiar duties — Aim of this volume to elevate the honor and remuneration of domestic employment — Wo- man's duties, and her utter lack of training for them — Qualifications of the writers of this volume to teach the matters proposed — Experience and study of woman's work — Conviction of the dignity and importance of it — The great social and moral power in her keeping — The princi- ples and teachings of Jesus Christ the true basis of woman's rights and duties.— Pages 13-16.

THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY.

Object of the Family State — Duty of the elder and stronger to raise the younger, weaker, and more ignorant to an equality of advantages — Dis- cipline of the family — The example of Christ one of self-sacrifice as man's elder brother — His assumption of a low estate — His manual labor

— His trade — Woman the chief minister of the family estate— Man the out-door laborer and provider — Labor and self-denial in the mutual re- lations of home-life, honorable, healthful, economical, enjoyable, and Christian.— Pages 17-22.

n. A CHRISTIAN HOUSE.

True wisdom in building a home — Necessity of economizing time, labor, and expense, by the close packing of conveniences — Plan of a model cot- tage — Proportions — Piazzas — Entry — Stairs and landings — Large room

— Movable Screen — Convenient bedsteads — A good mattress — A cheap and convenient ottoman — Kitchen and stove-room — The stove-room and its arrangements — Second or attic story — Closets, corner dressing-tables, windows, balconies, water and earth'dosets, shoe-bag, piece-bag — Base- ment, closets, refrigerator, washtubs, etc. — Laundry — General wood- work — Conservatories — Average estimate of cost. — Pages 23-43.

ii CONTENTS.

m. A HEALTHFUL HOME.

Household murder — Poisoning and starvation the inevitable result of bad air in public halls and private homes — Good air as needful as good food— Structure and operations of the lungs and their capillaries and air-cells — How people in a confined room will deprive the air of oxygen and overload it with refuse carbonic acid — Starvation of the living body deprived of oxygen — The skin and its twenty-eight miles of per- spiratory tubes — Reciprocal action of plants and animals — Historical examples of foul-air poisoning — Outward effects of habitual breathing of bad air — Quotations from scientific authorities. — Pages 43-58.

IV.

SCIENTIFIC DOMESTIC VENTILATION.

An open fireplace secures due ventilation — Evils of substituting air-tight stoves and furnace heating — Tendency of .warm air to rise and of cool air to sink — Ventilation of mines — Ignorance of architects — Poor venti- lation in most houses — Mode of ventilating laboratories — Creation of a current of warm air in a flue open at top and bottom of the room — Flue to be built into chimney : method of utilizing it. — Pages 59-65.

v. STOVES, FURNACES, AND CHIMNEYS.

The general properties of heat, conduction, convection, radiation, reflec- tion— Cooking done by radiation the simplest but most wasteful mode : by convection (as in stoves and furnaces) the cheapest — The range — The model cooking-stove—interior arrangements and principles — Contrivan- ces for economizing heat, labor, time, fuel, trouble, and expense — Its durability, simplicity, etc. — Chimneys : why they smoke and how to cure them — Furnaces : the dryness of their heat — Necessity of moisture in warm air — How to obtain and regulate it. — Pages 66-83.

VI.

HOME DECORATION.

Significance of beauty in making home attractive and useful in education — Exemplification of economical and tasteful furniture — The carpet, lounge, lambrequins, curtains, ottomans, easy-chair, centre-table — Money left for pictures — Chromos — Pretty frames — Engravings — Statu- ettes— Educatory influence of works of art — Natural adornments — Mate- rials in the woods and fields — Parlor-gardens — Hanging baskets — Fern- shields — Ivy, its beauty and tractableness — Window, with flowers, vines,

CONTENTS. ill

and pretty plants — Rustic stand for flowers— Ward's case — How to make it economically — Bowls and vases of rustic work for growing plants — Ferns, how and when to gather them — General remarks. — Pages 84^103.

vn. THE CARE OF HEALTH.

Importance of some knowledge of the body and its needs — Fearful re- sponsibility of entering upon domestic duties in ignorance — The funda- mental vital principle — Cell-life — Wonders of the microscope — Cell- multiplication — Constant interplay of decay and growth necessary to life — The red and white cells of the blood — Secreting and converting power — The nervous system — The brain and the nerves — Structural arrangement and functions — The ganglionic system — The nervous fluid — Necessity of properly apportioned exercise to nerves of sensation and of motion — Evils of excessive or insufficient exercise — Equal develop- ment of the whole. — Pages 104-112.

vm. DOMESTIC EXERCISE.

Connection of muscles and nerves — Microscopic cellular muscular fibre — Its mode of action — Dependence on the nerves of voluntary and involun- tary motion — How exercise of muscles quickens circulation of the blood which maintains all the processes of life — Dependence of equilibrium upon proper muscular activity — Importance of securing exercise that will interest the mind.— Pages 113-118.

HEALTHFUL FOOD.

Apportionment of elements in food : carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, calci- um, iron, silicon, etc. — Large proportion of water in the human body — Dr. Holmes on the interchange of death and life — Constituent parts of a kernel of wheat — Comparison of different kinds of food — General direc- tions for diet — Hunger the proper guide and guard of appetite— Evils of over-eating — Structure and operations of the stomach — Times and quantity for eating — Stimulating and nourishing food — Americans eat too much meat — Wholesome effects of Lenten fasting- Matter and manner of eating — Causes of debilitation from misuse of food. — Pages 119-137.

IV CONTENTS.

HEALTHFUL DRINKS.

Stimulating drinks not necessary — Their immediate evil effects upon the human body and tendency to grow into habitual desires — The ar- guments for and against stimulus — Microscopic revelations of the ef- fects of alcohol on the cellular tissue of the brain — Opinions of high scientific authorities against its use — No need of resorting to stimu- lants either for refreshment, nourishment, or pleasure — Tea and coffee an extensive cause of much nervous debility and suffering — Tend to wasteful use in the kitchen — Are seldom agreeable at first to children — Are dangerous to sensitive, nervous organizations, and should be at least regulated — Hot drinks unwholesome, debilitating, and destructive to teeth, throat, and stomach — Warm drinks agreeable and not un- healthful — Cold drinks not to be too freely used during meals— Drink- ing while eating always injurious to digestion. — Pages 138-149.

XI.

CLEANLINESS.

Health and comfort depend on cleanliness — Scientific treatment of the skin, the most complicated organ of the body — Structure and arrange- ment of the skin, its layers, cells, nerves, capillaries, absorbents, oil- tubes, perspiration-tubes, etc. — The mucous membrane — Phlegm- — The secreting organs — The liver, kidney, pancreas, salivary and lachrymal, glands — Sympathetic connection of all the bodily organs — Intimate con- nection of the skin with all the other organs — Proper mode of treating the skin — Experiment showing happy effects of good treatment. — Pages 150-157.

xn. CLOTHING.

Fashion attacks the very foundation of the body, the bones — Bones com posed of animal and mineral elements — General construction and ar- rangement— Health of bones dependent on nourishment and exercise of body — Spine — Distortions produced by tight dressing — Pressure of in- terior organs upon each other and upon the bones — Displacement of stomach, diaphragm, heart, intestines, and pelvic or lower organs — Wo- men liable to peculiar distresses — A well-fitted jacket to replace stiff corsets, supporting the bust above and the under skirts below — Dress ing of young children — Safe for a healthy child to wear as little cloth- ing as will make it thoroughly comfortable — Nature the guide — The very young and the very old need the most clothing. — Pages 158-166.

CONTENTS. V

xm. GOOD COOKING.

Bad cooking prevalent in America — Abundance of excellent material — General management of food here very wasteful and extravagant —Five great departments of Cookery — Bread — What it should be, how to spoil and how to make it — Different modes of aeration — Baking — Evils of hot bread. — Butter — Contrast between the butter of America and of European countries — How to make good butter. — Meat — General- ly used too newly killed — Lack of nicety in butcher's work — Economy of French butchery, carving, and trimming — Modes of cooking meats — The frying-pan — True way of using it — The French art of making delicious soups and stews — Vegetables — Their number and variety in America — The potato — How to cook it, a simple yet difficult operation — Roasted, boiled, fried. — Tea — Warm table drinks generally — Coffee — Tea— Chocolate. — Confectionery — Ornamental cookery — Pastry, ices, iellies.— Pages 167-190.

xrv.

EARLY RISING.

A virtue peculiarly American and democratic— In aristocratic countries, labor considered degrading — The hours of sunlight generally devoted to labor by the working classes and to sleep by the indolent and wealthy — Sunlight necessary to health and growth whether of vegetables or ani- mals— Particularly needful for the sick — Substitution of artificial light and heat, by night, a great waste of money — Eight hours' sleep enough — Excessive sleep debilitating — Early rising necessary to a well-regulated family, to the amount of work to be done, to the commu- nity, to schools, and to all classes in American society. — Pages 191-196.

xv. DOMESTIC MANNERS.

Good manners the expression of benevolence in personal intercourse — Serious defects in manners of the Americans — Causes of abrupt manners to be found in American life — Want of clear discrimination between men— Necessity for distinctions of superiority: and subordination — Im- portance that young mothers should seriously endeavor to remedy this defect, while educating their children — Democratic principle of equal rights to be applied, not to our own interests but to those of others — The same courtesy to be extended to all classes — Necessary distinctions arising from mutual relations to be observed — The strong to defer to the weak— Precedence yielded by men to women in America — Good, manners must be cultivated in early life — Mutual relations of husband and wife — Parents and children — The rearing of children to courtesy — De Tocqueville on American manners. — Pages 197-211.

n CONTENTS.

XVI.

GOOD TEMPER IN THE HOUSEKEEPER.

Easier for a household under the guidance of an equable temper in the mistress — Dissatisfied looks and sharp tones destroy the comfort of system, neatness, and economy — Considerations to aid the housekeeper — Importance and dignity of her duties — Difficulties to be overcome- Good policy to calculate beforehand upon the derangement of well- arranged plans — Object of housekeeping, the comfort and well-being of the family — The end should not be sacrificed to secure the means — Possible to refrain from angry tones — Mild speech most effective — Ex- emplification— Allowances to be made for servants and children — Power of religion to impart dignity and importance to the ordinary and petty details of domestic life.— Pages 212-219.

XVII.

HABITS OF SYSTEM AND ORDER.

Relative importance and difficulty of the duties a woman is called to per- form— Her duties not trivial — A habit of system and order necessary — Right apportionment of time — General principles — Christianity to be the foundation — Intellectual and social interests to be preferred to gratifica- tion of taste or appetite — Neglect of health a sin in the sight of God — Regular season of rest appointed by the Creator — Divisions of time — Systematic arrangement of house articles and other conveniences — Regular employment for each member of a family — Children — Family work — Forming habits of system— Early rising a very great aid — Due apportionment of time to the several duties. — Pages 220-232.

XVIII.

GIVING IN CHARITY.

No point of duty more difficult to fix by rule than charity — First consi- deration— Object for which we are placed in this world — Self-denying Benevolence. — Second consideration — Natural principles not to be ex- terminated, but regulated and controlled. — Third consideration — Super- fluities sometimes proper, and sometimes not. — Fourth consideration — No rule of duty right for one and not for all — The opposite of this principle tested — Some use of superfluities necessary — Plan for keeping an account of necessities and superfluities — Untoward results of our actions do not always prove that we deserve blame — General princi- ples to guide in deciding upon objects of charity — Who are our neigh- bors—The most in need to be first relieved — Not much need of charity for physical wants in this country — Associated charities — Indiscrimi- nate charity — Impropriety of judging the charities of others— Pages 233-246.

CONTENTS. Til

XIX.

ECONOMY OF TIME AND EXPENSES.

Economy, value, and right apportionment of time — Laws appointed by God for the Jews — Christianity removes the restrictions laid on the Jews, but demands all our time to be devoted to our own best interests and the good of our fellow-men — Enjoyment connected with every duty — Various modes of economizing time — System and order — Unit- ing several objects in one employment — Odd intervals of time — Aiding others in economizing time — Economy in expenses— Contradictory no- tions—General principles in which all agree — Knowledge of income and expenses— Evils of want of system and forethought — Young ladies should early learn to be systematic and economical. — Pages 247-254

xx.

HEALTH OF MIND.

Intimate connection between the body and mind— Brain excited by im; proper stimulants taken into the stomach — Mental faculties then affect- ed— Causes of mental disease — Want of oxygenized blood — Fresh air absolutely necessary— Excessive exercise of the intellect or feelings — Such attention to religion as prevents the performance of other duties, wrong — Unusual precocity in children usually the result of a diseased brain — Idiocy often the result, or the precocious child sinks below the average of mankind — This evil yet prevalent in colleges and other semi- naries— A medical man necessary in every seminary — Some pupils always needing restraint in regard to study — A third cause of mental disease, the want of appropriate exercise of the various faculties of the mind — Extract from Dr. Combe — Beneficial results of active intellectual employments — Indications of a diseased mind. — Pages 255-262.

XXI.

THE CARE OF INFANTS.

Herbert Spencer on the treatment of offspring — Absurdity of undertak- ing to rear children without any knowledge of how to do it — Foolish management of parents generally the cause of evils ascribed to Provi- dence— Errors of management during the first two years— Food of child and of mother — Warning as to use of too much medicine— Fresh air- Care of the skin — Dress — Sleepr-Bathing — Change of air — Habits — Dangers of the teething period — Constipation — Diarrhea — Teething- How to relieve its dangers — Feverishness — Use of water. — Pages 263- 274.

Vili CONTENTS.

xxn. THE MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHILDREN.

Physical education of children — Animal diet to be avoided for the very young — Result of treatment at Albany Orphan Asylum — Good ventila- tion of nurseries and schools — Moral training to consist in forming Tidbits of submission, self-denial, and benevolence — General suggestions — Extremes of sternness and laxity to be avoided — Appreciation of childish desires and feelings — Sympathy— Partaking in games and employments — Inculcation of principles preferable to multiplication of commands — Rewards rather than penalties — Severe tones of voice — Children to be kept happy— Sensitive children — Self-denial — Deceit and honesty — Immodesty and delicacy — Dreadful penalties consequent upon youthful impurities — Religious training. — Pages 275-286.

xxiii. DOMESTIC AMUSEMENTS AND SOCIAL DUTIES.

Children need more amusement than older persons — Its object, to afford rest and recreation to the mind and body — Example of Christ — No amuse- ments to be introduced that will tempt the weak or over-excite the young — Puritan customs — Work followed by play — Dramatic exercises, dancing, and festivity wholesomely enjoyed — The nine o'clock bell — The drama and the dance — Card-playing — Novel-reading — Taste for solid reading — Cultivation of fruits and flowers — Music — Collecting of shells, plants, and minerals — Games — Exercise of mechanical skill for boys — Sewing, cutting, and fitting — General suggestions — Social and domestic duties— Family attachments— Hospitality.— Pages 287-302.

XXIV.

CARE OF THE AGED.

Preservation of the aged, designed to give opportunity for self-denial and loving oare — Patience, sympathy, and labor for them to be regarded as privileges in a family — The young should respect and minister unto the aged — Treating them as valued members of the family — Engaging them in domestic games and sports — Reading aloud — Courteous atten- tion to their opinions — Assistance in retarding decay of faculties by helping them to exercise — Keeping up interest of the infirm in domestic affairs — Great care to preserve animal heat — Ingratitude to the aged its baseness— Chinese regard for old age.— Pages 303-306.

CONTENTS. U

XXV.

THE CARE OF SERVANTS.

Origin of the Yankee term "help"— Days of good health and intelli- gent house-keeping — Growth of wealth tends to multiply hired service — American young women should be trained in housekeeping for the guidance of ignorant and shiftless servants — Difficulty of teaching ser- vants— Reaction of society in favor of women's intellectuality, in danger of causing a new reaction — American girls should do more work — Social estimate of domestic service — Dearth of intelligent do- mestic help — Proper mode of treating servants — General rules and special suggestions — Hints from experience — Woman's first " right," liberty to do what she can — Domestic duties not to be neglected for operations in other spheres — Servants to be treated with respect — Er- rors of heartless and of too indulgent employers — Mistresses of Ameri- can families necessarily missionaries and instructors. — Pages 307-334

XXVI.

CARE OF THE SICK.

PrDminence given to care and cure of the sick by our Saviour — Every woman should know what to do in the case of illness — Simple remedies best — Fasting and perspiration — Evils of constipation — Modes of re- lieving it — Remedies for colds — Unwise to tempt the appetite of the sick — Suggestion for the sick-room — Ventilation — Needful articles — The room, bed, and person of the patient to be kept neat — Care to preserve ani- mal warmth — The sick, the delicate, the aged — Food always to be care- fully prepared and neatly served — Little modes of refreshment — Im- plicit obedience to the physician — Care in purchasing medicines — Ex- hibition of cheerfulness, gentleness, and sympathy — Knowledge and ex- perience of mind — Lack of competent nurses — Failings of nurses — Sensitiveness of the sick — " Sisters of Charity," the reason why they are such excellent nurses — Illness in the family a providential oppor- tunity of training children to love and usefulness. — Pages 335-347.

xxvn. ACCIDENTS AND ANTIDOTES.

Mode of treating cuts, wounds, severed arteries — Bad bruises to be bathed in hot water — Sprains treated with hot fomentation and rest — Burns cured by creosote, wood-soot, or flour — Drowning ; most approved mode of treatment — Poisons and their antidotes— Soda, saleratus, potash, sulphuric or oxalic acid, lime or baryta, iodine or iodide of potassium, prussic acid, antimony, arsenic, lead, nitrate of silver, phosphorus, alco- hol, tobacco, opium, strychnia — Bleeding at the lungs, stomach, throat, nose— Accidents from lightning — Stupefaction, from coal-gas or foul air — Fire — Fainting— Coolness and presence of mind. — Pages 348-353

I CONTENTS.

xxviii. SEWING, CUTTING, AND MENDING.

Different kinds of Stitch— Overstitch— Hems— Tucks— Fells— Gores- Buttonholes — Whipping — Gathering — Darning — Basting — Sewing — Work-baskets— To make a frock— Patterns— Fitting— Lining— Thin Silks — Figured and plain silks — Plaids — Stripes — Linen and Cotton — How to buy — Shirts — Chemises — Night-gowns— Under-skirts — Mend- ing— Silk dresses — Broadcloth — Hose — Shoes, etc. — Bedding — Mattres- ses— Sheeting— Bed-linen.— Pages 353-359.

XXIX.

FIRES AND LIGHTS.

Woodfires — Shallow fireplaces — Utensils — The best wood for fires — How to measure a load — Splitting and piling — Ashes — Cleaning up — Stoves and grates — Ventilation — Moisture — Stove-pipe thimbles — Anthracite coal — Bituminous coal — Care to be used in erecting stoves and pipes — Lights — Poor economy to use bad light — Gas — Oil — Kerosene — Points to be considered : Steadiness, Color, Heat — Argand burners — Dangers of kerosene — Tests of its safety and light-giving qualities — Care of lamps — Utensils needed — Shades — Night-lamps — How to make candles — Moulded— Dipped— Rush-lights.— Pages 360-366.

XXX.

THE CARE OF ROOMS.

Parlors — Cleansing — Furniture — Pictures — Hearths and jambs — Stains in marble — Carpets — Chambers and bedrooms— Ventilation — How to make a bed properly — Servants should have single beds and comfortable rooms — Kitchens — Light — Air — Cleanliness — How to make a cheap oil- cloth— The sink — Washing dishes — Kitchen furniture — Crockery — Ironware — Tinware — Basketware — Other articles — Closets — Cellars — Dryness and cleanliness imperative necessities — Store-rooms — Modes of destroying insects and vermin. — Pages 367-378.

XXXI.

THE CARE OF YARDS AND GARDENS.

Preparation of soil for pot-plants — For hot-beds — For planting flower Feeds — For garden seeds — Transplanting — To re-pot house plants — The laying out of yards and gardens — Transplanting trees — The care of house plants.— Pages 379-383.

CONTENTS. xj

XXXII.

THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS.

Propagation of bulbous roots — Propagation of plants by shoots — By lay- ers—Budding and grafting— The outer and inner bark — Detailed de- scription of operations — Seed-fruit — Stone-fruit — Rose bushes — In- grafting— Stock grafting — Pruning — Perpendicular shoots to be taken out, horizontal or curved shoots retained — All fruit-buds coming out after midsummer to be rubbed off — Suckers — Pruning to be done after sap is in circulation — Thinning — Leaves to be removed when they shade fruit near maturity— Fruit to be removed when too abundant for good quality— How to judge. — Pages 384-388.

XXXIII.

THE CULTIVATION OF FRUIT.

A pleasant, easy, and profitable occupation — Soil for a nursery — Plant- ing of seeds — Transplanting — Pruning — Filberts — Figs — Currants — Gooseberries — Raspberries — Strawberries — Grapes — Modes of pre- serving fruit trees — The yellows — Moths— Caterpillars— Brulure— Curculio— Canker-worm.— Pages 389-392.

XXXIV.

THE CARE OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

Interesting association of animals with man, from childhood to age- Domestic animals apt to catch the spirit of their masters— Important necessities — Good feeding — Shelter — Cleanliness — Destruction of par- asitic vermin— Salt and water — Light— Exercise— Rule for breeding — Care of Horses : feeding, grooming, special treatment — Cows : stab- ling, feed, calving, milking, tethering — Swine: naturally cleanly, breeding, fresh water, charcoal, feeding — Sheep: winter treatment — Diet — Sorting — Use of sheep in clearing land — Pasture — Hedges and fences — Poultry — Turkeys — Geese — Ducks — Fowls — Dairy work gen- erally— Bees — Care of domestic animals, occupation for women. — Pages 393-402.

xxxv.

EARTH-CLOSETS.

Deodorization and preservation of excrementitious matter— The earth- closet — Waring's pamphlet — The agricultural argument — Necessity of returning to the soil the elements taken from it — Earth-closet based on power of clay and inorganic matter to absorb and retain odors and fer- tilizing matter — Its construction — Mode of use — The ordinary privy — The commode or portable house-privy — Especial directions : things to be observed — Repeated use of earth — Other advantages — Sick-rooms —House-labor — Cleanliness — Economy. — Pages 403-418.

»1 CONTENTS.

XXXVI.

WARMING AND VENTILATION.

Open fireplace nearest to natural mode by which earth is warmed and ventilated— Origin of diseases — Necessity of pure air to life— Statistics — General principles of ventilation — Mode of Lewis Leeds — Ventilation of buildings planned in this work — The pure-air conductor— The foul- air exhausting-flue — Stoves — Detailed arrangements — Warming — Econ- omy of time, labor, and expense in the cottage plan — After all schemes, the open fireplace the best. — Pages 419-432.

XXXVII.

CARE OF THE HOMELESS, THE HELPLESS, AND fHE

VICIOUS.

Eecommendations of the Massachusetts Board of State Charities — Pauper and criminal classes should be scattered in Christian homes instead of gathered into large institutions — Facts recently published concerning the poor of New-York — Sufferings of the poor, deterioration of the rich — Christian principles of benevolence — Plan for a Christian city house — Suggestions to wealthy and unoccupied women — Roman Catholic works A— Protestant duties — The highest mission of woman. — Pages 433-452.

XXXVIII.

THE CHRISTIAN NEIGHBORHOOD.

Spirit of Christian Missions — Present organizations under church direc- tion too mechanical — Christian family influence the true instrument of Gospel propagation — Practical suggestions for gathering a Christian family in neglected neighborhoods — Plan of church, school-house, and family-dwelling in one building — Mode of use for various purposes — Nucleus and gathering of a family — Christian work for Christian women — Children — Orphans — Servants — Neglected ones — Household training— Roman Catholic Nuns— The South— The West— The ne- glected interior of older States — Power of such examples — Rapid spread of their influence — Anticipation of the glorious consummation to be hoped for — Prophecy in the Scriptures — Cowper's noble vision of the millennial glory.— Pages 453-461.

APPEAL TO AMERICAN WOMEN.— Pages 463-470. GLOSSARY OF WORDS AND REFERENCES.— Pages 473-489 ANALYTICAL INDEX.— Pages 491-500.

THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

INTRODUCTION.

THE authors of this volume, while they sympathize with every honest effort to relieve the disabilities and sufferings of their sex, are confident that the chief cause of these evils is the fact that the honor and duties of the family state are not duly appreciated, that women are -not trained for these duties as men are trained for their trades and professions, and that, as the consequence, family labor is poorly done, poorly paid, and regarded as menial and dis- graceful.

To be the nurse of young children, a cook, or a house- maid, is regarded as the lowest and last resort of poverty, and one which no woman of culture and position can as- sume without loss of caste and respectability.

It is the ami of this volume to elevate both the honor and the remuneration of all the employments that sustain the many difficult and sacred duties of the family state, and thus to render each department of woman's true pro- fession as much desired and respected as are the most honored professions of men.

When the other sex are to be instructed in law, medi- cine, or divinity, they are favored with numerous institu- tions richly endowed, with teachers of the highest talents and acquirements, with extensive libraries, and abundant and costly apparatus. With such advantages they devote

14 THE AMERICAN WOMAN9 S SOME.

nearly ten of the best years of life to preparing themselves for their profession ; and to secure the public from unquali- fied members of these professions, none can enter them until examined by a competent body, who certify to their due preparation for their duties.

Woman's profession embraces the care and nursing of the body in the critical periods of infancy and sickness, the training of the human mind in the most impressible period of childhood, the instruction and control of servants, and most of the government and economies of the family state. These duties of woman are as sacred and important as any ordained to man ; and yet no such advantages for preparation have been accorded to her, nor is there any qualified body to certify the public that a woman is duly prepared to give proper instruction in her profession.

This unfortunate want, and also the questions frequently asked concerning the domestic qualifications of both the authors of this work, who have formerly written upon such topics, make it needful to give some account of the advan- tages they have enjoyed in preparation for the important office assumed as teachers of woman's domestic duties.

The sister whose name is subscribed is the eldest of nine children by her own mother, and of four by her step-mo- ther ; and having a natural love for children, she found it a pleasure as well as a duty to aid in the care of infancy and childhood. At sixteen, she was deprived of a mother, who was remarkable not only for intelligence and culture, but for a natural taste and skill in domestic handicraft. Her place was awhile filled by an aunt remarkable for her habits of neatness and order > and especially for her econo- my. She was, in the course of time, replaced by a step- mother, who had been accustomed to a superior style of housekeeping, and was an expert in all departments of do« mestic administration.

Under these successive housekeepers, the writer learned not only to perform in the most approved manner all the

INTRODUCTION. 15

manual employments of domestic life, but to honor and enjoy these duties.

At twenty-three, she commenced the institution which ever since has nourished as " The Hartford Female Semi- nary," where, at the age of twelve, the sister now united with her in the authorship of this work became her pupil, and, after a few years, her associate. The removal of the family to the West, and failure of health, ended a connec- tion with the Hartford Seminary, and originated a similar one in Cincinnati, of which the younger authoress of this work was associate principal till her marriage.

At this time, the work on Domestic Economy, of which this volume may be called an enlarged edition, although a great portion of it is entirely new, embodying the latest results of science, was prepared by the writer as a part of the Massachusetts School Lilrary, and has since been ex- tensively introduced as a text-book into public schools arid higher female seminaries. It was followed by its sequel, The Domestic Receipt- Book, widely circulated by the Harpers in every State of the Union.

These two works have been entirely remodeled, former topics rewritten, and many new ones introduced, so as to include all that is properly embraced in a complete Encyclopedia of Domestic Economy.

In addition to the opportunities mentioned, the elder sister, for many years, has been studying the causes and the remedies for the decay of constitution and loss of health so increasingly prevalent among American women, aiming to promote the establishment of endowed institu- tions, in which women shall be properly trained for their profession, as both housekeepers and health-keepers. What advantages have thus been, received and the results thus obtained will appear in succeeding pages.

During the upward progress of the age, arvd the advance of a more enlightened Christianity, the writers of this volume have gained more elevated views of the true mis-

16 THE AMERICAN WOMAN* 'S HOME.

sion of woman — of the dignity and importance of her dis- tinctive duties, and of the true happiness which will be the reward of a right appreciation of this mission, and a proper performance of these duties.

There is at the present time an increasing agitation of the public mind, evolving many theories and some crude specu- lations as to woman's rights and duties. That there is a great social and moral power in her keeping, which is now seeking expression by organization, is manifest, and that resulting plans and efforts will involve some mistakes, some collisions, and some failures, all must expect.

But to intelligent, reflecting, and benevolent women — whose faith rests on the character and teachings of Jesus Christ — there are great principles revealed by Him, which in the end will secure the grand result which He taught and suffered to achieve. It is hoped that in the following pages these principles will be so exhibited and illustrated

JT O JET *

as to aid in securing those rights and advantages which Christ's religion aims to provide for all, and especially for the most weak and defenseless of His children.

CATHAHINE E. BEECHES.

THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY.

IT is the aim of this volume to elevate both the honor and the remuneration of all employments that sustain the many difficult and varied duties of the family state, and thus to render each department of woman's profession as much desired and respected as are the most honored

'ofessions of men.

18 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

What, then, is the end designed by the family state which Jesus Christ came into this world to secure ?

It is to provide for the training of our race to the highest possible intelligence, virtue, and happiness, by means of the self-sacrificing labors of the wise and good, and this with chief reference to a future immortal existence.

The distinctive feature of the family is self-sacrificing labor of the stronger and wiser members to raise the weaker and -more ignorant to equal advantages. The father undergoes toil and self-denial to provide a home, and then the mother becomes a self-sacrificing laborer to train its inmates. The useless, troublesome infant is served in the humblest offices ; while both parents iiD^e in training it to an equality with themselves In every advan- tage. Soon the older children become helpers to raise the younger to a level with their own. When any are sick, those who are well become self-sacrificing ministers. When the parents are old and useless, the children be- come their self-sacrificing servants.

Thus the discipline of the family state is one of daily self-devotion of the stronger and wiser to elevate and sup- port the weaker members. Nothing could be more con- trary to its first principles than for the older and more capable children to combine to secure to themselves the highest advantages, enforcing the drudgeries on the young- er, at the sacrifice of their equal culture.

Jesus Christ came to teach the fatherhood of God and consequent brotherhood of man. He came as the " first- born Son " of 'God and the Elder Brother of man, to teach by example the self-sacrifice by which, the great family of man is to be raised to equality of advantages as children of God. For this end, he " humbled himself " from the highest to the lowest place. He chose for his birthplace the most despised village ; for his parents the lowest in rank ; for his trade, to labor with his hands as a carpenter, being " subject to his parents " thirty years. And, what is very

THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 19

significant, his trade was that which prepares the family home, as if he would teach that the great duty of man is labor — to provide for and train weak and ignorant crea- tures. Jesus Christ worked with his hands nearly thirty years, and preached less than three. And he taught that his kingdom is exactly opposite to that of the world, where all are striving for the highest positions. " Whoso will be great shall be your minister, and whoso will be chiefest shall be servant of all."

The family state then, is the aptest earthly illustration of the heavenly kingdom, and in it woman is its chief minister. Her great mission is self-denial, in training its members to self-sacrificing labors for the ignorant and weak : if not her own children, then the neglected chil- dren of her Father in heaven. She is to rear all under her care to lay up treasures, not on earth, but in heaven. All the pleasures of this life end here ; but those who train immortal minds are to reap the fruit of their labor through eternal ages.

To man is appointed the out-door labor — to till the earth, dig the mines, toil in the foundries, traverse the ocean, transport merchandise, labor in manufactories, construct houses, conduct civil, municipal, and state affairs, and all the heavy work, which, most of the day, excludes him from the comforts of a home. But the great stimulus to all these toils, implanted in the heart of every true man, is the desire for a home of his own, and the hopes of pater- nity. Every man who truly lives for immortality responds to the beatitude, " Children are a heritage from the Lord : blessed is the man that hath his quiver full of them!" The more a father and mother live under the influence of that " immortality which Christ hath brought to light," the more is the blessedness of rearing a family understood and appreciated. Every child trained aright is to dwell forever in exalted bliss with those that gave it life and trained it for heaven.

20 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

The blessed privileges of the family state are not con- fined to those who rear children of their own. Any wo- man who can earn a livelihood, as every woman should be trained to do, can take a properly qualified female asso- ciate, and institute a family of her own, receiving to its heavenly influences the orphan, the sick, the homeless, and the sinful, and by motherly devotion train them to follow the self-denying example of Christ, in educating his earthly children for true happiness in this life and for his eternal home.

And such is the blessedness of aiding to sustain a truly Christian home, that no one comes so near the pattern of the All-perfect One as those who might hold what men call a higher place, and yet humble themselves to the lowest in order to aid in training the young, " not as men-pleasers, but as servants to Christ, with good-will doing service as to the Lord, and not to men." Such are preparing for high places in the kingdom of heaven. " Whosoever will be chiefest among you, let him be your servant."

It is often the case that the true humility of Christ is not understood. It was not in having a low opinion of his own character and claims, but it was in taking a low place in order to raise others to a higher. The worldling seeks to raise himself and family to an equality with others, or, if possible, a superiority to them. The true follower of Christ comes down in order to elevate others.

The maxims and institutions of this world have ever been antagonistic to the teachings and example of Jesus Christ. Men toil for wealth, honor, and power, not as means for raising others to an equality with themselves, but mainly for earthly, selfish advantages. Although the experience of this life shows that children brought up to labor have the fairest chance for a virtuous and prosperous life, and for hope of future eternal blessedness, yet it is the aim of most parents who can do so, to lay up wealth that their children need not labor with the hands as Christ did.

THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 21

And although exhorted by our Lord not to lay up treasure on earth, but rather the imperishable riches which are gained in toiling to train the ignorant and reform the sin- ful, as yet a large portion of the professed followers of Christ, like his first disciples, are "slow of heart to be- lieve."

JSTot less have the sacred ministries of the family state been undervalued and warred upon in other directions; for example, the Romish Church has made celibacy a prime virtue, and given its highest honors to those who forsake the family state as ordained by God! Thus came great communities of monks and nuns, shut out from the love and labors of a Christian home ; thus, also, came the monkish systems of education, collecting the young in great establishments away from the watch and care of parents, and the healthful and self-sacrificing labors of a home. Thus both religion and education have conspired to degrade the family state.

Still more have civil laws and social customs been op- posed to the principles of Jesus Christ. It has ever been assumed that the learned, the rich, and the powerful are not to labor with the hands,' as Christ did, and as Paul did when he would " not eat any man's bread for naught, but wrought with labor, not because we have not power " [to live without hand-work,] " but to make ourselves an example." (2 Thess. 3.)

Instead of this, manual labor has been made dishonora- ble and unrefined by being forced on the ignorant and poor. Especially has the most important of all hand-la- bor, that which sustains the family, been thus disgraced ; so that to nurse young children, and provide the food of a family by labor, is deemed the lowest of all positions in honor and profit, and the last resort of poverty. And so our Lord, who himself took the form of a servant, teaches, " How hardly shall they that have riches enter the king- dom of heaven !" — that kingdom in which all are toiling

22 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

to raise the weak, ignorant, and sinful to such equality with themselves as the children of a loving family enjoy. One mode in which riches have led' to antagonism with the true end of the family state is in the style of living, by which the hand-labor, most important to health, com- fort, and beauty, is confined to the most ignorant and neg- lected members of society, without any effort being made to raise them to equal advantages with the wise and cul tivated.

And, the higher civilization has advanced, the mor- have children been trained to feel that to labor, as did Christ and Paul, is disgraceful, and to be made the por- tion of a degraded class. Children of the rich grow up with the feeling that servants are to work for them, and they themselves are not to work. To the minds of most children and servants, "to be a lady," is almost synony- mous with "to be waited on, and do no work." It is the earnest desire of the authors of this volume to make plain the falsity of this growing popular feeling, and to show how much happier and more efficient family life will become when it is strengthened, sustained, and adorned by family work.

II.

A CHEISTIAN HOUSE.

IN the Divine Word it is written, " The wise woman build- eth her house." To be "wise," is "to choose the best means for accomplishing the best end." It has been shown that the best end for a woman to seek is the training of God's children for their eternal horne, by guiding them to intelligence, virtue, and true happiness. When, therefore, the wise woman seeks a home in which to exercise this

24

ministry, she will aim to secure a house so planned that it will provide in the best manner for health, industry, and economy, those cardinal requisites of domestic enjoyment and success. To aid in this, is the object of the following drawings and descriptions, which will illustrate a style of living more conformed to the great design for which the family is instituted than that which ordinarily prevails among those classes which take the lead in forming the customs of society. The aim will be to exhibit modes of economizing labor, time, and expenses, so as to secure health, thrift, and domestic happiness to persons of limited means, in a measure rarely attained even by those who possess wealth.

At the head of this chapter is a sketch of what may be properly called a Christian house ; that is, a house con- trived for the express purpose of enabling every member of a family to labor with the hands for the common good, and by modes at once healthful, economical, and tasteful

Of course, much of the instruction conveyed in the fol lowing pages is chiefly applicable to the wants and habits of those living either in the country or in such suburban vicinities as give space of ground for healthful outdoor occupation in the family service, although the general principles of house-building and house-keeping are of ne- cessity universal in their application — as true in the busy confines of the city as in the freer and purer quietude of the country. So far as circumstances can be made to yield the opportunity, it will be assumed that the family state demands some outdoor labor for all. The cultiva- tion of flowers to ornament the table and house, of fruits and vegetables for food, of silk and cotton for clothing, and the care of horse, cow, and dairy, can be so divided that each and all of the family, some part of the day, can take exercise in the pure air, under the magnetic and healthful rays of the sun. Every head of a family should seek a soil and climate which will afford such opportuni-

A CHRISTIAN HOUSE. 25

ties. Railroads, enabling men toiling in cities to rear families in the country, are on this account a special bless- ing. So, also, is the opening of the South to free labor, where, in the pure and mild climate of the uplands, open- air labor can proceed most of the year, and women and children labor out of doors as well as w: thin.

In the following drawings are presented modes of econ- omizing time, labor, and expense by the close packing of conveniences. By such methods, small and economical houses can be made to secure most of the comforts and many of the refinements of large and expensive ones. The cottage at the head of this chapter is projected on a plan which can be adapted to a warm or cold climate with little change. By adding another story, it would serve a large family.

Fig. 1 shows the ground-plan of the first floor. On the inside it is forty-three feet long and twenty-five wide, ex- cluding conservatories and front and back projections. Its inside height from floor to ceiling is ten feet. The piazzas each side of the front projection have sliding-windows to the floor, and can, by glazed sashes, be made green-houses in winter. In a warm climate, piazzas can be made at the back side also.

In the description and arrangement, the leading aim is to show h'ow time, labor, and expense are saved, not only in the building but in furniture and its arrangement. With this aim, the ground-floor and its furniture will first be shown, then the second story and its furniture, and then the basement and its conveniences. The conserva- tories are appendages not necessary to housekeeping, but useful in many ways pointed out more at large in other chapters.

The entry has arched recesses behind the front doors, (Fig. 2,) furnished with hooks for over-clothes in both — a box for over-shoes in one, and a stand for umbrellas in the other. The roof of the recess is for statuettes, busts, or

Fig. 1.

43 X 25

INSIDE

10 FEET FROM FLO OR TO CEILING

DRAWING ROOM 25 X 16

A CHRISTIAN HOUSE. 27

flowers. The stairs turn twice with broad steps, making a recess at the lower landing, where a table is set with a Fig. 2. vase of flowers, (Fig. 3.) On one side

of the recess is a closet, arched to cor- respond with the arch over the stairs. A bracket over the first broad stair, with flowers or statuettes, is visible from the entrance, and pictures can be hung as in the illustration.

The large room on the left cam be made to serve the purpose of several rooms by means of a movable screen. By shifting this rolling screen from one part of the room to another, two apart- ments are always available, of any de- sired size within the limits of the large room. One side of the screen fronts what may be used as the parlor or sitting-room ; the other

side is arranged for bedroom conveni- ences. Of this, Fig. 4 shows the front side ; covered first with strong canvas, stretched and nailed on. Over this is pasted panel-paper, and the upper part is made to resemble an ornamental cor- nice by fresco-paper. Pictures can be hung in the panels, or be pasted on and varnished with white varnish. To

Fig. 3.

CLOSET RECESS

STAIR LANDING

28

THE AMERICAN WOMAN"* S HOME.

prevent the absorption of the varnish, a wash of gum isinglass (fish-glue) must be applied twice.

fi.CLLL£RS

Fig. 5 shows the back or inside of the movable screen, toward the part of the room used as the bedroom. On one side, and at the top and bottom, it has shelves with shelf -loxes, which are cheaper and better than drawers, and much preferred by those using them. Handles are cut in the front and back side, as seen in Fig. 6. Half an inch space must be between the box and the shelf over it, and as much each side, so that it can be taken out and put in easily. The central part of the screen's interior is a wardrobe.

This screen must be so high as nearly to reach the ceiling, in order to prevent it from overturning. It is to fill the width of the room, except two feet on each side. A projecting cleat or strip, reaching nearly to the top of

A CHRISTIAN HOUSE. 29

the screen, three inches wide, is to be screwed to the front sides, on which light frame doors are to be hung, covered

Fig. 6.

with canvas and panel-paper like the front of the screen. The inside of these doors is furnished with hooks for cloth- ing, for which the projection makes room. The whole screen is to be eighteen inches deep at the top and two

feet deep at the base, giving a solid foundation. It is moved on four wooden rollers, one foot long and four inches in diameter. The pivots of the rollers and the parts where

there is friction must be rubbed with hard soap, and then a child can move the whole easily.

A curtain is to be hung across the whole interior of the

30

THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

screen by rings, on a strong wire. The curtain should be in three parts, with lead or large nails in the hems to keep it in place. The wood- work must be put together with screws, as the screen is too large to pass through a door.

At the end of the room, behind the screen, are two couches, to be run one under the other, as in Fig. 7. The

Fig. 7.

upper one is made with four posts, each three feet high

and three inches square, set on casters two inches high.

The frame is to be fourteen inches from the floor, seven

feet long, two feet four inches wide, and three inches in

thickness. At the head, and at the foot, is to be screwed

a notched two-inch board, three inches wide, as in Fig. 8.

The mortises are to be one inch

Flg' 8' wide and deep, and one inch apart,

to receive slats made of ash, oak,

or spruce, one inch square, placed

lengthwise of the couch. The slats being small, and so near together, and running lengthwise, make a better spring frame than wire coils. If they warp, they can be turned. They must not be fastened at the ends, except by insertion in the notches. Across the posts, and of equal height with them, are to be screwed head and foot-boards.

A CHRISTIAN HOUSE.

31

The under conch is like the upper, except these dimen- sions: posts, nine inches high, including castors; frame, six feet two inches long, two feet four inches wide. The frame should be as near the floor as possible, resting on

the casters.

The most healthful and comfortable mattress is made

by a case, open in

Fig*9' the centre and

fastened together with buttons, as in Fig. 9 ; to be filled with oat

straw, which is softer than wheat or rye. This can be adjusted to the figure, and often renewed.

Fig. 10 represents the upper couch when covered, with the under couch put beneath it. The coverlid should match the curtain of the screen ; and the pillows, by day, should have a case of the same.

Fig. 10.

Fig. 11.

Fig. 11 is an ottoman, made as a box, with a lid on hinges. A cushion is fastened to this lid by strings at each corner, passing through holes in the box lid and tied inside. The cushion to be cut square, with side pieces ; stuffed with hair, and stitched through like a mattress. Side handles are made by cords fastened inside with knots. The box must be two inches larger at the bottom than at the top, and the lid and cushion the same size as the bottom, to give it a tasteful shape. This ottoman is set on casters, and is a great convenience for holding articles, while serving also as a seat.

82 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

The expense of the screen, where lumber averages $4 a hundred, and carpenter labor $3 a day, would be about $30, and the two couches about $6. The material for covering might be cheap and yet pretty. A woman w:th these directions, and a son or husband who would use plane and saw, could thus secure much additional room, and also what amounts to two bureaus, two large trunks, one large wardrobe, and a wash-stand, for less than $20 — the mere cost of materials. The screen and couches can be so arranged as to have one room serve first as a large and airy sleeping-room ; then, in the morning, it may be used as sitting-room 'one side of the screen, and breakfast-room the other ; and lastly, through the day it can be made a large parlor on the front side, and a sewing or retiring- room the other side. The needless spaces usually devoted to kitchen, entries, halls, back-stairs, pantries, store-rooms, and closets, by this method would be used in adding to the size of the large room, so variously used by day and by night.

Fig. 12 is an enlarged plan of the kitchen and stove- room. The chimney and stove-room are contrived to ventilate the whole house, by a mode exhibited in another chapter.

Between the two 'rooms glazed sliding-doors, passing each other, serve to shut out heat and smells from the kitchen. The sides of the stove-roorn must be lined with shelves ; those on the side by the cellar stairs, to be one foot wide, and eighteen inches apart ; on the other side, shelves may be narrower, eight inches wide and nine inches apart. Boxes with lids, to receive stove utensils, must be placed near the stove.

On these shelves, and in the closet and boxes, can be placed every material used for cooking, all the table and cooking utensils, and all the articles used in house work, and yet much spare room will be left. The cook's galley in a steamship has every article and utensiJ used in cook-

Fig. 12.

(FLOUR)

COOK

DRAIN

SINK I "X)

<o

0 0

Jl- £L

KITCHEN

9*9

LANDING

34 THE AMERICAN WOMAN9 S HOME.

ing for two hundred persons, in a space not larger than this stove-room, and so arranged that with one or two steps the cook can reach all he uses.

In contrast to this, in most large houses, the table furniture, the cooking materials and utensils, the sink, and the eating-room, are at such distances apart, that half the time and strength is employed in walking back and forth to collect and return the articles used.

Fig. 13.

Fig. 13 is an enlarged plan of the sink and cooking- form. Two windows make a better circulation of air in warm weather, by having one open at top and the other

A CHRISTIAN HOUSE. 35

at the bottom, while the light is better adjusted for work- ing, in case of weak eyes.

The flour-barrel just fills the closet, which has a door for admission, and a lid to raise when used. Beside it, is the form for cooking, with a moulding-board laid on it ; one side used for preparing vegetables and meat, and the other for moulding bread. The sink has two pumps, for well and for rain-water — one having a forcing power to throw water into the reservoir in the garret, which sup- plies the water-closet and bath-room. On the other side of the sink is the dish-drainer, with a ledge on the edge next the sink, to hold the dishes, and grooves cut to let the water drain into the sink. It has hinges, so that it can either rest on the cook-form or be turned over and cover the sink. Under the sink are shelf-boxes placed on two shelves run into grooves, with other grooves above and below, so that one may move the shelves and increase or diminish the spaces between. The shelf-boxes can be used for scouring-materials, dish-towels, and dish-cloths; also to hold bowls for bits of butter, fats, etc. Under these two shelves is room for two pails, and a jar for soap-grease.

Under the cook-form are shelves and shelf-boxes for un- bolted wheat, corn-meal, rye, etc. Beneath these, for white and brown sugar, are wooden can-pails, which are the best articles in which to keep these constant neces- sities. Beside them is the tin molasses-can with a tight, movable cover, and a cork in the spout. This is much better than a jug for molasses, and also for vinegar and oil, being easier to clean and to handle. Other articles and implements for cooking can be arranged on or under the shelves at the side and front. A small cooking-tray, holding pepper, salt, dredging-box, knife and spoon, should stand close at hand by the stove, (Fig. 14.)

36

THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

Fig. 15.

Fig. 16.

Fig. 18.

The articles used for setting tables are to be placed on the shelves at the front and side of the sink. Two tumbler-trays,

made of pasteboard, covered

with varnished fancy papers and

divided by wires, (as shown in Fig. 15,) save many steps

in setting' and clearing table. Similar trays, (Fig. 16,) for

knives and forks and spoons, serve

the same purpose.

The sink should be three feet

long and three inches deep, its

width matching the cook-form. Fig. 17 is the second or attic story. The main objection to attic rooms is their warmth in summer, owing to the heated roof. This is prevented by so enlarging the closets each side that their walls meet the ceiling under the garret floor, thus excluding all the roof. In the bed-chambers, corner dressing-tables, as Fig. 18, instead of projecting bu- reaus, save much space for use, and give a handsome form and finish to the room. In the bath-room must be the opening to the garret, and a step-ladder to reach it. A reservoir in the garret, sup- plied by a forcing-pump in the cellar or at the sink, must be well supported by timbers, and the plumbing must be well done, or much annoyance will ensue.

The large chambers are to be lighted by large windows or glazed sliding-doors, opening upon the balcony. A roof can be put over the balcony and its sides inclosed by win-

Fig. 17.

THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

dows, and the chamber extend into it, and be thus much

enlarged.

The water-closets must have the latest improvements

for safe discharge, and there will be no trouble. They

cost no more than an out-door building, and save from the

most disagreeable house-labor.

A great improvement, called earth-closets, will probably take the place of water-closets to some extent ; though at present the water is the more convenient. A description of the earth-closet will be given in another chapter relating to tenement-houses for the poor in large cities.

The method of ventilating all the chambers, and also the cellar, will be described in another chapter.

Fig. 19 represents a shoe-bag, Fig 19

that can be fastened to the side of a closet or closet-door.

Fig. 20 represents a piece-bag, and is a very great labor and space- saving invention. It is made of calico, and fastened to the side of a closet, or a door, to hold all the bundles that are usually stowed in trunks and drawers. India- rubber or elastic tape drawn into hems to hold the contents of the bag is better than tape-strings. Each bag should be labeled with the name of its contents, written

with indelible ink on white tape sewed on to the bag. Such systematic arrangement saves much time and annoy- ance. Drawers or trunks to hold these articles can not be kept so easily in good order, and moreover, occupy spaces saved by this contrivance.

Fig. 21 is the basement. It has the floor and sides plas- tered, and is lighted with glazed doors. A form is raised close by the cellar stairs, fgr baskets, pails, and tubs.

A CHRISTIAN HOUSE.

39

Here, also, the refrigerator can be placed, or, what is better, an ice-closet can be made, as designated in the illustration. The floor of the basement must be an in- clined plane toward a drain, and be plastered with water- lime. The wash-tubs have plugs in the bottom to let off water, and cocks and pipes* over them bringing cold water from the reservoir in the garret and hot water from the laundry stove. This saves much heavy labor of emptying tubs and carrying water.

The laundry closet has a stove for heating irons, and also a kettle on top for heating water. Slides or clothes-

Fig. 20.

NEW WHITE COTTONS

COLORED COTTONS CALICO

Fig. 21.

IRONING

TABLE

til

Ml

(0

LAUNDRY

o

Lj

LAZED DOOR O

5

0 I

z -I

TUBS °C

1 0 LAUNDRY i

SLIDES

i WOOD FURNACE

AND

COAL

...j

GLAZED DOOR

FRUIT& STORES

VEGETABLES

A CHRISTIAN HOUSE. 41

frames are made to draw out to receive wet clothes, and then run into the closet to dry. This saves health as well as time and money, and the clothes are as white as when dried outdoors.

The wood-work of the house, for doors, windows, etc., should be oiled chestnut, butternut, whitewood, and pine. This is cheaper, handsomer, and more easy to keep clean than painted wood.

In Fig. 1 are planned two conservatories, and few under- stand their value in the training of the young. They pro- vide soil, in which children, through the winter months, can be starting seeds and plants for their gardens and rais- ing valuable, tender plants. Every child should cultivate flowers and fruits to sell and to give away, and thus be taught to learn the value of money and to practice both economy and benevolence.

According to the calculation of a house-carpenter, in a place where the average price of lumber is $4: a hundred, and carpenter work $3 a day, such a house can be built for $1600. For those practicing the closest economy, two small families could occupy it, by dividing the kitchen, and yet have room enough. Or one large room and the chamber over it can be left till increase of family and means require enlargement.

A strong horse and carryall, with a cow, garden, vine- yard, and orchard, on a few acres, would secure all the substantial comforts found in great establishments, with- out the trouble of ill-qualified servants.

And if the parents and children were united in the daily labors of the house, garden, and fruit culture, such thrift, health, and happiness would be secured as is but rarely found among the rich.

Let us suppose a colony of cultivated and Christian peo- ple, having abundant wealth, who now are living as the wealthy usually do, emigrating to some of the beauti- ful Southern uplands, where are rocks, hills, valleys, and

42 THE AMERICAN WOMAN^S HOME.

mountains as picturesque as those of New-England, where the thermometer but rarely reaches 90° in summer, and in winter as rarely sinks below freezing-point, so that out- door labor g6es on all the year, where the fertile soil is easily worked, where rich tropical fruits and flowers abound, where cotton and silk can be raised by children around their home, where the produce of vineyards and orchards finds steady markets by railroads ready made ; suppose such a colony, with a central church and school- room, library, hall for sports, and a common laundry, (tak- ing the most trying part of domestic labor from each house,) — suppose each family to train the children to labor with the hands as a healthful and honorable duty ; suppose all this, which is perfectly practicable, would not the enjoyment of this life be increased, and also abundant treasures be laid up in heaven, by using the wealth thus economized in diffusing similar enjoyments and culture among the poor, ignorant, and neglected ones in desolated sections where many now are perishing for want of such Christian example and influences ?

m.

A HEALTHFUL HOME.

" the wise woman buildeth lier house," the first consideration will be the health of the inmates. The first and most indispensable requisite for health is pure air, both by day and night.

If the parents of a family should daily withhold from their children a large portion of food needful to growth and health, and every night should administer to each a small dose of poison, it would be called murder of the most hideous character. But it is probable that more than one half of this nation are doing that very thing. The murderous operation is perpetrated daily and nightly, in our parlors, our bed-rooms, our kitchens, our school- rooms; and even our churches are no asylum from the barbarity. 'Nor can we escape by our railroads, for even there the same dreadful work is going on.

The only palliating circumstance is the ignorance of those who commit these wholesale murders. As saith the Scripture, " The people do perish for lack of knowledge." And it is this lack of knowledge which it is woman's special business to supply, in first training her household to intelligence as the indispensable road to virtue and happiness.

The above statements will be illustrated by some ac- count of the manner in which the body is supplied with healthful nutriment. There are two modes of nourishing the body, one is by food and the other by air. In the

44

THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

stomach, the food is dissolved, and the nutritious portion is absorbed by the blood, and then is carried by blood- vessels to the lungs, where it receives oxygen from the air we breathe. This oxygen is as necessary to the nourish- ment of the body as the food for the stomach. In a full- grown man weighing one hundred and fifty-four pounds, one hundred and eleven pounds consists of oxygen, ob- tained chiefly from the air we breathe. Thus the lungs feed the body with oxygen, as really as the stomach sup- plies the other food required.

The lungs occupy the upper portion of the body from the collar-bone to the lower ribs, and between their two lobes is placed the heart.

Fig. 22 shows the position of the lungs, though not the exact shape. On the right hand is the exterior of ,one of the lobes, and on the left hand are seen the branching tubes of the in- terior, through which the air we breathe passes to the ex- ceedingly minute air-cells of which the lungs chiefly consist. Fig. 23 shows the outside of a cluster of these air-cells, and Fig. 24 is the in- Fig. &L

side view. The lining membrane of each air-cell is covered by a net- work of minute blood-vessels call- ed capil laries, which, magnified

Fig.

A HEALTHFUL HOME.

45

Fig. 25.

Fig. 36.

several hundred times, appear in the microscope as at Fig. 25. Every air-cell has a blood-vessel that brings blood from the heart, which meanders through its capil- laries till it reach- es another blood- vessel that carries it back to the heart, as seen in Fig. 26. In this

passage of the blood through these capillaries, the air in the air-cell ini- parts its oxygen to the blood, and re- ceives in exchange carbonic acid and watery vapor. These latter are expir- ed at every breath into the atmo- sphere.

By calculating the number of air cells in a small portion of the lungs, under a miser oscope, it is ascertained that there are no less than eighteen mil- lion of these wonderful little purifiers and feeders of the body. By their ceaseless ministries, every grown person receives, each day, thirty-three hogsheads of air into the lungs to nourish and vitalize every part of the body, and also to carry off its impurities.

But the heart has a most important agency in this operation. Fig. 27 is a diagram of the heart, which is placed between the two lobes of the lungs. The right side of the heart receives the dark and impure blood, which is loaded with carbonic acid. ' It is brought from every point of the body by branching veins that unite in the upper and the lower vena cava, which discharge into the right side of the heart. This impure blood passes to the capillaries of the air-cells in the lungs, where it gives off carbonic acid, and, taking oxygen from the air, then

46

THE AMERICAN WOMAN^ S HOME.

returns to the left side of the heart, from whence it is sent out through the aorta and its myriad branching arteries to every part of the body.

AORTA. When the up-

per portion of the heart contracts, it forces both the pure blood from the lungs, and the impure blood from the body,

through the valves marked V, Y, into the lower part. "When the lower portion contracts, it closes the valves and

Fig 37 forces the impure

blood into the

lungs on one side, and also on the other side forces the purified blood through the aorta and arteries to all parts of the body.

As before stated, the lungs consist chiefly of air-cells, the walls of which are lined with minute blood-vessels; and we know that in every man these air-cells number eighteen millions.

Now every beat of the heart sends two ounces of blood into the minute, hair-like blood-vessels, called capillaries, that line these air-cells, whef e the air in the air-cells gives its oxygen to the blood, an.d in its place receives carbonic acid. This gas is then expired by the lungs into the sur- rounding atmosphere.

Thus, by this powerful little organ, the heart, no less than twenty-eight pounds of blood, in a common-sized man, is sent three times every hour through the lungs,

A HEALTHFUL HOME. 47

giving out carbonic acid and watery vapor, and receiving the life-inspiring oxygen.

Whether all this blood shall convey the nourishing and invigorating oxygen to every part of the body, or return unrelieved of carbonic acid, depends entirely on the pure- ness of the atmosphere that is breathed.

Every time we think or feel, this mental action dissolves some particles of the brain and nerves, which pass into the blood to be thrown out of the body through the lungs and skin. In like manner, whenever we move any muscle, some of its particles decay and pass away. It is in the capillaries, which are all over the body, that this change takes place. The blood-vessels that convey the pure blood from the heart, divide into myriads of little branches that terminate in capillary vessels like those lining the air-cells of the lungs. The blood meanders through these minute capillaries, depositing the oxygen taken from the lungs and the food of the stomach, and receiving in return the decayed matter, which is chiefly carbonic acid.

This carbonic acid is formed by the union of oxygen with carbon or charcoal, which forms a large portion of the body. Watery vapor is also formed in the capillaries by the union of oxygen with the hydrogen contained in the food and drink that nourish the body.

During this process in the capillaries, the bright red blood of the arteries changes to the purple blood of the veins, which is carried back to the heart, to be sent to the lungs as before described. A portion of the oxygen re- ceived in the lungs unites with the dissolved food sent from the stomach into the blood, and no food can notrish the body till it has received a proper supply of oxygen in the lungs. At every breath a half-pint of blood receives its needed oxygen in the lungs, and at the same time gives out an equal amount of carbonic acid and water.

Now, this carbonic acid, if received into the lungs, undiluted by sufficient air, is a fatal poison, causing

48 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

certain death. "When it is mixed with only a small por- tion of air, it is a slow poison, which imperceptibly under- mines the constitution.

"We now can understand how it is that all who live in houses where the breathing of inmates has deprived the air of oxygen, and loaded it with carbonic acid, may truly be said to be poisoned and starved ; poisoned with carbonic acid, and starved for want of oxygen.

Whenever oxygen unites with carbon to form carbonic acid, or with hydrogen to form water, heat is generated Thus it is that a kind of combustion is constantly going on in the capillaries all over the body. It is this burning of the decaying portions of the body that causes animal heat. It is a process similar to that, which takes place when lamps and candles are burning. The oil and tallow} which are chiefly carbon and hydrogen, unite with the oxygen of the air and form carbonic acid and watery vapor, producing heat during the process. So in the ca- pillaries all over the body, the carbon and hydrogen sup- plied to the blood by the stomach, unite with the oxygen gained in the lungs, and cause the heat which is diffused all over the body.

The skin also performs an office, similar to that of the lungs. In the skin of every adult there are no less than seven million minute perspirating tubes, each one fourth of an inch long. If all these were united in one length, they would extend twenty-eight miles. These minute tubes are lined with capillary blood-vessels, which are* constantly sending out not only carbonic acid, but other gases and particles of decayed matter. The skin and lungs together, in one day and night, throw out three quarters of a pound of charcoal as carbonic acid, beside other gases and water.

While the bodies of men and animals are filling the air with the poisonous carbonic acid, and using up the life-giving oxygen, the trees and plants are performing an

A HEALTHFUL HOME. 49

exactly contrary process ; for they are absorbing carbonic acid and giving out oxygen. Thus, by a wonderful arrangement of the beneficent Creator, a constant equi- librium is preserved. What animals use is provided by vegetables, and what vegetables require is furnished by animals ; and all goes on, day and night, without care or thought of man.

The human race in its infancy was placed in a mild and genial clime, where each separate family dwelt in tents, and breathed, both day and night, the pure air of heaven. And when they became scattered abroad to colder climes, the open fire-place secured a full supply of pure air. Eut civilization has increased economies and conveniences far ahead of the knowledge needed by the common people for their healthful use. Tight sleeping- rooms, and close, air-tight stoves, are now starving and poi- soning more than one half of this nation. It seems im- possible to make people know their danger. And the remedy for this is the light of knowledge and intelligence which it is woman's special mission to bestow, as she con- trols and regulates the ministries of a home.

The poisoning process is thus exhibited in Mrs. Stowe's " House and Home Papers," and can not be recalled too often :

" ]STo other gift of God, so precious, so inspiring, is treat- ed with such utter irreverence and contempt in the calcu- lations of us mortals as this same air of heaven. A ser- mon on oxygen, if we had a preacher who understood the subject, might do more to repress sin than the most ortho- dox discourse to show when and how and why sin came. A minister gets up in a crowded lecture-room, where the mephitic air almost makes the candles burn blue, and be- wails the deadness of the church — the church the while, drugged by the poisoned air, growing sleepier and sleepier, though they feel dreadfully wicked for being so.

" Little Jim, who, fresh from his afternoon's ramble in

50 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'' S HOME.

the fields, last evening said his prayers dutifully, and lay down to sleep in a most Christian frame, this morning sits up in bed with his hair bristling with crossness, strikes at his nurse, and declares he won't say his prayers — that he don't want to be good. The simple difference is, that the child, having slept in a close box of a room, his brain all night fed by poison, is in a mild state of moral insanity. Delicate women remark that it takes them till eleven or twelve o'clock to get up their strength in the morning. Query, Do they sleep with closed windows and doors, and with heavy bed-curtains ?

" The houses built by our ancestors were better ventila- ted in certain respects than modern ones, with all their improvements. The great central chimney, with its open fire-places in the different rooms, created a constant cur- rent which carried off foul and vitiated air. In these days, how common is it to provide rooms with only a flue for a stove ! This flue is kept shut in summer, and in win- ter opened only to admit a close stove, which burns away the vital portion of the air quite as fast as the occupants breathe it away. The sealing up of fire-places and intro- duction of air-tight stoves may, doubtless, be a saving of fuel ; it saves, too, more than that ; in thousands and thou- sands of cases it has saved people from all further human wants, and put an end forever to any needs short of the six feet of narrow earth which are man's only inalienable property. In other words, since the invention of air-tight stoves, thousands have died of slow poison.

" It is a terrible thing to reflect upon, that our northern winters last from November to May, six long months, in which many families confine themselves to one room, of which every window-crack has been carefully calked to make it air-tight, wnere an air-tight stove keeps the atmo- sphere at a temperature between eighty and ninety ; and the inmates, sitting there with all their winter clothes on, become enervated both by the heat and by the poisoned

A HEALTHFUL HOME. 51

air, for which there is no escape but the occasional open- ing of a door.

" It is no wonder that the first result of all this is such a delicacy of skin and lungs that about half the inmates are obliged to give up going into the open air during the six cold months, because they invariably catch cold if they do so. It is no wonder that the cold caught about the first of December has by the first of March become a fixed con- sumption, and that the opening of the spring, which ought to bring life and health, in so many cases brings death.

" We hear of the lean condition in which the poor bears emerge from their six months' wintering, during which they subsist on the fat which they have acquired the pre- vious summer. Even so, in our long winters, multitudes of delicate people subsist on the daily waning strength which they acquired in the season when windows and doors were open, and fresh air was a constant luxury. No wonder we hear of spring fever and spring biliousness, and have thousands of nostrums for clearing the blood in the spring. All these things are the pantings and palpita tions of a system run down under slow poison, unable to get a step further.

" Better, far better, the old houses of the olden time, with their great roaring fires, and their bed-rooms where the snow came in and the wintry winds whistled. Then, to be sure, you froze your back while you burned your face, your water froze nightly in your pitcher, your breath congealed in ice- wreaths on the blankets, and you could write your name on the pretty snow-wreath that had sifted in through the window-cracks. But you woke full of life and vigor, you looked out into the whirling snow-storms without a shiver, and thought nothing of plunging through drifts as high as your head on your daily way to school. You jingled in sleighs, you snow-balled, you lived in snow like a snow-bird, and your blood coursed and tingled, in lull tide of good, merry, real life, through your veins —

52 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

none of the slow-creeping, black blood which clogs the brain and lies like a weight on the vital wheels !"

To illustrate the effects of this poison, the horrors of "the Black Hole of Calcutta" are often referred to, where one hundred and forty-six men were crowded into a room only eighteen feet square with but two small win- dows, and in a hot climate. After a night .of such horri- ble torments as chill the blood to read, the morning showed a pile of one hundred and twenty-three dead men and twenty- three half dead that were finally recovered only to a life of weakness and suffering.

In another case, a captain of the steamer Londonderry, in 1848, from sheer ignorance of the consequences, in a storm, shut up his passengers in a tight room without win- dows. The agonies, groans, curses, and shrieks that fol- lowed were horrible. The struggling mass finally burst the door, and the captain fountl seventy-two of the two hundred already dead ; while others, with blood starting from their eyes and ears, and their bodies in convulsions, were restored, many only to a life of sickness and de- bility.

It is ascertained by experiments that breathing bad air tends so to reduce all the processes of the body, that less oxygen is demanded and less carbonic acid sent out. This, of course, lessens the vitality and weakens the con- stitution ; and it accounts for the fact that a person of full health, accustomed to pure air, suffers from bad air far more than those who are accustomed to it. The body of strong and healthy persons demands more oxygen, and throws off more carbonic acid, and is distressed when the supply fails. But the one reduced by bad air feels little inconvenience, because all the functions of life are so slow that less oxygen is needed, and less carbonic acid thrown out. And the sensibilities being deadened, the evil is not felt. This provision of nature prolongs many lives, though it turns vigorous constitutions into feeble ones. Were it

A HEALTHFUL HOME. 53

not for this change in the constitution, thousands in badly ventilated rooms and houses would come to a speedy death.

One of the results of un ventilated rooms is scrofula. A distinguished French physician, M. Baudeloque, states that :

" The repeated respiration of the same atmosphere is the cause of scrofula. If there be entirely pure air, there may be bad food, bad clothing, and want of personal clean- liness, but scrofulous disease can not exist. This disease never attacks persons who pass their lives in the open air, and always manifests itself when they abide in air which is unrenewed. Invariably it will be found that a tru.y scrofulous disease is caused by vitiated air ; and it is not necessary that there should be a prolonged stay in such an atmosphere. Often, several hours each day is suffi- cient. Thus persons may live in the most healthy coun- try, pass most of the day in the open air, and yet become scrofulous by sleeping in a close room where the air is not renewed. This is the case with many shepherds who pass their nights in small huts with no opening but a door closed tight at night."

The same writer illustrates this by the history of a French village where the inhabitants all slept in close, un- ventilated houses. Nearly all were seized with scrofula, and many families became wholly extinct, their last mem- bers dying "rotten with scrofula." A fire destroyed a large part of this village. Houses were then built to secure pure air, and scrofula disappeared from the part thus rebuilt.

We are informed by medical writers that defective ven- tilation is one great cause of diseased joints, as well as of diseases of the eyes, ears, and skin.

Foul air is the leading cause of tubercular and scrofu- lous consumption, so very common in our country. Dr. Guy, in his examination before public health commission- ers in Great Britain, says : " Deficient ventilation I believe to be more fatal than all other causes put together." He

54 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S SOME.

states that consumption is twice as common among trades* men as among the gentry, owing to the bad ventilation of their stores and dwellings.

Dr. Griscom, in his work on Uses and Abuses of Air, says:

" Food carried from the stomach to the blood can not be- come nutritive till it is properly oxygenated in the lungs ; so that a small quantity of food, even if less wholesome, may be made nutritive by pure air as it passes through the lungs. But the best of food can not be changed into nutritive blood till it is vitalized by pure air in the lungs."

And again :

" To those who have the care and instruction of the ris- ing generation — the future fathers and mothers of men — this subject of ventilation commends itself with an inter- est surpassing every other. Nothing can more convincing- ly establish the belief in the existence of something vital- ly wrong in the habits and circumstances of civilized life than the appalling fact that one fourth of all who are born die before reaching the fifth year, and one half the deaths of mankind occur under the twentieth year. Let those who have these things in charge answer to their own con- sciences how they discharge their duty in supplying to the young a pure atmosphere, which is the ftrst requisite for healthy "bodies and sound minds"

On the subject of infant mortality the experience of sav- ages should teach the more civilized. Professor Brewer, who traveled extensively among the Indians of our western territories, states : " I have rarely seen a sick boy among the Indians." Catlin, the painter, who resided and traveled BO much among these people, states that infant mortality is very small among them, the reason, of course, being abun- dant exercise and pure air.

Dr. Dio Lewis, whose labors in the cause of health are well known, in his very useful work, Weak Lungs^ and How to Make them Strong -, says :

A HEALTHFUL HOME. 55

" As a medical man I have visited thousands of sick- rooms, and have not found in one in a hu/ndred of them a pure atmosphere. I have often returned from church doubting whether I had not committed a sin in exposing myself so long to its poisonous air. There are in our great cities churches costing $50,000, in the construction of which not fifty cents were expended in providing means for ven- tilation. Ten thousand dollars for ornament, but not ten cents for pure air !

" Unventilated parlors, with gas-burners, (each consum- ing as much oxygen as several men,) made as tight as pos- sible, and a party of ladies and gentlemen spending half the night in them ! In 1861, 1 visited a legislative hall, the legislature being in session. I remained half an hour in the most impure air I ever breathed. Our school-houses are, some of them, so vile in this respect, that I would pre- fer to have my son remain in utter ignorance of books rather than to breathe, six hours every day, such a poison- ous atmosphere. Theatres and concert-rooms are so foul that only reckless people continue to visit them. Twelve hours in a railway-car exhausts one, not by the journeying, but because of the devitalized air. While crossing the ocean in a Cunard steamer, I was amazed that men who knew enough to construct such ships did not know enough to furnish air to the passengers. The distress of sea-sick- ness is greatly intensified by the sickening air of the ship. Were carbonic acid only ~black, what a contrast there would be between our hotels in their elaborate ornament !

" Some time since I visited an establishment where one hundred and fifty girls, in a single room, were engaged in needle- work. Pale-faced, and with low vitality and feeble circulation, they were unconscious that they were breath- ing air that at once produced in me dizziness and a sense of suffocation. If I had remained a week with them, I should, by reduced vitality, have become unconscious of the vileness of the air 1"

56 THE AMERICAN WOMAN^S HOME.

There is a prevailing prejudice against night air as un- liealthful to be admitted into sleeping-rooms, which is owing wholly to sheer ignorance. In the night every body necessarily breathes night air and no other. When admitted from without into a sleeping-room it is colder, and therefore heavier, than the air within, so it sinks to the bottom of the room and forces out an equal quantity of the impure air, warmed and vitiated by passing through the lungs of inmates. Thus the question is, Shall we shut up a chamber and breathe night air vitiated with carbonic acid or night air that is pure ? The only real difficulty about night air is, that usually it is damper, and therefore colder and more likely to chill. This is easily prevented by sufficient bed-clothing.

One other very prevalent mistake is found even in books written by learned men. It is often thought that carbonic acid, being heavier than common air, sinks to the floor of sleeping-rooms, so that the low trundle-beds for children should not be used. This is all a mistake ; for, as a fact, in close sleeping-rooms the purest air is below and the most im- pure above. It is true that carbonic acid is heavier than com- mon air, when pure ; but this it rarely is except in chemical experiments. It is the property of all gases, as well as of the two (oxygen and nitrogen) composing the atmosphere, that when brought together they always are entirely mixed, each being equally diffused exactly as it would be if alone. Thus the carbonic acid from the skin and lungs, being warmed in the body, rises as does the common air, with which it mixes, toward the top of a room ; so that usually there is more carbonic acid at the top than at the bottom of a room.* Both common air and carbonic acid expand and become lighter in the same proportions ; that is, for every

* Prof. Brewer, of the Yale Scientific School, says : " As a fact, often demonstrated by analysis, there is generally more carbonic acid near the ceiling than near the floor."

A HEALTHFUL HOME. 57

degree of added heat they expand at the rate of T|-T of thei* bulk.

Here, let it be remembered, that in ill-ventilated rooms the carbonic acid is not the only cause of disease. Experi- ments seem to prove that other matter thrown out of the body, through the lungs and skin, is as truly excrement and in a state of decay as that ejected from the bowels, and as poisonous to the animal system. Carbonic acid has no odor; but we are warned by the disagreeable effluvia of close sleeping-rooms of the other poison thus thrown into the air from the skin and lungs. There is one provision of nature that is little understood, which saves the lives of thousands living in unventilated houses; and that is, the passage of pure air inward and impure air outward through the pores of bricks, wood, stone, and mortar. "Were such dwellings changed to tin, which is not thus porous, in less than a week thousands and tens of thousands would be in danger of perishing by suffocation.

These statements give some idea of the evils to be reme- died. But the most difficult point is how to secure the remedy. For often the attempt to secure pure air by one class of persons brings chills, colds, and disease on another class, from mere ignorance or mismanagement.

To illustrate this, it must be borne in mind that those who live in warm, close, and unventilated rooms are much more liable to take cold from exposure to draughts and cold air than those of vigorous vitality accustomed to breathe pure air.

Thus the strong and healthy husband, feeling the want of pure air in the night, and knowing its importance, keeps .windows open and makes such draughts that the wife, who lives all day in a close room and thus is low in vitality, can not bear the change, has colds, and sometimes perishes a victim to wrong modes of ventilation.

So, even in health-establishments, the patients will pass most of their days and nights in badly- ventilated rooms.

58

But at times the physician, or some earnest patient, insists on a mode of ventilation that brings more evil than -good to the delicate inmates.

The grand art of ventifating houses is by some method that will empty rooms of the vitiated air and bring in a supply of pure air "by small and imperceptible currents.

But this important duty of a Christian woman is one that demands more science, care, and attention than almost any other; and yet, to prepare her for this duty has never been any part of female education. Young women are taught to draw mathematical diagrams and to solve astronomical problems ; but few, if any, of them are taught to solve the problem of a house constructed to se- cure pure and moist air by day and night for all its inmates.

The heating and management of the air we breathe is one of the most complicated problems of domestic econo- my, as will be farther illustrated in the succeeding chap- ter; and yet it is one of which most American women are profoundly ignorant.

IV.

SCIENTIFIC DOMESTIC VENTILATION.

have seen in the preceding pages the process throngh which the air is rendered unhealthful by close rooms and want of ventilation. Every person inspires air about twenty times each minute, using half a pint each time. At this rate, every pair of lungs vititates one hogshead of air every hour. The membrane that lines the multitudinous air-cells of the lungs in which the capillaries are, should it be united in one sheet, would cover the floor of a room twelve feet square. Every breath brings a surface of air in contact with this extent of capillaries, by which the air inspired gives up most of its oxygen and receives carbonic acid in its stead. These facts furnish a guide for the proper venti- lation of rooms. Just in proportion to the number of per- sons in a room or a house, should be the amount of air brought in and carried out by arrangements for ventilation. But how rarely is this rule regarded in building houses or in the care of families by housekeepers !

The evils resulting from the substitution of stoves in- stead of the open fireplace, have led scientific and benevo- lent men to contrive various modes of supplying pure air to both public and private houses. But as yet little has been accomplished, except for a few of the more intelligent and wealthy. The great majority of the American people, owing to sheer ignorance, are, for want of pure air, being poisoned and starved ; the result being weakened constitu- tions, frequent disease, and shortened life.

60 THE AMERICAN WOMA^S HOME.

"Whenever a family-room is heated by an open fire, it is duly ventilated, as the impure air is constantly passing off through the chimney, while, to supply the vacated space, the pure air presses in through the cracks of doors, win- dows, and floors. No such supply is gained for rooms warmed by stoves. And yet, from mistaken motives of economy, as well as from ignorance of the resulting evils, multitudes of householders are thus destroying health and shortening life, especially in regard to women and children who spend most of their time within-doors.

The most successful modes of making " a healthful home " by a full supply of pure air to every inmate, will now be described and illustrated.

It is the common property of both air and water to ex- pand, become lighter and rise, just in proportion as they are heated; and therefore it is the invariable law that cool air sinks, thus replacing the warmer air below. Thus, whenever cool air enters a warm room, it sinks downward and takes the place of an equal amount of the warmer air, which is constantly tending upward and outward. This principle of all fluids is illustrated by the following experi- ment:

Take a glass jar about a foot high and three inches in diameter, and with a wire to aid in placing it aright, sink a small bit of lighted candle so as to stand in the centre at the bottom. (Fig. 28.) The candle will heat the air of the jar, which will rise a little on one side, while the colder air without will begin falling on the other side. These two currents will so conflict as finally to cease, and then the candle, having no supply of oxygen from fresh air, will be- gin to go out. Insert a bit of stiff paper so as to divide the mouth of the j-ar, and instantly the cold and warm air are not in conflict as before, because a current is formed each side of the paper ; the cold air descending on one side and the warm air ascending the other side, as indicated by the arrows. As long as the paper remains, the candle will

SCIENTIFIC DOMESTIC VENTILATION.

61

/'.

Fig. 29.

burn, and as soon as it is removed, it will begin to go out, and can be restored by again inserting the paper.

This illustrates the mode by which coal-mines are venti- Fig. 28. lated when filled with carbonic

!/* acid. A shaft divided into two

passages, (Fig. 29,) is let down ' ^ into the mine, where the air is

warmer than the outside air. Immediately the colder air outside presses down into the mine, through the passage which is highest, being admitted by the escape of an equal quantity of the warmer air, which rises through the low- er passage of the shaft, this being the first availa- ble opening for it to rise through. A current is thus created, which

continues as long as the inside air is warmer than that without the mine, and no longer. Sometimes a fire is kindled in the mine, in order to con- tinue or increase the warmth, and consequent upward current of its air. This illustrates one of the cases where a " wise woman that buildeth her house" is greatly needed. For, owing to the ignorance of architects, house-builders, and men in general, they have been building school- houses, dwelling-houses, churches,

62 THE AMERICAN WOMAN9 S HOME.

and colleges, with the most absurd and senseless contriv- ances for ventilation, and all from not applying this simple principle of science. On this point, Prof. Brewer, of the Scientific School of Yale College, writes thus :

" I have been in public buildings, (I have one in mind now, filled with dormitories,) which cost half a million, where they attempted to ventilate every room by a flue, long and narrow, built into partition walls, and extending up into the capacious garret of the fifth story. Every room in the building had one such flue, with an opening into it at the floor and at the ceiling. It is needless to say that the whole concern was entirely useless. Had these flues been of proper proportions, and properly divided, the desired ventilation would have been secured."

And this piece of ignorant folly was perpetrated in the midst of learned professors, teaching the laws of fluids and the laws of health.

A learned physician also thus wrote to the author of this chapter : " The subject of the ventilation of our dwell- ing-houses is one of the most important questions of our times. How many thousands are victims to a slow suicide and murder, the chief instrument of which is want of ven- tilation ! How few are aware of the fact that every person, every day, vitiates thirty-three hogsheads of the air, and that each inspiration takes one fifth of the oxygen, and returns as much carbonic acid, from every pair of lungs in a room ! How few understand that after air has received ten per cent of this fatal gas, if drawn into the lungs, it can no longer take 'carbonic acid from the capillaries ! No wonder there is so much impaired nervous and muscular energy, so much scrofula, tubercles, catarrhs, dyspepsia, and typhoid diseases. I hope you can do r^uch to remedy the poisonous air of thousands and thousands of stove- heated rooms."

In a cold climate and wintry weather, the grand im- pediment to ventilating rooms by opening doors or wir»

SCIENTIFIC DOMESTIC VENTILATION. 63

dows is the dangerous currents thus produced, which are so injurious to the delicate ones that for their sake it can not be done. Then, also, as a matter of economy, the poor can not afford to practice a method which carries off the heat generated bj their stinted store of fuel. Even in a warm season and climate, there are frequent periods when the air without is damp and chilly, and yet at nearly the same temperature as that in the house. At such times, the opening of windows often has little effect in emptying a room of vitiated air. The ventilating-flues, such as are used in mines, have, in such cases, but little influence ; for it is only when outside air is colder that a current can be produced within by this method.

The most successful mode of ventilating a house is by creating a current of warm air in a flue, into which an opening is made at both the top and the bottom of a room, while a similar opening for outside air is made at the op- posite side of the room. This is the mode employed in che- mical laboratories for removing smells and injurious gases.

The laboratory-closet is closed with glazed doors, and has an opening to receive pure air through a conductor from without. The stove or furnace within has a pipe which joins a larger cast-iron chimney-pipe, which is warmed by the smoke it receives from this and other fires. This cast-iron pipe is surrounded by a brick flue, through which air passes from below to be warmed by the pipe, and thus an upward current of warm air is created. Openings are then made at the top and bottom of the laboratory-closet into the warm- air flue, and the gases and smells are pressed by the colder air into this flue, and are carried off in the current of warm air.

The same method is employed in the dwelling-house shown in a preceding chapter. A cast-iron pipe is made in sections, which are to be united, and the whole fastened at top and bottom in the centre of the warm-air flue by ears extending to the bricksa and fastened when the flue is in process of building. Projecting openings to receive the

64

THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

Fig. 30.

pipes of the furnace, the laundry stove, and two stoves in each story, should be provided, which must be closed when not in use. A large opening is to be made into the warm- air flue, and through this the kitchen stove-pipe is to pass, and be joined to the cast-iron chimney-pipe. Thus the smoke of the kitchen stove will warm the iron -chimney- pipe, and this will warm the air of the flue, causing a cur- rent upward, and this current will draw the heat and smells

of cooking out of the kitchen into the opening of the warin- air flue. Every room sur- rounding the chimney has an opening at the top and bottom into the warm-air flue for ven- tilation, as also have the bath- room and water-closets.

The writer has examined the methods most employed at the present time, which are all modifications of the two modes here described. One is that of Robinson, patented by a Boston company, which is a modification of the min- ing mode. It consists of the two ventilating tubes, such as are employed in mines, united in one shaft with a roof to keep out rain, and a valve to regulate the entrance and exit of air, as illustrated in Fig. 30. This method works well in certain circumstances, but fails so often as to prove very unreliable. Another mode is that of Ruttan, which is effected by heating air. This also has certain advantages and disadvantages. But the

SCIENTIFIC DOMESTIC VENTILATION. 65

mode adopted for the preceding cottage plan is free from the difficulties of both the above methods, while it will surely ventilate every room in the house, both by day and night, and at all seasons, without, any risk to health, and re- quiring no attention or care from the family.

By means of a very small amount of fuel in the kitchen stove, to be described hereafter, the whole house can be ventilated, and all the cooking done both in warm and cold weather. This stove will also warm the whole house, in the Northern States, eight or nine months in the year. Two Franklin stoves, in addition^ will warm the whole house during the three or four remaining coldest months.

In a warm climate or season, by means of the non-con- ducting castings, the stove will ventilate the house and do all the cooking, without imparting heat or smells to any part of the house except the stove-closet.

At the close of this volume, drawings, prepared by Mr. Lewis Leeds, are given, more fully to illustrate this mode of warming and ventilation, and in so plain and simple a form that any intelligent woman who has read this work can see that the plan is properly executed, even with work- men so entirely ignorant on this important subject ,as are most house-builders, especially in the newer territories. In the same article, directions are given as to the best modes of ventilating houses that are already built without any arrangements for ventilation.

V.

THE CONSTRUCTION AND CAKE OF STOVES, FURNACES, AND CHIMNEYS.

IF all American housekeepers could be taught how to select and manage the most economical and convenient apparatus for cooking and for warming a house, many millions now wasted by ignorance and neglect would be saved. Every woman should be taught the scientific prin- ciples in regard to heat, and then their application to prac- tical purposes, for her own benefit, and also to enable her to train her children and servants in this important duty of home life on which health and comfort so much de- pend.

The laws that regulate the generation, diffusion, and pre- servation of heat as yet are a sealed mystery to thousands of young women who imagine they are completing a suit- able education in courses of instruction from which most that is practical in future domestic life is wholly excluded. We therefore give a brief outline of some of the leading scientific principles which every housekeeper should un derstand and employ, in order to perform successfully one of her most important duties.

Concerning the essential nature of heat, and its intimate relations with the other great natural forces, light, electri- city, etc., we shall not attempt to treat, but shall, for prac- tical purposes, assume it to be a separate and independent force.

Heat or caloric, then, has certain powers or principles. Let us consider them :

STOVES, FURNACES, AND CHIMNEYS. 67

First, we find Conduction, by winch heat passes from one particle to another next to it ; as when one end of a poker is warmed by placing the other end in the fire. The bodies which allow this power free course are called conductors, and those which do not are named non-conductors. Metals are good conductors ; feathers, wool, and furs are poor con- ductors ; and water, air, and gases are non-conductors.

Another principle of heat is Convection, by which water, air, and gases are warmed. This is, literally, the process of conveying heat from one portion of a fluid body to an- other by currents resulting from changes of temperature. It is secured by bringing one portion of a liquid or gas into contact with a heated surface, whereby it becomes lighter and expanded in volume. In consequence, the cooler and heavier particles above pressing downward, the lighter ones rise upward, when the former, being heated, rise in their turn, and give place to others again descending from above. Thus a constant motion of cur- rents and interchange of particles is produced until, as in a vessel of water, the whole body comes to an equal tem- perature. Air is heated in the same way. In case of a hot stove, the air that touches it is heated, becomes lighter, and rises, giving place to cooler and heavier particles, which, when heated, also ascend. It is owing to this pro- cess that the air of a room is warmest at the top and coolest at the bottom.

It is owing to this principle, also, that water and air can not be heated by fire from above. For the particles of these bodies, being non-conductors, do not impart heat to each other ; and when the warmest are at the top, they can not take the place of cooler and heavier ones below.

Another principle of heat (which it shares with light) is Radiation, by which all things send out heat to surround- ing cooler bodies. Some bodies will absorb radiated heat, others will reflect it, and others allow it to pass through them without either absorbing or reflecting Thus, black

68

THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

and rough substances absorb heat, (or light,) colored and smooth articles reflect it, while air allows it to pass through without either absorbing or reflecting. It is owing to this, that rough and black vessels boil water sooner than smooth and light-colored ones.

Another principle is Reflection, by which heat radiated to a surface is turned back from it when not absorbed or allowed to pass through ; just as a ball rebounds from a wall; just as sound is thrown back from a hill, making echo; just as rays of light are reflected from a mirror.

And, as with light, the rays of heat are always reflected from a surface in an angle exactly cor- responding to the direc- tion in which it strikes that surface. Thus, if __ heated air comes to an

Fig. 31.

object perpendicularly —

that is, at right angles, it will be reflected back in the same line. If it strikes obliquely, it is reflected obliquely, at an angle with the sur- face precisely the same Fig> ^ as the angle with which it first struck. And, of course, if it moves to- ward the surface and comes upon it in a line having so small an angle i with it as to be almost parallel with it, the heated air is spread wide and diffused

through a larger space

— .,^> ^^^^ than when the angles are

~~"" — ^~~ greater and the width of

reflection less. The simplest mode of wanning a house and cooking food

STOVES) FURNACES^ AND CHIMNEYS. 69

is by radiated heat. from fires ; but this is the most wasteful method, as respects time, labor, and expense. The mos-t con- venient, economical, and labor-saving mode of employing heat is by convection, as applied in stoves and furnaces. But for want of proper care and scientific knowledge this method has proved very destructive to health. When warming and cooking were done by open fires, houses were well supplied with pure air, as is rarely the case in rooms heated by stoves. For such is the prevailing ignorance on this subject that, as long as stoves save labor and warm the air, the great majority of people, especially among the poor, will use them in ways that involve debilitated con- stitutions and frequent disease.

The most common modes of cooking, where open fires are relinquished, are by the range and the cooking-stove. The range is inferior to the stove in these respects : it is less economical, demanding much more fuel ; it endangers the dress of the cook while standing near for various ope- rations; it requires more stooping than the stove while cooking ; it will not keep a fire all night, as do the best stoves ; it will not burn wood and coal equally well ; and lastly, if it warms the kitchen sufficiently in winter, it is too warm for summer. Some prefer it because the fumes of cooking can be carried off; but stoves properly arranged accomplish this equally well.

After extensive inquiry and many personal experiments, the author has found a cooking-stove constructed on true scientific principles, which unites convenience, comfort, and economy in a remarkable manner. Of this stove, drawings and descriptions will now be given, as the best mode of illustrating the practical applications of these principles to the art of cooking, and to show how much American wo- men have suffered and how much they have been imposed upon for want of proper knowledge in this branch of theii profession. And every woman can understand what fol- lows with much less effort than young girls at high-schools

70 THE AMERICAN WOMAN' S HOME.

give to the first problems of Geometry— for which they will never have any practical use, while attention to this prob- lem of home affairs will cultivate the intellect quite as much as the abstract reasonings of Algebra and Geometry.

Pig. 34.

Fig. 34 represents a portion of the interior of this cook- ing-stove. First, notice the fire-box, which has corrugated (literally, wrinkled) sides, by which space is economized, so that as much heating surface is secured as if they were one third larger ; as the heat radiates from every part of the undulating surface, which is one third greater in super- ficial extent than if it were plane. The shape of the fire- box also secures more heat by having oblique sides — which radiate more effectively into the oven beneath than if they were perpendicular, as illustrated below — while also it is sunk into the oven, so as to radiate from three instead of from two sides, as in most other stoves, the

STOVES, FURNACES, AND CHIMNEYS. 71

front of whose fire-boxes with their grates are built so as to be the front of the stove itself.

The oven is the space under and around the back and Fio. gg front sides of the fire-box. Fig. 35.

The oven-bottom is not _/D_

rl he.

BOX

..... introduced in the dia-

BOX /--.""-•- . . .

gram, but it is a horizon- tal plate between the fire- box and what is represen-

WEN

OVEN

Model stove. ted as the " flue-plate," which separates the oven from the bottom of the stove. The top of the oven is the horizontal corrugated plate passing from the rear edge of the fire-box to the back flues. These are three, in number — the back centre-flue, which is closed to the heat and smoke coming over the oven from the fire-box by a damper — and the two back corner-flues. Down these two corner-flues passes the current of hot air and smoke, having first drawn across the corrugated oven- top. The arrows show its descent through these flues, from which it obliquely strikes and passes over the flue- plate, then under it, and then out through the centre back- flue, which is open at the bottom, up into the smoke-pipe.

The flue-plate is placed obliquely, to accumulate heat by forcing and compression ; for the back space where the smoke enters from the corner-flues is largest, and decreases toward the front, so that the hot current is compressed in a narrow space, between the oven-bottom and the flue-plate at the place where the bent arrows are seen. Here again it enters a wider space, under the flue-plate, and proceeds to another narrow one, between the flue-plate and the bottom of the stove, and thus is compressed and re- tained longer than if not impeded by these various con- trivances. The heat and smoke also strike the plate obliquely, and thus, by reflection from its surface, impart more heat than if the passage was a horizontal one.

The external radiation is regulated by the use of non-

72 THE AMERICAN WGMAN* S HOME.

conducting plaster applied to the flue-plate and to the sides of the corner-flues, so that the heat is prevented from radi- ating in any direction except toward the oven. The doors, sides, and bottom of the stove are lined with tin casings, which hold a stratum of air, also a non-conductor. These are so arranged as to be removed whenever the weather becomes cold, so that the heat may then radiate into the kitchen. The outer edges of the oven are also similarly protected from loss of heat by tin casings and air-spaces, and the oven-doors opening at the front of the store are provided with the same economical savers of heat. High tin covers placed on the top prevent the heat from radiating above the stove. These are exceedingly useful, as the space under them is well heated and arranged for baking, for heating irons, and many other incidental necessities. Cake and pies can be baked on the top, while the oven is used for bread or for meats. When all the casings and covers are on, almost all the heat is confined within the stove, and whenever heat for the room is wanted, opening the front oven-doors turns it out into the kitchen.

Another contrivance is that of ventilating-holes in the front doors, through which fresh air is brought into the oven. This secures several purposes : it carries off the fumes of cooking meats, and prevents the mixing of flavors when different articles are cooked in the oven ; it drives the heat that accumulates between the fire-box and front doors down around the oven, and equalizes its heat, so that articles need not be moved while baking ; and lastly, as the air passes through the holes of the fire-box, it causes the burning of gases in the smoke, and thus increases heat. When wood or bituminous coal is used, perforated metal linings are put in the fire-box, and the result is the burn- ing of smoke and gases that otherwise would pass into the chimney. This is a great discovery in the economy of fuel, which can be applied in many ways. >

Heretofore, most cooking-stoves have had dumping-grates,

STOVES, FURNACES, AND CHIMNEYS. 73

wliicli are inconvenient from the dust produced, are uneco- nomical in the use of fuel, and disadvantageous from too many or too loose joints. But recently this stove has been provided with a dumping-grate which also will sift ashes, and can be cleaned without dust and the other objection- able features of dumping-grates. A further account of this stove, and the mode of purchasing and using it, will be given at the close of the book.

Those who are taught to manage the stove properly keep the fire going all night, and equally well with wood or coal, thus saving the expense of kindling and the trouble of starting a new fire. When the fuel is of good quality, all that is needed in the morning is to draw the back- damper, shake the grate, and add more fuel.

Another remarkable feature of this stove is the extension- top, on which is placed a water reservoir, constantly heated by the smoke as it passes from the stove, through one or two uniting passages, to the smoke-pipe. Under this is placed a closet for warming and keeping hot the dishes, vegetables, meats, etc., while preparing for dinner. It is also very useful in drying fruit ; and when large baking is required, a small appended pot for charcoal turns it into a fine large oven, that bakes as nicely as a brick oven.

Another useful appendage is a common tin oven, in which roasting can be done in front of the stove, the oven- doors being removed for the purpose. The roast will be done as perfectly as by an open fire.

This stove is furnished with pipes for heating water, like the water-back of ranges, and these can be taken or left out at pleasure. So also the top covers, the baking-stool and pot, and the summer-back, bottom, and side-casings can be used or omitted as preferred.

Fig. 37 exhibits the stove completed, with all its appen- dages, as they might be employed in cooking for a large number

Its capacity, convenience, and economy as a stove may

74 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

be estimated by the following fact : With proper manage- ment of dampers, one ordinary-sized coal-hod of anthracite coal will, for twenty-four hours, keep the stove running, keep seventeen gallons of water hot at all hours, bake pies

Fig. 37.

'-DOOR DAMPER

and puddings in the warm closet, heat flat-irons under the back cover, boil tea-kettle and one pot under the front cover, bake bread in the oven, and cook a turkey in the tin roaster in front. The author has numerous friends, who, after trying the best ranges, have dismissed them for this stove, and in two or three years cleared the whole ex- pense by the saving of fuel.

The remarkable durability of this stove is another eco- nomic feature. For in addition to its fine castings and

STOVES) FURNACES, AND CHIMNEYS. 75

nice-fitting workmanship, all the parts liable to burn out are so protected by linings, and other contrivances easily- renewed, that the stove itself may pass from one genera- tion to another, as do ordinary chimneys. The writer has visited in families where this stove had been in constant use for eighteen and twenty years, and was still as good as new. In most other families the stoves are broken, burnt- out, or thrown aside for improved patterns every four, five, or six years, and sometimes, to the knowledge of the writer, still oftener.

Another excellent point is that, although it is so com- plicated in its various contrivances as to demand intelli- gent management in order to secure all its advantages, it also can be used satisfactorily even when the mistress and maid are equally careless and ignorant of its distinctive merits. To such it offers all the advantages of ordinary good stoves, and is extensively used by those who take no pains to understand and apply its peculiar advantages.

But the writer has managed the stove herself in all the details of cooking, and is confident that any housekeeper of common sense, who is instructed properly, and who also aims to have her kitchen affairs managed with strict eco- nomy, can easily train any servant who is willing to learn, BO as to gain the full advantages offered. And even with- out any instructions at all, except the printed directions sent with the stove, an intelligent woman can, by due attention, though not without, both manage it, and teach her children and servants to do likewise. And whenever this stove has failed to give the highest satisfaction, it has been, either because the housekeeper was not apprized of its peculiarities, or because she did not give sufficient attention to the matter, or was not able or willing to super- intend and direct its management.

The consequence has been that, in families where this stove has been understood and managed aright, it has saved nearly one half of the fuel that would be used in ordi-

76 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

nary stoves, constructed with the usual disregard of scien- tific and economic laws. And it is because we know this particular stove to be convenient, reliable, and economi- cally efficient beyond ordinary experience, in the important housekeeping element of kitchen labor, that we devote to it so much space and pains to describe its advantageous points.

CHIMNEYS.

One of the most serious evils in domestic life is often found in chimneys that will not properly draw the smoke of a fire or stove. Although chimneys have been building for a thousand years, the artisans of the present day seem strangely ignorant of the true method of constructing them so as always to carry smoke upward instead of downward. It is rarely the case that a large house is built in which there is not some flue or chimney which " will not draw." One of the reasons why the stove described as excelling all others is sometimes cast aside for a poorer one is, that it requires a properly constructed chimney, and multitudes of women do not know how to secure it. The writer in early life shed many a bitter tear, drawn forth by smoke from an ill-constructed kitchen-chimney, and thousands all over the land can report the same experience.

The following are some of the causes and the remedies for this evil.

The most common cause of poor chimney draughts is too large an opening for the fireplace, either too wide or too high in front, or having too large a throat for the smoke. In a lower story, the fireplace should not be larger than thfrty inches wide, twenty-five inches high, and fifteen deep. In the story above, it should be eighteen inches square and fifteen inches deep.

Another cause is too short a flue, and the remedy is to lengthen it. As a general rule, the longer the flue the stronger the draught. But in calculating the length of a

STOVES, FURNACES, AND CHIMNEYS. 77

flue, reference .mist be had to side-flues, if any open into it. Where this is the case, the length of the main flue is to be considered as extending only from the bottom to the point where the upper flue joins it, and where the lower will receive air from the upper flue. If a smoky flue can not be increased in ^ength, either by closing an upper flue or lengthening the chimney, the fireplace must be contracted so that all the air near the fire will be heated and thus pressed upward.

If a flue has more than one opening, in some cases it is impossible to secure a good draught. Sometimes it will work well and sometimes it will not. The only safe rule is to have a separate flue to each fire.

Another cause of poor draughts is too tight a room, so that the cold air from without can not enter to press the warm air up the chimney. The remedy is to admit a small current of air from without.

Another cause is two chimneys in one room, or in rooms opening together, in which the draught in one is much stronger than in the other. In this case, the stronger draught will draw away from the weaker. The remedy is, for each room to have a proper supply of outside air ; or, in a single room, to stop one of the chimneys.

Another cause is the too close vicinity of a hill or build- ings higher than the top of the chimney, and the remedy for this is to raise the chimney.

Another cause is the descent, into unused fireplaces, of smoke from other chimneys near. The remedy is to close the throat of the unused chimney.

Another cause is a door opening toward the fireplace, on the same side of the room, so that its draught passes along the wall and makes a Current that draws out the smoke. The remedy is to change the hanging of the door so as to open another way.

Another cause is strong winds. The remedy is a turn- cap on top of the chimney.

78 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

Another cause is the roughness of the inside of a chim- ney, or projections which impede the passage of the smoke. Every chimney should be built of equal dimensions from bottom to top, with no projections into it, with as few bends as possible, and with the surface of the inside as smooth as possible.

Another cause of poor draughts is openings into the chimney of chambers for stove-pipes. The remedy is to close them, or insert stove-pipes that are in use.

Another cause is the falling out of brick in some part of the chimney so that outer air is admitted. The remedy is to close the opening.

The draught of a stove may be affected by most of these causes. It also demands that the fireplace have a tight fire-board, or that the throat be carefully filled. For neg- lecting this, many a good stove has been thrown aside and a poor one taken in its place.

If all young women had committed to memory these causes of evil and their remedies, many a badly-built chim- ney might have been cured, and many smoke-drawn tears, sighs, ill-tempers, and irritating words avoided.

But there are dangers in this direction wliieh demand special attention. Where one flue has two stoves or fire- places, in rooms one above the other, in certain states of the atmosphere, the lower room, being the warmer, the colder air and carbonic acid in the room above will pass down into the lower room through the opening for the stove or the fireplace.

This occurred not long since in a boarding-school, when the gas in a room above flowed into a lower one, and suffo- cated several to death. This room had no mode of venti- lation, and several persons slept in it, and were thus sti- fled. Professor Brewer states a similar case in the family of a relative. An anthracite stove was used in the upper room ; and qn one still, close night, the gas from this stove descended through the flue and the opening into a room below,

STOVES, FURNACES, AND CHIMNEYS. 79

and stifled two persons to insensibility, though, by proper efforts, their lives were saved. Many such cases have oc- rirred where rooms have been thus filled with poisonous gases, and servants and children destroyed, or their consti- tutions injured, simply because housekeepers are not pro- perly instructed in this important branch of their profession.

FUKNACES.

There is no improved mechanism in the economy of domestic life requiring more intelligent management than furnaces. Let us then consider some of the principles in- volved.

The earth is heated by radiation from the sun. The air is not warmed by the passage of the sun's heat through it, but by convection from the earth, in the same way that it is warmed by the surfaces of stoves. The lower stratum of air is warmed by the earth and by objects which have been warmed by radiated heat from the sun. The par- ticles of air thus heated expand, become lighter, and rise, being replaced by the descent of the cooler and heavier particles from above, which, on being warmed also rise, and give place to others. Owing to this process, the air is warmest nearest the earth, and grows cooler as height increases.

The air has a strong attraction for water, and always holds a certain quantity as invisible vapor. The warmer the air, the more moisture it demands, and it will draw it from all objects within reach. The air holds water accord- ing to its temperature. Thus, at fifty-two legrees, Fah- renheit's thermometer, it holds half the moisture it can sustain ; but at thirty-six degrees, it will hold only one eighty-sixth part. The earth and all plants and trees are constantly sending out moisture ; and when the air has re- ceived all it can hold, without depositing it as dew, it is said to be saturated, and the point of temperature at which

80 THE AMERICAN WOMArfS HOME.

dew begins to form, by condensation, upon the surface of the earth and its vegetation, is called the dew-point. When air, at a given temperature, has only forty per cent of the moisture it requires for saturation, it is said to be dry. In a hot summer day, the air will hold far more moisture than in cool days. In summer, out-door air rarely holds less than half its volume of water. In 1838, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and New-Haven, Connecti- cut, at seventy degrees, Fahrenheit, the air held eighty per cent of moisture.

In New-Orleans, the air often retains ninety per cent of the moisture it is capable of holding ; and in cool days at the North, in foggy weather, the air is sometimes wholly saturated.

When air holds all the moisture it can, without deposit- ing dew, its moisture is called 100. When it holds three fourths of this, it is said to be at seventy-five per cent. When it holds only one half, it is at fifty per cent. When it holds only one fourth, it is at twenty-five per cent, etc.

Sanitary observers teach that the proper amount of mois- ture in the air ranges from forty to seventy per cent of saturation.

Now, furnaces, which are of course used only in winter, receive outside air at a low temperature, holding little moisture ; and heating it greatly increases its demand for moisture. This it sucks up, like a sponge, from the walls and furniture of a house. If it is taken into the human lungs, it draws much of its required moisture from the body, often causing dryness of lips and throat, and painfully af- fecting the lungs. Prof. Brewer, of the Scientific School of New-Haven, who has experimented extensively on this subject, states that, while forty per cent of moisture is needed in air to make it healthful, most stoves and furnaces do not, by any contrivances, supply one half of this, or not twenty per cent. He says most furnace-heated air is

STOVES, FURNACES, AND CHIMNEYS. 81

dryer than is ever breathed in the hottest deserts of Sa- hara.

Thus, for want of proper instruction, most American housekeepers not only poison their families with carbonic acid and starve them for want of oxygen, but also diminish health and comfort for want of a due supply of moisture in the air. And often when a remedy is sought, by evapo- rating water in the furnace, it is without knowing that the amount evaporated depends, not on the quantity of water in the vessel, but on the extent of evaporating surface exposed to the air. A quart of water in a wide shallow pan will give more moisture than two gallons with a small surface exposed to heat.

There is also no little wise economy in expense attained by keeping a proper supply of moisture in the air. For it is found that the body radiates its heat less in moist than in dry air, so tljat a person feels as warm at a lower temperature when the air has a proper supply of moisture, as in a much higher temperature of dry air. Of course, less fuel is needed to warm a house when water is evapo- rated in stove and furnace-heated rooms. It is said by those who have experimented, that the saving in fuel is twenty per cenA when the air is duly supplied with moisture.

There is a very ingenious instrument, called the hygro- deik, which indicates the exact amount of moisture in the air. It consists of two thermometers side by side, one of which has its bulb surrounded by floss-silk wrapping, which is kept constantly wet by communication with a cup of water near it. The water around the bulb evaporates just in proportion to the heat of the air around it. The chang- ing of water to vapor draws heat from the nearest object, and this being the bulb of the thermometer, the mercury is cooled and sinks. Then the difference between the two thermometers shows the amount of moisture in the air by a pointer on a dial-plate constructed by simple mechanism for this purpose.

82

There is one very important matter in regard to the use of furnaces, which is thus stated by Professor Brewer :

" I think it is a well-established fact that carbonic oxide will pass through iron. It is always formed in great abun- dance in any anthracite fire, but especially in anthracite stoves and furnaces. Moreover, furnaces always leak, more or less; how much they leak depending on the care and skill with which they are managed. Carbonic oxide is much more poisonous than carbonic acid. Doubtless some carbonic oxide finds its way into all furnace-heated houses, especially where anthracite is used; the amount varying with the kind of furnace and its management. As to how much escapes into a room, and its specific effect upon the health of its occupants, we have no accurate data, no analy- sis to show the quantity, and no observati ns to show the relation between the quantity inhaled and the health of those exposed ; all is mere conjecture«upon this point ; but the inference is very strong that it has a very injurious effect, producing headaches, weariness, and other similar symptoms.

"Kecent pamphlets lay the blame of all the bad effects of anthracite furnaces and stoves to the carbonic oxide min- gled in the air. I think these pamphlets have a bad influ- ence. Excessive dryness also has bad effects. So also the excessive heat in the evenings and coolness in the mornings has a share in these evils. But how much in addition is owing to carbonic oxide, we can not know, until we know something of the actual amount of this gas in rooms, and as yet we know absolutely nothing definite. In fact, it will be a difficult thing to prove"

There are other difficulties connected with furnaces wrhich should be considered. It is necessary to perfect health that an equal circulation of the blood be preserved. The great- est impediment to this is keeping the head warmer than the feet. This is especially to be avoided in a nation where the brain is by constant activity drawing the blood from tho

STOVES, FURNACES, AND CHIMNEYS. 83

extremities. And nowhere is this more important than in schools, churches, colleges, lecture and recitation-rooms, where the brain is called into active exercise. And yet, furnace-heated rooms always keep the feet in the coldest air, on cool floors, while the head is in the warmest air.

Another difficulty is the fact that all bodies tend to radi- ate their heat to each other, till an equal temperature exists. Thus, the human body is constantly radiating its heat to the walls, floors, and cooler bodies around. At the same time, a thermometer is affected in the same way, radiating its heat to cooler bodies around, so that it always marks a lower degree of heat than actually exists in the warm air around it. Owing to these facts, the injected air of a fur- nace is always warmer than is good for the lungs, and much warmer than is ever needed in rooms warmed by radiation from fires or heated surfaces. The cooler the air we inspire, the more oxygen is received, the faster the blood circulates, and the greater is the vigor imparted to brain, nerves, and muscles.

Scientific men have been contriving various modes of meeting these difficulties, and at the close of this volume some results will be given to aid a woman in selecting and managing the most healthful and economical furnace, or in providing some better method of warming a house. Some account will also be given of the danger involved in gas- stoves, and some other recent inventions for cooking and heating.

VI.

HOME DECORATION.

HAVING duly arranged for the physical necessities of a healthful and comfortable home, we next approach the important subject of beauty in reference to the deco- ration of houses. For while the aesthetic element must be subordinate to the requirements of physical existence, and, as a matter of expense, should be held of inferior con- sequence to means of higher moral growth ; it yet holds a place of great significance among the influences which make home happy and attractive, which give it a constant and wholesome power over the young, and contributes much to the education of the entire household in refine- ment, intellectual development, and moral sensibility.

Here we are met by those who tell us that of course they want their houses handsome, and that, when they get money enough, they intend to have them so, but at present they are too poor, and because they are poor they dismiss the subject altogether, and live without any regard to it.

We have often seen people who said that they could not afford to make their houses beautiful, who had spent upon them, outside or in, an amount of money which did not produce either beauty or comfort, and which, if judiciously applied, might have made the house quite charming.

For example, a man, in building his house, takes a plan of an architect. This plan includes, on the outside, a number of what Andrew Fairservice called " curlywur-

HOME DECORATION. 85

lies" and " whigmaliries," which make the house neither prettier nor more comfortable, and which take up a good deal of money. We would venture to say that we could buy the chromo of Bierstadt's " Sunset in the Yo Semite Valley," and four others like it, for half the sum that we have sometimes seen laid out on a very ugly, nar- row, awkward porch on the outside of a house. The only use of this porch was to cost money, and to cause every body who looked at it to exclaim as they went by, "What ever induced that man to put a thing like that on the outside of his house ?"

Then, again, in the inside of houses, we have seen a dwelling looking very bald and bare, when a sufficient sum of money had been expended on one article to have made the whole very pretty : and it has come about in this way.

We will suppose the couple who own the house to be in the condition in which people generally are after they have built a house — having spent more than they could afford on the building itself, and yet feeling themselves under the necessity of getting some furniture.

" Now," says the housewife, " I must at least have a parlor-carpet. We must get that to begin with, and other things as we go on." She goes to a store to look at carpets. The clerks are smiling and obliging, and sweetly compla- cent. The storekeeper, perhaps, is a neighbor or a friend, and after exhibiting various patterns, he tells her of a Brussels carpet he is selling wonderfully cheap — actually a dollar and a quarter less a yard than the usual price 01 Brussels, and the reason is that it is an unfashionable pat- tern, and he has a good deal of it, and wishes to close it off.

She looks at it and thinks it is not at all the kind of car- pet she meant to buy, but then it is Brussels, and so cheap ' And as she hesitates, her friend tells her that she will find it " cheapest in the end — that one Brussels carpet will out- last three or four ingrains," etc., etc.

86 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

I

The result of all this is, that she buys the Brussels carpet, which, with all its reduction in price, is one third dearer than the ingrain would have been, and not half so pretty. When she comes home, she will find that she has spent, we will say eighty dollars, for a very- homely carpet whose greatest merit it is an affliction to remember — namely, that it will outlast three ordinary carpets. And because she has bought this carpet she can not afford to paper the walls or put up any window-curtains, and cannot even begin to think of buying any pictures.

Now let us see what eighty dollars could have done for that room. "We will suppose, in the first place, she invests in thirteen rolls of wall-paper of a lovely shade of buff, which will make the room look sunshiny in the day-time, and light up brilliantly in the evening. Thirteen rolls of good satin paper, at thirty-seven cents a roll, expends four dollars and eighty-one cents. A maroon bordering, made in imitation of the choicest French style, which can not at a distance be told from it, can be bought for six cents a yard. This will bring the paper to about five dollars and a half; and our friends will give a day of their time to putting it on. The room already begins to look furnished.

Then, let us cover the floor with, say, thirty yards of good matting, at fifty cents a yard. This gives us a carpet for fifteen dollars. We are here stopped by the prejudice that matting is not good economy, because it wears out so soon. We humbly submit that it is precisely the thing for a parlor, which is reserved for the reception-room of friends, and for our own dressed leisure hours. Matting is not good economy in a dining-room or a hard-worn sitting- room ; but such a parlor as we are describing is precisely the place where it answers to the very best advantage.

We have in mind one very attractive parlor which has been, both for summer and winter, the daily sitting-room for the leisure hours of a husband and wife, and family of children, where a plain straw matting has done ser-

HOME DECORATION. 87

vice for seven years. That parlor is in a city, and these friends are in the habit of receiving visits from people who live upon velvet and Brusssls ; but they prefer to spend the money which such carpets would cost on other modes of embellishment ; and this parlor has often been cited to us as a very attractive room.

And now our friends, having got thus far, are requested to select some one tint or color which shall be the prevail- ing one in the furniture of the room. Shall it be green ? Shall it be blue ? Shall it be crimson ? To carry on our illustration, we will choose green, and we proceed with it to create furniture for our room. Let us imagine that on one side of the fireplace there be, as there is often, a recess about six feet long and three feet deep. Fill this recess with a rough frame with four stout legs, one foot high, and upon the top of the frame have an elastic rack of slats. Make a mattress for this, or, if you wish to avoid that trou- ble, you can get a nice mattress for the sum of two dollars, made of cane-shavings or husks. Cover this with a green English furniture print. The glazed English comes at about twenty-five cents a yard, the glazed French at seventy-five cents a yard, and a nice article of yard-wide French twill (very strong) is from seventy-five to eighty cents a yard.

With any of these cover your lounge. Make two large, square pillows of the same substance as the mattress, and set up at the back. If you happen to have one or two feather pillows that you can spare for the purpose, shake them down into a square shape and cover them with the same print, and you will then have four pillows for your lounge — one at each end, and two at the back, and you will find it answers for all the purposes of a sofa.

It will be a very pretty thing, now, to cut out of the same material as your lounge, sets of lambrequins (or, as they are called, lamberkins,) a kind of pendent curtain-top, as shown in the illustration, to put over the windows,

88

THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

which are to be embellished with white muslin curtains. The cornices to your windows can be simply strips of wood covered with paper to match the bordering of your

room, and the lambrequins, made of chintz like the lounge, can be trimmed with fringe or gimp of the same color. The pat- terns of these can be varied accord- ing to fancy, but simple designs are" usually the prettiest. A tas- sel at the lowest point improves the appearance.

The curtains can be made of

plain white muslin, or some of the many styles that come for this purpose. If plain muslin is used, you can ornament them with hems an inch in width, in which insert a strip of gingham or chambray of the same color as your chintz. This will wash with the curtains without losing its color, or should it fade, it can easily be drawn out and replaced.

The influence of white-muslin curtains in giving an air of grace and elegance to a room is astonishing. White curtains really create a room out of nothing. 'No matter how coarse the muslin, so it be white and hang in graceful folds, there is a charm in it that supplies the want of mul- titudes of other things.

Yery pretty curtain-muslin can be bought at thirty- seven cents a yard. It requires six yards for a window.

HOME DECORATION.

89

Let your men-folk knock up for you, out of rough, un- planed boards, some ottoman frames, as described in Chap- ter II. ; stuff the tops with just the same material as the lounge, and cover them with the self-same chintz.

Now you have, sup- pose your selected color to be green, a green lounge in the corner and two green otto- mans; you have white muslin cur- tains, with green lam- brequins

and borders, and your room already looks furnished. If you have in the house any broken-down arm-chair, re- posing in the oblivion of the garret, draw it out — drive a nail here and there to hold it firm — stuff and pad, and stitch the padding through with a long upholsterer's nee- dle, and cover it with the chintz like your other furni- ture. Presto — you create an easy-chair.

Thus can broken and disgraced furniture reappear, and, being put into uniform with the general suit of your room, takeva new lease of life.

If you want a centre-table, consider this — that any kind of table, well concealed beneath the folds of handsome drapery •, of a color corresponding to the general hue of the room, will look well. Instead of going to the cabinet-maker and paying from thirty to forty dollars upon a little, narrow,

90 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

cold, marble-topped stand, that gives just room enough tc hold a lamp and a book or two, reflect within yourself what a centre-table is made for. If you have in your house a good, broad, generous-topped table, take it, cover it with an ample cloth of green broadcloth. Such a cover, two and a half yards square, of fine green broadcloth, figured with black and with a pattern-border of grape- leaves, has been bought for ten dollars. In a room we wot of, it covers a cheap pine table, such as you may buy for four or five dollars any day ; but you will be astonished to see how handsome an object this table makes under its green drapery. Probably you could make the cover more cheaply by getting the cloth and trimming its edge with a handsome border, selected for the purpose ; but either way, it will be an economical and useful ornament. We set down our centre-table, therefore, as consisting mainly of a nice broadcloth cover, matching our curtains and lounge.

We are sure that any one with " a heart that is hum- ble" may command such a centre-table and cloth for fif- teen dollars or less, and a family of five or six may all sit and work, or read, or write around it, and it is capable of entertaining a generous allowance of books and knick- knacks.

You have now for your parlor the following figures :

Wall-paper and border, $5 50

Thirty yards matting, 15 00

Centre-table and cloth, . , 15 00

Muslin for three windows, 6 75

Thirty yards green English chintz, at 25 cents, 7 50

Six chairs, at $2 each, 12 00

Total, $61 75

Subtracted from eighty dollars, which we set down as the price of the cheap, ugly Brussels carpet, we have our whole room papered, carpeted, curtained, and furnished, and we have nearly twenty dollars remaining for pictures.

HOME DECORATION.

91

Fig. 40.

As a little suggestion in regard to the selection, you can get Miss Oakley's charming little cabinet picture of

"The Little Scrap-Book Maker" for $V 50

Eastman Johnson's " Barefoot Boy," (Prang) 5 00

Newman's " Blue-fringed Gentians," (Prang) 6 00

Bierstadt's " Sunset in the Yo Semite Valley," (Prang) 12 00

Here are thirty dollars' worth of really admirable pictures of some of our best American artists, from which you can choose at your leisure. By sending to any leading picture-dealer, lists of pictures and prices will be forwarded to you. These chromos, being all varnished, can wait for frames until you can aiford them. Or, what is better, because it is at once cheaper and a means of edu- cating the ingenuity and the taste, you can make for your- selves pretty rustic frames in various modes. Take a very

thin board, of the right size and shape, for the foundation or " mat ;" saw out the inner oval or rectangular form to suit the picture.' Nail on the edge a rustic frame made of branches of hard, seasoned wood, and garnish the corners with some pretty device ; such, for instance, as a cluster of acorns ; or, in place of the branch- es of trees, fasten on with glue

small pine cones, with larger ones for corner ornaments. Or use the mosses of the wood or Fis- 41-

ocean shells for this purpose. It may be more convenient to get the mat or inner moulding from a framer, or have it made by your carpenter, with a groove behind to hold a glass. Here are also picture- frames of pretty effect, and very simply made. The one in Fig. 42

92

THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

Fig. 43.

is made of either light or dark wood, neat, thin, and not

very wide, with the ends simply broken off, or cut so as to

resemble a rough break. The other is white pine, sawn into simple form, well smoothed, and marked with a deli- cate black tracery, as suggested in Fig. 43. This should also be varnished, then it will take a rich, yellow tinge, which harmonizes admirably with chromos, and light- ens up engravings to singular advan- tage. Besides the

American and the higher range of German and Eng- lish chromos, there are very many pretty little French

chromos, which can be had at

prices from $1 to $5, including

black walnut frames.

We have been through this

calculation merely to show our

readers how much beautiful

effect may be produced by a

wise disposition of color and

skill in arrangement. If any

of our friends should ever carry

it out, they will find that the

buff paper, with its dark, narrow border ; the green chintz

repeated in the lounge, the ottomans, and lambrequins;

the flowing, white curtains; the broad, generous centre-

Fig. 43.

HOME DECORATION. 93

table, draped with its ample green cloth, will, when ar- ranged together, produce an effect of grace and beauty far beyond what any one piece or even half a dozen pieces of expensive cabinet furniture could. The great, simple principle of beauty illustrated in this room is harmony of color.

You can, in the same way, make a red" room by using Turkey red for your draperies ; or a blue room by using blue chintz. Let your chintz be of a small pattern, and one that is decided in color.

We have given the plan of a room with matting on the floor because that is absolutely the cheapest cover. The price of thirty yards plain, good ingrain carpet, at $1.50 per yard, would be forty-five dollars; the difference be- tween forty-five and fifteen dollars would furnish a room with pictures such as we have instanced. However, the same programme can be even better carried out with a green ingrain carpet as the foundation of the color of the room.

Our friends, who lived seven years upon matting, con- trived to give their parlor in winter an effect of warmth and color by laying down, in front of the fire, a large square of carpeting, say three breadths, four yards long. This covered the gathering-place around the fire where the winter circle generally sits, and gave an appearance of warmth to the room.

If we add this piece of carpeting to the estimates for our room, we still leave a margin for a picture, and make the programme equally adapted to summer and winter.

Besides the chromos, which, when well selected and of the best class, give the charm of color which belongs to expen- sive paintings, there are engravings which finely reproduce much of the real spirit and beauty of the celebrated pic- tures of the world. And even this does not exhaust the resources of economical art ; for there are few of the renowned statues, whether of antiquity or of modern times,

04 THE AMERICAN WOMAtfS HOME.

that have not been accurately copied in plaster casts ; and a few statuettes, costing perhaps five or six dollars each, will give a really elegant finish to your rooms — providing always that they are selected with discrimination and taste.

The educating influence of these works of art can hardly be over-estimate^. Surrounded by such suggestions of the beautiful, and such reminders of history and art, children are constantly trained to correctness of taste and refine- ment of thought, and stimulated — s'ometimes to efforts at artistic imitation, always to the eager and intelligent in- quiry about the scenes, the places, the incidents represented.

Just here, perhaps, we are met by some who grant all that we say on the subject of decoration by works of art, and who yet impatiently exclaim, " But I have no money to spare for any thing of this sort. I am condemned to an absolute bareness, and beauty in my case is not to be thought of."

Are you sure, my friend ? If you live in the country, or can get into the country, and have your eyes opened and your wits about you, your house need not be condemned to an absolute bareness. Not so long as the woods are full of beautiful ferns and mosses, while every swamp shakes and nods with tremulous grasses, need you feel yourself an utterly disinherited child of nature, and de- prived of its artistic use.

For example : Take an old tin pan condemned to the retired list by reason of holes in the bottom, get twenty-five cents' worth of green paint for this and other purposes, and paint it. The holes in the bottom are a recommendation for its new service. If there are no holes, you must drill two or three, as .drainage is essential. Now put a layer one inch deep of broken charcoal and potsherds over the bottom, and then soil, in the following proportions :

Two fourths wood-soil, such as you find in forests, under trees.

HOME DECORATION.

95

One fourth clean sand.

One fourth meadow-soil, taken from under fresh turf. Mix with this some charcoal dust.

In this soil plant all sorts of ferns, together with some few swamp-grasses ; and around the edge put a border of money-plant or periwinkle to hang over. This will need to be watered once or twice a week, and it will grow and thrive all summer long in a corner of your room. Should you prefer, you can suspend it by wires and make a hang- ing-basket. Ferns and wood-grasses need not have sun- shine— they grow well in shadowy places.

On this same principle you can convert a salt-box or an old drum of figs into a hanging-basket. Tack bark and pine-cones and moss upon the outside? of it, drill holes and pass wires through it, and you have a woodland hanging- basket, which will hang and grow in any corner of your house.

We have been into rooms which, by the simple disposi- tion of articles of this kind, have been made to have an air

so poetical and attractive

•pu *j

that they seemed more like a nymph's cave than any thing in the real world.

Another mode of dispo- sing of ferns is this : Take a flat piece of board sawed out something like a shield, with a hole at the top for hanging it up.

Upon the board nail a wire pocket made of an ox-muzzle flattened on one side; or make some- thing of the kind with stiff wire. Line this with a sheet of close moss, which appears green behind the wire

96 THE AMERICAN WOMAN"* S HOME.

net- work. Theii you fill it with loose, spongy moss, such as you find in swamps, and plant therein great plumes of fern and various swamp-grasses ; they will continue to grow there, and hang gracefully over. When watering, set a pail under for it to drip into. It needs only to keep this moss always damp, and to sprinkle these ferns occa- sionally with a whisk-broom, to have a most lovely orna- ment for your room or hall.

The use of ivy in decorating a room is beginning to be generally acknowledged. It needs to be planted in the kind of soil we have described, in a well-drained pot or box, and to have its leaves thoroughly washed once or twice a year in strong suds made with soft-soap, to free it from dust and scale-bug; and an ivy will live and thrive and wind about in a room, year in arid year out, will grow around pictures, and do almost any thing to oblige you that you can suggest to it. For instance, in a March number of Hearth and Home* there is a picture of the most delightful library-window imaginable, whose chief charm consists in the running vines that start from a longitudinal box at the bottom of the window, and thence clamber up and about the casing and across the rustic frame-work erected for its convenience. On the opposite page we present another plain kind of window, ornamented with a variety of these rural economical adornings.

In the centre is a Ward's case. On one side is a pot of Fuchsia. On the other side is a Calla Lily. In the hang- ing-baskets and on the brackets are the ferns and flowers that flourish in the deep woods, and around the window is the ivy, running from two boxes ; and, in case the window has some sun, a Nasturtion may spread its bright blossoms among the leaves. - Then, in the winter, when there is less sun, the Striped Spider-wort, the Smilax and the Saxifraga

* A beautifully illustrated agricultural and family weekly paper, edited by Donald G. Mitchell (Ik Marvel) and Mrs. H. B. Stowe.

Fig. 45.

98 , THE AMERICAN WOMAN9 S HOME.

Samentosa (or Wandering Jew) may be substituted. Pretty brackets can be made of common pine, ornamented with odd-growing twigs or mosses or roots, scraped and varnished, or in their native state.

A beautiful ornament for a room with pictures is Ger- man ivy. Slips of this will start without roots in bottles of water. Slide the bottle behind the picture, and the ivy will seem to come from fairyland, and hang its verdure in all manner of" pretty curves around the picture. It may then be trained to travel toward other ivy, and thus aid in form- ing green cornice along the ceiling. We have seen some rooms that had an ivy cornice around the whole, giving the air of a leafy bower.

There are some other odd devices to ornament a room. For example, a sponge, kept wet by daily immersion, can be filled with flax-seed and suspended by a cord, when it will ere long be covered with verdure and afterward with flowers.

A sweet potato, laid in a bowl of water on a bracket, or still better, suspended by a knitting-needle, run through or laid across the bowl half in the water, will, in due time, make a beautiful verdant ornament. A large carrot, with the smallest half cut off, scooped out to hold water and then suspended with cords, will send out graceful shoots in rich profusion.

Half a cocoa-nut shell, suspended, will hold earth or water for plants and make a pretty hanging-garden.

It may be a very proper thing to direct the ingenuity and activity of children into the making of hanging-baskets and vases of rustic work. The best foundations are the cheap wooden bowls, which are quite easy to get, and the walks of children in the woods can be made interesting by their bringing home material for this rustic work. Different colored twigs and sprays of trees, such as the bright scarlet of the dog-wood, the yellow of the willow, the black of the birch, and the silvery gray of the poplar, may be combined in fanciful net- work. For this sort of work, no other in-

HOME DECORATION.

99

Fig. 46.

vestment is needed than a hammer and an assortment of different-sized tacks, and beautiful results will be produced.

Fig. 46 is a stand for flowers, made of roots, scraped and varnished. But the greatest and cheapest and most de- lightful fountain of beauty is a " Ward case."

Now, immediately all our economical friends give up in despair. Ward's cases sell all the way along from eighteen to fifty dol- lars, and are, like every thing else in this lower world, regarded as the sole perquisites of the rich.

Let us not be too sure. Plate-glass, and hot-house plants, and rare patterns, are the especial inheritance of the rich ; but any family may command all the requisites of a Ward case for a very small sum. Such a case is a small glass closet over a well-drained box of soil. You make a Ward case on a small scale when you turn a tumbler over a plant. The glass keeps the temperature moist and equable, and preserves the plants from dust, and the soil being well drained, they live and thrive accordingly. The requisites of these are the glass top and the bed of well-drained soil. Suppose you have -a common cheap table, four feet long and two wide. Take off the top boards of your table, and with them board the bottom across tight and firm ; then line it with zinc, and you will have a sort of box or sink on legs. Now make a top* of common window-glass such as

100

THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

you would get for a cucumber-frame ; let it be two and a half feet high, with a ridge-pole like a house, and a slant- ing roof of glass

47> resting on this

ridge-pole ; on one end let there be a door two feet square.

"We have seen a Ward case made in this way, in which the capa- bilities for pro- ducing ornamen- tal effect were greatly beyond many of the most elaborate ones of the shops. It was large, and roomy, and cheap. Com- mon window-sash and glass are not dear, and any man with moderate ingenuity could fashion such a glass closet for his wife ; or a woman, not having such a husband, can do it herself.

The sink or box part must have in the middle of it a hole of good size for drainage. In preparing for the reception of plants, first turn a plant-saucer over this hole, which may otherwise become stopped. Then, as directed for the other basket, proceed with a layer of broken charcoal and pot- sherds for drainage, two inches deep, and prepare the soil as directed above, and add to it some pounded charcoal, or the scrapings of the charcoal-bin. In short, more or less charcoal and charcoal-dust is always in order in the treat- ment of these moist subjects, as it keeps them from fer- menting and growing sour.

HOME DECORATION. 101

Now for filling the case.

Our own native forest-ferns have a period in the winter months when they cease to grow. They are very particu- lar in asserting their right to this yearly nap, and will not, on any consideration, grow for you out of their appointed season.

Nevertheless, we shall tell you what we have tried our- selves, because greenhouse ferns are expensive, and often great cheats when you have bought them, and die on your hands in the most reckless and shameless manner. If you make a Ward case in the spring, your ferns will grow beautifully in it all summer ; and in the autumn, though they stop growing, and cease to throw out leaves, yet the old leaves will remain fresh and green till the time for starting the new ones in the spring.

But, supposing you wish to start your case in the fall, out of such things as you can find in the forest ; by search- ing carefully the rocks and clefts and recesses of the forest, you can find a quantity of beautiful ferns whose leaves the frost has not yet assailed. Gather them carefully, remem- bering that the time of the plant's sleep has come, and that you must make the most of the leaves it now has, as you will not have a leaf more from it till its waking-up time in February or March. But we have succeeded, and you will succeed, in making a very charming and picturesque collection. You can make in your Ward case lovely lit- tle grottoes with any bits of shells, and minerals, and rocks you may have ; you can lay down, here and there, frag- ments of broken looking-glass for the floor of your grottoes, and the effect of them will be magical. A square of look- ing-glass introduced into the back side of your case will produce charming effects.

The trailing arbutus or May-flower, if cut up carefully in sods, and put into this Ward case, will come into bloom there a month sooner than it otherwise would, and gladden your eyes and heart.

102 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

In the fall, if you can find the tufts of eye-bright or houstonia cerulia, and mingle them in with your mosses, you will find them blooming before winter is well over.

But among the most beautiful things for such a case is the partridge-berry, with its red plums. The berries swell and increase in the moist atmosphere, and become intense in color, forming an admirable ornament.

Then the ground pine, the princess pine, and various nameless pretty things of the woods, all flourish in these little conservatories. In getting your sod of trailing arbu- tus, remember that this plant forms its buds in the fall. You must, therefore, examine your sod carefully, and see if the buds are there ; otherwise you will find no blossoms in the spring.

There are one or two species of violets, also, that form their buds in the fall, and these too, will blossom early for you.

We have never tried the wild anemones, the crowfoot, etc. ; but as they all do well in moist, shady places, we recom mend hopefully the experiment of putting some of them in.

A Ward case has this recommendation over common house-plants, that it takes so little time and care. If well made in the outset, and thoroughly drenched with water when the plants are first put in, it will after that need only to be watered about once a month, and to be ventilated by occasionally leaving open the door for a half-hour or hour when the moisture obscures the glass and seems in excess.

To women embarrassed with the care of little children, yet longing for the refreshment of something growing and beautiful, this indoor garden will be an untold treasure. The glass defends the plant from the inexpedient intermed- dling of little fingers ; while the little eyes, just on a level with the panes of glass, can look through and learn to enjoy the beautiful, silent miracles of nature.

HOME DECORATION. 103

t

For an invalid's chamber, such a case would be an inde- scribable comfort. It is, in fact, a fragment of the green woods brought in and silently growing; it will refresh many a weary hour to watch it.

VII.

THE CAKE OF HEALTH.

THERE is no point where a woman is more liable to suffer from a want of knowledge and experience than in reference to the health of a family committed to her care. Many a young lady who never had any charge of the sick ; who never took any care of an infant ; who never obtained information on these subjects from books, or from the ex- perience of others ; in short, with little or no preparation, has found herself the principal attendant in dangerous sick- ness, the chief nurse of a feeble infant, and the responsible guardian of the health of a whole family.

The care, the fear, the perplexity of a woman suddenly called to these unwonted duties, none can realize till they themselves feel it, or till they see some young and anxious novice first attempting to meet such responsibilities. To a woman of age and experience these duties often involve a measure of trial and difficulty at times deemed almost in- Supportable ; how hard, then, must they press on the heart of the young and inexperienced !

There is no really efficacious mode of preparing a woman to take a rational care of the health of a family, except by communicating that knowledge in regard to the construction of the body and the laws of health which is the basis of the medical profession. Not that a woman should undertake the minute and extensive investigation requisite for a physician ; but she should gain a general knowledge of first principles, as a guide to her judgment in emergencies when she can rely on no other aid.

THE CARE OF HEALTH. 105

With this end in view, in the preceding chapters some portions of the organs and functions of the human body have been presented, and others will now follow in connec- tion with the practical duties which result from them.

On the general subject of health, one recent discovery of science may here be introduced as having an important relation to every organ and function of the body, and as being one to which frequent reference will be made ; and that is, the nature and operation of cell-life.

By the aid of the microscope, we can examine the minute construction of plants and animals, in which we discover contrivances and operations, if not so sublime, yet more wonderful and interesting, than the vast systems of worlds revealed by the telescope.

By this instrument it is now seen that the first forma- tion, as well as future changes and actions, of all plants and animals are accomplished by means of small cells or bags containing various kinds of liquids. These cells are so minute that, of the smallest, some hundreds would not cover the dot of a printed i on this page. They are of di- verse shapes and contents, and perform various different operations.

The first formation of every animal is accomplished by the agency of cells, and may be il- Fig- *8' lustrated by the egg of any bird or

fowl. The exterior consists of a hard shell for protection, and this is lined with a tough skin, to which is fastened the yelk, (which means the yellow?) by fibrous strings, as seen at «, a, in the diagram. In

the yelk floats the germ-cell, &, which is the point where the formation of the future animal commences. The yelk, being lighter than the white,' rises upward, and the germ being still lighter, rises in the yelk. This is to bring both nearer to the vitalizing warmth of the brooding mother.

106 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

New cells are gradually formed from the nourishing yelk around the germ, each being at first roundish in shape, and having a spot near the centre, called the nucleus. The reason why cells increase must remain a^ mystery, until we can penetrate the secrets of vital force — probably forever. But the mode in which they mul- tiply is as follows : The first change noticed in a cell, when warmed into vital activity, is the appearance of a second nucleus within it, while the cell gradually becomes oval in form, and then is drawn inward at the middle, like an hour-glass, till the two sides meet. The two portions then divide, and two cells appear, each containing its own germinal nucleus. These both divide again in the same manner, proceeding in the ratio of 2, 4, 8, 16, and so on, until most of the yelk becomes a mass of cells.

The central point of this mass, where the animal itself commences to appear, shows, first, a round-shaped figure, which soon assumes form like a pear, and then like a violin. Gradually the busy little cells arrange themselves to build up heart, lungs, brain, stomach, and limbs, for which the yelk and white furnish nutriment. There is a small bag of air fastened to one end inside of the shell ; and when the animal is complete, this air is taken into its lungs, life begins, and out walks little chick, all its powers prepared, and ready to run, eat, and enjoy existence. Then, as soon as the animal uses its brain to think and feel, and its muscles to move, the cells which have been made up into these parts begin to decay, while new cells are formed from the blood to take their place. Thus with life com- mences the constant process of decay and renewal all over the body.

The liquid portion of the blood consists of material formed from food, air, and water. From this material the cells of the blood are formed : first, the white cells, which are incomplete in formation ; and then the red cells, which are completed by the addition of the oxygen received from

THE CARE OF HEALTH.

107

Fig. 49.

air in the lungs. Fig. 49 represents part of a magnified blood-vessel, #, a, in which the round cells are the white,

and the oblong the red cells, floating in the blood. Sur- rounding the blood-vessels are the cells forming the ad- jacent membrane, 5 &, each having a nucleus in its centre. Cells have different powers of selecting and secreting diverse materials from the blood. Thus, some secrete bile to carry to the liver, others secrete saliva for the mouth, others take up the tears, and still others take material for the brain, mus- cles, and all other organs. Cells also have a converting power, of taking one kind of matter from the blood, and changing it to another kind. They are minute chemical laboratories all over the body, changing materials of one kind to another form in which they can be made useful.

Both animal and vegetable substances are formed of cells. But the vegetable cells take up and use unorgan- ized or simple, natural matter* whereas the animal cell only takes substances already organized into vegetable or animal life, and then changes one compound into another of different proportions and nature.

These curious facts in regard to cell-life have important relations to the general subject of the care of health, and also to the cure of disease, as will be noticed in following chapters.

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.

There is another portion of the body, which is so inti- mately connected with every other that it is placed in this

108

THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

Fig. 60.

chapter as also having reference to every department in the general subject of the care of health.

The body has no power to move itself, but is a collection of instruments to be used by the mind in securing various kinds of knowledge and enjoyment. The organs through which the mind thus operates are the brain and nerves. The drawing (Fig. 50) represents them.

The brain lies in the skull, and is divided into the large or upper brain, marked 1, and the small or lower brain, marked 2. From the brain runs .the spinal marrow through the spine or back- bone. From each side of the spine the large nerves run out into innumerable smallei branches to every portion of the body. The drawing shows only some of the larg- er branches. Those marked 3 run to the neck and organs of the chest ; those marked 4 go to the arms ; those below the arms, marked 3, go to the trunk ; and those marked 5 go to the legs.

The brain and nerves con- sist of two kinds of nervous

matter — the gray, which is supposed to be the portion that originates and controls a nervous fluid which imparts power of action ; and the white, which seems to conduct this fluid to every part of the body.

The brain and nervous system are divided into distinct portions, each having different offices to perform, and each acting independently of the others ; as, for example, one

THE CARE OF HEALTH. 109

portion is employed by the mind in thinking, and in feeling pleasurable or painful mental emotions ; another in moving the muscles ; while the nerves that run to the nose, ears, eyes, tongue, hands, and surface generally, are employed in seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling all physical sensations.

The lack portion of the spinal marrow and the nerves that run from it are employed in sensation, or the sense of feeling. These nerves extend over the whole body, but are largely developed in the network of nerves in the skin. The front portion of the spinal marrow and its branches are employed in moving those muscles in all parts of the body which are controlled by the ivill or choice of the mind. These are called the nerves of motion.

The nerves of sensation and nerves of motion, although they start from different portions of the spine, are united in the same sheath or cover, till they terminate in the muscles. Thus, every muscle is moved by nerves of motion ; while alongside of this nerve, in the same sheath, is a nerve of sensation. All the nerves of motion and sensation are connected with those portions of the brain used when we think, feel, and choose. By this arrangement the mind knows what is wanted in all parts of the body by means of the nerves of sensation, and then it acts by means of the nerves of motion.

For example, when we feel the cold air on the skin, the nerves of sensation report to the brain, and thus to the mind, that the body is growing cold. The mind thus knows that more clothing is needed, and wills to have the eyes look for it, and the hands and feet move to get it. This is done by the nerves of sight and of motion.

Next are the nerves of involuntary motion, which move all those parts of the head, face, and body that are used in breathing, and in other operations connected with it. By these we continue to breathe when asleep, and whether we will to do so or not. There are also some of the nerves of

110 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

voluntary motion that are mixed with these, which enable the mind to stop respiration, or to regulate it to a certain extent. But the mind has no power to stop it for any great length of time.

There is another large and important system of nerves called the sympathetic or ganglionic system. It consists of small masses of gray and white nervous matter, that seem to be small brains with nerves running from them. These are called ganglia, and are arranged on each side of the spine, while small nerves from the spinal marrow run into them, thus uniting the sympathetic system with the nerves of the spine. These ganglia are also distributed around in various parts of the interior of the body, especially in the intestines, and all the different ganglia are connected with each other by nerves, thus making one system. It is the ganglionic system that carries on the circulation of the blood, the action of the capillaries, lymphatics, arteries, and veins, together with the work of secretion, absorption, and most of the internal working of the body, which goes for- ward without any knowledge or control of the mind.

Every portion of the body has nerves of sensation com- ing from the spine, and also branches of the sympathetic or ganglionic system. The object of this is to form a sym- pathetic communication between the several parts of the body, and also to enable the mind to receive, through the brain, some general knowledge of the state of the whole system. It is owing to this that, when one portion of the body is affected, other portions sympathize. For example, if one part of the body is diseased, the stomach may so sym- pathize as to lose all appetite until the disease is removed.

All the operations of the nervous system are performed by the influence of the nervous fluid, which is generated in the gray portions of the brain and ganglia. Whenever a nerve is cut off from its connection with these nervous centres, its power is gone, and the part to which it minis tered becomes lifeless and incapable of motion.

THE CARE OF HEALTH. Ill

The brain and nerves can be overworked, and can also suffer for want of exercise, just as the muscles do. It is necessary for the perfect health of the brain and nerves that the several portions be exercised sufficiently, and that no part be exhausted by over-action. For example, the nerves of sensation may be very much exercised, and the nerves of motion have but little exercise. In this case, one will be weakened by excess of work, and the other by the want of it.

It is found by experience that the proper exercise of the nerves of motion tends to reduce any extreme suscepti- bility of the nerves of sensation. On the contrary, the neglect of such exercise tends to produce an excessive sensibility in the nerves of sensation.

Whenever that part of the brain which is employed in thinking, feeling, and willing, is greatly exercised by hard study, or by excessive care or emotion, the blood tends to the brain to supply it with increased nourishment, just as it flows to the muscles when they are exercised. Over-ex- ercise of this portion of the brain causes engorgement of the blood-vessels. This is sometimes indicated by pain, or by a sense of fullness in the head ; but oftener the result is a debilitating drain on the nervous system, which de- pends for its supply on the healthful state of the brain.

The brain has, as it were, a fountain of supply for the nervous fluid, which flows to all the nerves, and stimulates them to action. Some brains have a larger, and some a smaller fountain ; so that a degree of mental activity that •would entirely exhaust one, would make only a small and healthful drain upon another.

The excessive use of certain portions of the brain tends to withdraw the nervous energy from other portions; so that when one part is debilitated by excess, another fails by neglect. For example, a person may so exhaust the brain power in the excessive use of the nerves of motion by hard work, as to leave little for any other faculty. On the

112 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

other hand, the nerves of feeling and thinking may be so used as to withdraw the nervous fluid from the nerves of motion, and thus debilitate the muscles.

Some animal propensities may be indulged to such ex- cess as to produce a constant tendency of the blood to a certain portion of the brain, and to the organs connected with it, and thus cause a constant and excessive excite- ment, which finally becomes a disease. Sometimes a para- lysis of this portion of the brain results from such an entire exhaustion of the nervous fountain and of the over- worked nerves.

Thus, also, the thinking portion of the brain may be so overworked as to drain the nervous fluid from other por- tions, which become debilitated by the loss. And in this way, also, the overworked portion may be diseased or paralyzed by the excess.

The necessity for the equal development of all portions of the brain by an appropriate exercise of all the faculties of mind and body, and the influence of this upon happiness, is the most important portion of this subject, and will be more directly exhibited in another chapter.

YIII.

/

DOMESTIC EXERCISE.

IN a work which aims to influence women to train the young to honor domestic labor and to seek healthful exer- cise in home pursuits, there is special reason for explaining the construction of the muscles and their connection with the nerves, these being the chief organs of motion.

The muscles, as seen by the naked eye, consist of very fine fibres or strings, bound up in smooth, silky casings of thin membrane. But each of these visible fibres or strings the microscope shows to be made up of still finer strings, numbering from five to eight hundaed in each fibre. And each of these microscopic fibres is a series or chain of elastic cells, which are so minute that one hundred thou- sand would scarcely cover a capital O on this page.

The peculiar property of the cells which compose the muscles is their elasticity, no other cells of the body having

this property. At Fig. 51 is a diagram representing a micro-

•/"y y V V""W "S sc°pic muscular fibre, in which V A A A A A A y . the cells are relaxed, as in the

natural state of rest. But when

the muscle contracts, each of its numberless cells in all its

small fibres becomes widened, making

Fig,62- each fibre of the muscle shorter and

/YYYY YY\ tm'cker> as at Fig- 52- Tnis explains [ I 1 the cause of the swelling out of muscles

\J\ A A TWV A /

when they act. Every motion in every part of the body has a special

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THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

Fig. 53c

muscle to produce it, and many have other muscles to re- store the part moved to its natural state. The muscles that move or bend any part are called flexors, and those that re- store the natural position are called extensors.

Fig. 53 represents the muscles of the arm after the skin and flesh are removed. They are all in smooth silky cases, laid over each other, and separated both by the smooth mem- branes that encase them and by layers of fat, so as to move easily without interfer- ing with each other. They are fastened to the bones by strong tendons and carti- lages ; and around the wrist, in the draw- ing, is shown a band of cartilage to con- fine them in place. The muscle marked 8 is the extensor that straightens the fin- gers after they have been closed by a flexor the other side of the arm. In like manner, each motion of the arm and fin- gers nas one muscle to produce it and another to restore to the natural position. The muscles are dependent on the brain and nerves for power to move. It has been shown that the gray matter of the brain and spinal marrow furnishes the stimulating power that moves the muscles, and causes sensations of touch on the skin, and the other sensations of the several senses. The white part of the brain and spinal marrow consists solely of conducting tubes to transmit this influence. Each of the minute fibrils of the muscles has a small conducting -nerve connecting it with the brain or spinal marrow, and in this respect each muscular fibril is separate from every other.

When, therefore, the mind wills to move a flexor muscle of the arm, the gray matter sends out the stimulus through

DOMESTIC EXERCISE. % 115

the nerves to the cells of each individual fibre of that muscle, and they contract. When this is done, the nerve of sensation reports it to the brain and mind. If the mind desires to return the arm to its former position, then fol- lows the willing, and consequent stimulus sent through the nerves to the corresponding muscle ; its cells contract, and the limb is restored.

When the motion is a compound one, involving the action of several muscles at the same time, a multitude of impressions are sent back and forth to and from the brain through the nerves. But the person acting thus is uncon- scious of all this delicate and wonderful mechanism. He wills the movement, and* instantly the requisite nervous power is sent to the required cells and fibres, and they perform the motions required* Many of the muscles are moved by the sympathetic system, over which the mind has but little control.

Among the muscles and nerves so intimately connected, run the minute capillaries of the blood, which furnish nourishment to all.

Fig, 54 represents an artery at <z, which brings pure blood to a muscle from the heart. After meandering through the capillaries at c, to distribute oxygen and food from the stomach, the blood enters the vein, 5, loaded with carbonic acid and water taken up in the capillaries, to be carried to the lungs or skin, and thrown out into the air.

The manner in which the exercise of the muscles quickens the circula- tion of the blood will now be explained. The veins abound in every part of every muscle, and the large veins have valves which prevent the blood from flowing backward. If the wrist is grasped tightly, the veins of the hand are immediately swollen.

116 « THE AMERICAN WOMAN1 S HOME.

This is owing to the fact that the blood is prevented from flowing toward the heart by this pressure, and by the vein- valves from returning into the arteries ; while the arteries themselves, being placed deeper down, are not so compressed, and continue to send the blood into the hand, and thus it ac- cumulates. As soon as this pressure is removed, the blood springs onward from the restraint with accelerated motion. This same process takes place when any of the muscles are exercised. The contraction of any muscle presses some of the veins, so that the blood can not flow the natural way, while the valves in the veins prevent its flowing backward: Meantime the arteries continue to press the blood along until the veins become swollen. Then, as soon as the muscle ceases its contraction, the blood flows faster from the previous accumulation.

If, then, we use a number of muscles, and use them strongly and quickly, there are so many veins affected in this way as to quicken the whole circulation. The heart receives blood faster, and sends it to the lungs faster. Then the lungs work quicker, to furnish the oxygen re- quired by the greater amount of blood. The blood re- turns with greater speed to the heart, and the heart sends it out with quicker action through the arteries to the capil- laries. In the capillaries, too, the decayed matter is car- ried off faster, and then the stomach calls for more food to furnish new and pure blood. Thus it is that exercise gives new life and nourishment to every part of the body.

It is the universal law of the human frame that exercise is indispensable to the health of the several parts. Thus, if a blood-vessel be tied up, so as not to be used, it shrinks, and becomes a useless string ; if a muscle be condemned to inaction, it shrinks in size and diminishes in power ; and thus it is also with the bones. Inactivity produces soft- ness, debility, and unfitness for the functions they are de- signed to perform.

Now, the nerves, like all other parts of the body, gain

DOMESTIC EXERCISE. 117

and lose strength according as they are exercised. If they have too much or too little exercise, they lose strength ; if they are exercised to a proper degree, they gain strength. When the mind is continuously excited, by business, study, or the imagination, the nerves of emotion and sensation are kept in constant action, while the nerves of motion are un- employed. If this is continued for a long time, the nerves of sensation lose their strength from over-action, and the nerves of motion lose their power from inactivity. In consequence, there is a morbid excitability of the nervous, and a debility of the muscular system, which make all exertion irksome and wearisome.

The only mode of preserving the health of these systems is to keep up in them an equilibrium of action. For this purpose, occupations must be sought which exercise the muscles and interest the mind ; and thus the equal action of both kinds of nerves is secured. This shows why exercise is so much more healthful and invigorating when the mind is interested, than when it is not. As an illustration, let a person go shopping with a friend, and have nothing to do but look on. How soon do the continuous walking and stand- ing weary ! But, suppose one, thus wearied, hears of the arrival of a very dear friend : she can instantly walk off a mile or two to meet her, without the least feeling of fatigue. By this is shown the importance of furnishing, for young persons, exercise in which they will take an interest. Long and formal walks, merely for exercise, though they do some good, in securing fresh air, and some exercise of the mus- cles, would be of triple benefit if changed to amusing sports, or to the cultivation of fruits and flowers, in which it is impossible to engage without acquiring a great inte- rest.

It shows, also, why it is far better to trust to useful do- mestic exercise at home than to send a young person out to walk for the mere purpose of exercise. Young girls can seldom be made to realize the value of health, and the

118 . THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

need of exercise to secure it, so as to feel much interest in walking abroad, when they have no other object. But, if they are brought up to minister to the comfort and enjoy- ment of themselves and others, by performing domestic duties, they will constantly be interested and cheered in their exercise by the feeling of usefulness and the con- sciousness of having performed their duty.

There are few young persons, it is hoped, who are brought up with such miserable habits of selfishness and indolence that they can not be made to feel happier by the conscious- ness of being usefully employed. And those who have never been accustomed to think or care for any one but themselves, and who seem to feel little pleasure in making themselves useful, by wise and proper influences can often be gradually awakened to the new pleasure of benevolent exertion to promote the comfort and enjoyment of others. And the more this sacred and elevating kind of enjoyment is tasted, the greater is the relish induced. Other enjoy- ments often cloy; but the heavenly pleasure secured by virtuous industry and benevolence, while it satisfies at the time, awakens fresh desires for the continuance of so enno- bling a good.

IX.

HEALTHFUL FOOD.

THE person who decides what shall be the food and drink of a family, and the modes of its preparation, is the one who decides, to a greater or less extent, what shall be the health of that family. It is the opinion of most me- dical men, that intemperance in eating is one of the most fruitful of all causes of disease and death. If this be so, the woman who wisely adapts the food and cooking of her fa- mily to the laws of health removes one of the greatest risks which threatens the lives of those under her care. But, unfortunately, there is no other duty that has been involved in more doubt and perplexity. Were one to believe all that is said and written on this subject, the con- clusion probably would be, that there is not one solitary article of food on God's earth which it is healthful to eat. Happily, however, there are general principles on this subject which, if understood and applied, will prove a safe guide to any woman of common sense ; and it is the object of the following chapter to set forth these principles.

All material things on earth, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, can be resolved into sixty-two simple substances, only fourteen of which are in the human body ; and these, in certain proportions, in all mankind.

Thus, in a man weighing 154 Ibs. are found, 111 Ibs. oxygen gas, and 14 Ibs. hydrogen gas, which, united, form water; 21 Ibs. carbon; 3 Ibs. 8 oz. nitrogen gas; 1 Ib. 12 oz. 190 grs. phosphorus ; 2 Ibs. calcium, the chief ingre- <lient of bones ; 2 oz. fluorine ; 2 oz. 219 grs. sulphur ; 2 oz

120 THE AMERICAN WOMAN^S HOME.

47 grs. chlorine ; 2 oz. 116 grs. sodium ; 100 grs. iron ; 290 grs. potassium ; 12 grs. magnesium ; and 2 grs. silicon.

These simple substances are constantly passing out of the body through the lungs, skin, and other excreting organs.

It is found that certain of these simple elements are used for jone part of the body, and others for other parts, and this in certain regular proportions. Thus, carbon is the chief element of fat, and also supplies the fuel that com- bines with oxygen in the capillaries to produce animal heat. The nitrogen which we gain from our food and the air is the chief element of muscle ; phosphorus is the chief element of brain and nerves ; and calcium or lime is the hard portion of the bones. Iron is an important element of blood, and silicon supplies the hardest parts of the teeth, nails, and hair.

Water, which is composed of the two gases, oxygen and hydrogen, is the largest portion of the body, forming its fluids ; there is four times as much of carbon as there is of nitrogen in the body ; while there is only two per cent as much phosphorus as carbon. A man weighing one hundred and fifty-four pounds, who leads an active life, takes into his stomach daily from two to three pounds of solid food, and from five to six pounds of liquid. At the same time he takes into his lungs, daily, four or five thousand gallons of air. This amounts to three thousand pounds of nutriment received through stomach and lungs, and then expelled from the body, in one year ; or about twenty times the man's own weight.

The change goes on in every minute point of the body, though in some parts much faster than in others; as set forth in the piquant and sprightly language of Dr. O. W Holmes,* who, giving a vivid picture of the constant decay and renewal of the body, says :

* Atlantic Almanac, 1869, p. 40.

HEALTHFUL FOOD. 121

" Every organized leing always lives immersed in a strong solution of its own elements"

" Sometimes, as in the case of the air-plant, the solution contains all its elements ; but in higher plants, and in ani- mals generally, some of the principal ones only. Take our own bodies, and we find the atmosphere contains the oxygen and the nitrogen, of which we are so largely made up, as its chief constituents ; the hydrogen, also, in its watery vapor ; the carbon, in its carbonic acid. What our air-bath does not furnish us, we must take in the form of nourishment, sup- plied through the digestive organs. But the first food we take, after we have set up for ourselves, is air, and the last food we take is air also. We are all chameleons in our diet, as we are all salamanders in our habitats, inasmuch as we live always in the fire of our own smouldering combustion ; a gentle but constant flame, fanned every day by the same forty hogsheads of air which furnish us not with our daily bread, which we can live more than a day without touching, but with our momentary, and oftener than momentary, ali- ment, without which we can not live five minutes."

" We are perishing and being born again at every instant. We do literally enter over and over again into the womb of that great mother, from whom we get our bones, and flesh, and blood, and marrow. ' I die daily ' is true of all that live. If we cease to die, particle by particle, and to be born anew in the same proportion, the whole movement of life comes to an end, and swift, universal, irreparable decay re- solves our frames into the parent elements."

" The products of the internal fire which consumes us over and over again every year, pass off mainly in smoke and steam from the lungs and the skin. The smoke is only in- visible, because the combustion is so perfect. The steam is plain enough in our breaths on a frosty morning ; and an over-driven horse will show us, on a larger scale, the cloud that is always arising from own bodies."

" Man walks, then, not only in a vain show, but wra ,>ped

122 THE AMERICAN WOMAN^ S HOME.

in an uncelestial aureole of his own material exhalations. A great mist of gases and of vapor rises day and night from the whole realm of living nature. The water and the car- bonic acid which animals exhale become the food of plants, whose leaves are at once lungs and mouths. The vegetable world reverses the breathing process of the animal creation, restoring the elements which that has combined and rendered effete for its own purposes, to their original condition. The salt-water ocean is a great aquarium. The air ocean in which we liye is a c Wardian case,' of larger dimensions."

It is found that the simple elements will not 'nourish the body in their natural state, but only when organized, either as vegetable or animal food ; and, to the dismay of the Grahamite or vegetarian school, it is now established by chemists that animal and vegetable food contain the same elements, and in nearly the same proportions.

Thus, in animal food, carbon predominates in fats, while in vegetable food it shows itself in sugar, starch, and vege- table oils. Nitrogen is found in animal food in the albu- men, fibrin, and caseine ; while in vegetables it is in gluten, albumen, and caseine.

It is also a curious fact that, in all articles of food, the elements that nourish diverse parts of the body are divided into separable portions, and also that the pro- Fig. 55. portions correspond in a great degree to the wants of the body. For example, a kernel of wheat contains all the articles demanded for every part of the body. Fig. 55 represents, upon an enlarged scale, the position and pro- portions of the chief elements required. The white central part is the largest in quantity, and is chiefly carbon in the form of starch, which supplies fat and fuel for the capillaries. The shaded outer portion is chiefly nitrogen, which nourishes the muscles, and the dark spot at the bottom is prin- cipally phosphorus, which nourishes the brain and

HEALTHFUL FOOD. 128

nerves. And these elements are in due proportion to the demands of the body. A portion of the outer covering of a wheat-kernel holds lime, silica, and iron, which are needed by the body, and which are found in no other part of the grain. The woody fibre is not digested, but serves by its bulk and stimulating action to facilitate digestion. It is therefore evident that bread made of unbolted flour is more healthful than that made of superfine flour. The process of bolting removes all the woody fibre ; the lime needed for the bones ; the silica for hair, nails, and teeth ; the iron for the blood ; and most of the nitrogen and phosphorus needed for muscles, brain, and nerves.

Experiments on animals prove that fine flour alone, which is chiefly carbon, will not sustain life more than a month, while unbolted flour furnishes all that is needed for every part of the body. There are cases where persons can not use such coarse bread, on account of its irritating action on inflamed coats of the stomach. For such, a kind of wheaten grit is provided, containing all the kernel of the wheat, except the outside woody fibre.

When the body requires a given kind of diet, specially de- manded by brain, lungs, or muscles, the appetite will crave food for it until the necessary amount of this article is secured. If, then, the food in which the needed aliment abounds is not supplied, other food will be taken in larger quanti- ties than needed until that amount is gained. For all kinds of food have supplies for every want of the body, though in different proportions. Thus, for example, if the muscles are worked a great deal, food in which nitrogen abounds is required, and the appetite will continue until the requisite amount of nitrogen is secured. If, then, food is taken which has not the requisite quantity, the consequence is, that more is taken than the system can use, while the vital powers are needlessly taxed to throw off the excess.

These facts were ascertained by Liebig, a celebrated Ger-

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man chemist and physicist, who, assisted by his govern- ment, conducted experiments on a large scale in prisons, in armies, and in hospitals. Among other results, he states that those who use potatoes for their principal food eat them in very much larger quantities than their bodies would de- mand if they used also other food. The reason is, that the potato has a very large proportion of starch that supplies only fuel for the capillaries and very little nitrogen to feed the muscles. For this reason lean meat is needed with potatoes.

In comparing wheat and potatoes we find that in one hundred parts wheat there are fourteen parts nitrogen for muscle, and two parts phosphorus for brain and nerves. But in the potato there is only one part in one hundred for muscle, and nine tenths of one part of phosphorus for brain and nerves.

The articles containing most of the three articles needed generally in the body are as follows : for fat and heat-mak- ing— butter, lard, sugar, and molasses ; for muscle-making — -lean meat, cheese, peas, beans, and lean fishes ; for brain and nerves — shell-fish, lean meats, peas, beans, and very active birds and fishes who live chiefly on food in which phosphorus abounds. In a meat diet, the fat supplies car- bon for the capillaries and the lean furnishes nutriment for muscle, brain, and nerves. Green vegetables, fruits, and berries furnish the acid and water needed.

In grains used for food, the proportions of useful ele- ments are varied ; there is in some more of carbon and in others more of nitrogen and phosphorus. For example, in oats there is more of nitrogen for the muscles, and less carbon for the lungs, than can be found in wheat. In the corn of the North, where cold weather demands fuel for lungs and capillaries, there is much more carbon to supply it than is found in the Southern corn.

From these statements it may be seen that one of the chief mistakes in providing food for families has been in

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changing the proportions of the elements nature has fitted for our food. Thus, fine wheat is deprived by bolting of some of the most important of its nourishing elements, leaving carbon chiefly, which, after supplying fuel for the capillaries, must, if in excess, be sent out of the body ; thus needlessly taxing all the excreting organs. So milk, which contains all the elements needed by the body, has the cream taken out and used for butter, which again is chiefly carbon. Then, sugar and molasses, cakes and candies, are chiefly carbon, and supply but very little of other nourishing ele- ments, while to make them safe much exercise in cold and pure air is necessary. And yet it is the children of the rich, housed in chambers and school-rooms most of their time, who are fed with these dangerous dainties, thus weakening their constitutions, and inducing fevers, colds, and many other diseases.

The proper digestion of food depends on the wants of the body, and on its power of appropriating the aliment supplied. The best of food can not be properly digested when it is not needed. All that the system requires will be used, and the rest will be thrown out by the several ex- creting organs, which thus are frequently over-taxed, and vital forces are wasted. Even food of poor quality may digest well if the demands of the system are urgent. The way to increase digestive power is to increase the demand for food by pure air and exercise of the muscles, quickening the blood, and arousing the whole system to a more rapid and vigorous rate of life.

Rules for persons in full health, who enjoy pure air and exercise, are not suitable for those whose digestive powers are feeble, or who are diseased. On the other hand, many rules for invalids are not needed by the healthful, while rules for one class of invalids will not avail for other classes. Every weak stomach has its peculiar wants, and can not furnish guidance for others.

We are now ready to consider intelligently the following

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general principles in regard to the proper selection ol food:

Vegetable and animal food are equally healthful if apportioned to the given circumstances.

In cold weather, carbonaceous food, such as butter, fats, sugar, molasses, etc., can be used more safely than in warm weather. And they can be used more safely by those who exercise in the open air than by those of confined and sedentary habits.

Students who need food with little carbon, and women who live in the house, should always seek coarse bread, fruits, and lean meats, and avoid butter, oils, sugar, and molasses, and articles containing them.

Many students and women using little exercise in the open air, grow thin and weak, because the vital powers are exhausted in throwing off excess of food, especially of the carbonaceous. The liver is especially taxed in such cases, being unable to remove all the excess of carbonaceous mat- ter from the blood, and thus "biliousness" ensues, par- ticularly on the approach of warm weather, when the air brings less oxygen than in cold.

It is found, by experiment, that the supply of gastric juice, furnished from the blood by the arteries of the stomach, is proportioned, not to the amount of food put into the stomach, but to the wants of the body ; so that it is possible to put much more into the stomach than can be digested. To guide and regulate in this matter, the sensation called hunger is provided. In a healthy state ol the body, as soon as the blood has lost its nutritive supplies, the craving of hunger is felt, and then, if the food is suit- able, and is taken in the proper manner, this sensation ceases as soon as the stomach has received enough to supply the wants of the system. But our benevolent Creator, in this, as in our other duties, has connected enjoyment with the operation needful to sustain our bodies. In addition to the allaying of hunger, the gratification of the palate is

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secured by the immense variety of food, some articles of which are far more agreeable than others. »

This arrangement of Providence, designed for our happi- ness, has become, either through ignorance, or want of self-control, the chief cause of the many diseases and suffer- ings which afflict those classes who have the means of seek- ing a variety to gratify the palate. If mankind had only one article of food, and only water to drink, though they would have less enjoyment in eating, they would never be tempted to put any more into the stomach than the calls of hunger require. But the customs of society, which present an incessant change, and a great variety of food, with those various condiments which stimulate appetite, lead almost every person very frequently to eat merely to gratify the palate, after the stomach has been abundantly supplied, so that hunger has ceased.

When too great a supply of food is put into the stomach, the gastric juice dissolves only that portion which the wants of the system demand. Most of the remainder is ejected, in an unprepared state ; the absorbents take portions of it into the system ; and all the various functions of the body, which depend on the ministries of the blood, are thus gradually and imperceptibly injured. Yery often, intem- perance in eating produces immediate results, such as colic, headaches, pains of indigestion, and vertigo.

But the more general result is a gradual undermining of all parts of the human frame ; thus imperceptibly shorten- ing life, by so weakening the constitution, that it is ready to yield, at every point, to any uncommon risk or exposure. Thousands and thousands are passing out of the world, from diseases occasioned by exposures which a healthy con- stitution could meet without any danger. It is owing to these considerations, that it becomes the duty of every woman, who has the responsibility of providing food for a family, to avoid a variety of tempting dishes. It is a much safer rule, to have only one kind of healthy food, for each meal.

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Fig. 56.

than the too abundant variety which is often met at the tables of almost all classes in this country. When there is to be any variety of dishes, they ought not to be successive, but so arranged as to give the opportunity of selection. How often is it the case, that persons, by the appearance of a favorite article, are tempted to eat merely to gratify the palate, when the stomach is already adequately supplied. All such intemperance wears on the constitution, and shortens life. It not unfrequently happens that excess in eating produces a morbid appetite, which must constantly be denied.

But the organization of the digestive organs demands, not only that food should be taken in proper quantities, but that it be taken at proper times.

Fig. 56 shows one important feature of the digestive organs relating to this point. The part marked L M shows the muscles of the inner coat of the stomach, which run in one direction, and C M shows the mus- cles of the outer coat, running in another direction.

As soon as the food enters the stomach, the muscles are excited by the nerves, and the peristaltic motion commences. This is a powerful and constant exercise of the muscles of the stomach, which continues until the process of digestion is complete: During this time the blood is withdrawn from other parts of the system, to supply the demands of' the stomach, which is laboring hard with all its muscles. "When this motion ceases, and the digested food has gradu- ally passed out, nature requires that the stomach should

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have a period of repose. And if another meal be eaten immediately after one is digested, the stomach is set to work again before it has had time to rest, and before a suffi- cient supply of gastric juice is provided.

The general rule, then, is, that three hours be given to the stomach for labor, and two for rest ; and in obedience to this, five hours, at least, ought to elapse between every two regular meals. In cases where exercise produces a flow of perspiration, more food is needed to supply the loss; and strong laboring men may safely eat as often as they feel the want of food. So, young and healthy children, who gambol and exercise much and whose bodies grow fast, may have a more frequent supply of food. But, as a general rule, meals should be five hours apart, and eating between meals avoided. There is nothing more unsafe, and wearing to the constitution, than a habit of eating at any time merely to gratify the palate. When a tempting article is presented, every person should exercise sufficient self-denial to wait till the proper time for eating arrives. Children, as well as grown persons, are often injured by eating be- tween their regular meals, thus weakening the stomach by not affording it any time for rest.

In deciding as to quantity of food, there is one great diffi- culty to be met by a large portion of the community. The exercise of every part of the body is necessary to its health and perfection. The bones, the muscles, the nerves, the organs of digestion and respiration, and the skin, all de- mand exercise, in order 'properly to perform their functions. When the muscles of the body are called into action, all the blood-vessels entwined among them are frequently com- pressed. As the veins ha,ve valves so contrived that the blood can not run back, this compression hastens it for- ward toward the heart; which is immediately put in quicker motion, to send it into the lungs ; and they, also, are thus stimulated to more rapid action, which is the cause of that panting which active exercise always occasions. The

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blood thus courses with greater celerity through the body, and sooner loses its nourishing properties. Then the sto- mach issues its mandate of hunger, and a new supply of food must be furnished.

Thus it appears, as a general rule, that the quantity of food actually needed by the body depends on the amount of muscular exercise taken. A laboring man, in the open fields, probably throws off from his skin and lungs a much larger amount than a person of sedentary pursuits. In consequence of this, he demands a greater amount of food and drink.

Those persons who keep their bodies in a state of health by sufficient exercise can always be guided by the calls of hunger. They can eat when they feel hungry, and stop when hunger ceases ; and thus they will calculate exactly right. But the difficulty is, that a large part of the com- munity, especially women, are so inactive in their habits that they seldom feel the calls of hunger. They habitually eat, merely to gratify the palate. This produces such a state of the system that they lose the guide which Nature has provided. They are not called tu eat by hunger, nor admonished, by its cessation, when to stop. In consequence of this, such persons eat what pleases the palate, till they feel no more inclination for the article. It is probable that three fourths of the women in the wealthier circles sit down to each meal without any feeling of hunger, and eat merely on .account of the gratification thus afforded them. Such persons find their appetite to depend almost solely upon the kind of food on the table. This is not the case with those who take the exercise which Nature demands. They approach their meals in such a state that almost any kind of food is acceptable.

The question then arises, How are persons, who have lost the guide which Nature has provided, to determine as to the proper amount of food they shall take ?

The best method is for several days to take their

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ordinary exercise and eat only one or two articles of simple food, such as bread and milk, or bread a-nd butter with cooked fruit, or lean meat with bread and vegetables, and at the same time eat less than the appetite demands. Then on the following two days, take just enough to satisfy the appetite, and on the third day notice the quan- tity which satisfies. After this, decide before eating that only this amount of simple food shall be taken.

Persons who have a strong constitution, and take much exercise, may eat almost any thing with apparent impunity ; but young children who are forming their constitutions, and persons who are delicate, and who take but little exercise, are very dependent for health on a proper selection of food.

It is found that there are some kinds of food which afford nutriment to the blood, and do not produce any other effect on the system. There are other kinds, which are not only nourishing, but stimulating, so that they quicken the func- tions of the organs on which they operate. The condiments used in cookery, such as pepper, mustard, and spices, are of this nature. There are certain states of the system when these stimulants may be beneficial ; such cases can only be pointed out by medical men.

Persons in perfect health, and especially young children, never receive any benefit from such kind of food ; and just in proportion as condiments operate to quicken the labors of the internal organs, they tend to wear down their powers. A person who thus keeps the body working under an un- natural excitement, live faster than Nature designed, and the constitution is worn out just so much the sooner. A woman, therefore, should provide dishes for her family which are free from' these stimulating condiments.

It is also found, by experience, that the lean part of ani- mal food is more stimulating than vegetable. This is the reason why, in cases of fevers or inflammations, medical men forbid the use of meat. A person who lives chiefly on animal food is under a higher degree of stimulus than if hia

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food was chiefly composed of vegetable substances. His blood will flow faster, and all the functions of his body will be quickened. This makes it important to secure a proper pro- portion of animal and vegetable diet. Some medical men suppose that an exclusively vegetable diet is proved, by the experience of many individuals, to be fully sufficient to nou- rish the body ; and bring, as evidence, the fact that some of the strongest and most robust men in the world are those who are trained, from infancy, exclusively on vegetable food. From this they infer that life will be shortened just in pro- portion as the diet is changed to more stimulating articles ; and that, all other things being equal, children will have a better chance of health and long life if they are brought up solely on vegetable food.

But, though this is not the common opinion of medical men, they all agree that, in America, far too large a por- tion of the diet consists of animal food. As a nation, the Americans are proverbial for the gross and luxurious diet with which they load their tables; and there can be no doubt that the general health of the nation would be in- creased by a change in our customs in this respect. To take meat but once a day, and this in small quantities, compared with the common practice, is a rule, the observance of which would probably greatly reduce the amount of fevers, erup- tions, headaches, bilious attacks, and the many other ail- ments which are produced or aggravated by too gross a diet.

The celebrated Roman physician, Baglivi, (who, from practicing extensively among Roman Catholics, had ample opportunities to observe,) mentions that, in Italy, an un- usual number of people recover their health in the forty days of Lent, in consequence of the lower diet which is required as a religious duty. An American physician remarks, " For every reeling drunkard that disgraces our country, it con- tains one hundred gluttons — persons, I mean, who eat to excess, and suffer in consequence." Another distinguished physician says, " I believe that every stomach, not actually

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impaired bj organic disease, will perform its functions, if it receives reasonable attention ; and when we perceive the manner in which diet is generally conducted, both in regard to quantity and variety of articles of food and drink, which are mixed up in one heterogeneous mass — instead of being astonished at the prevalence of indigestion, our wonder must rather be that, in such circumstances, any stomach is capa- ble of digesting at all."

In regard to articles which are the most easily digested, only general rules can be given. Tender meats are digest- ed more readily than those which are tough, or than many kinds of vegetable food. The farinaceous articles, such as rice, flour, corn, potatoes, and the like, are the most nutri- tious, and most easily digested. The popular notion, that meat is more nourishing than bread, is a great mistake. Good bread contains more nourishment than butcher's meat. The meat is more stimulating, and for this reason is more readily digested.

A perfectly healthy stomach can digest almost any health- ful food ; but when the digestive powers are weak, every stomach has its peculiarities, and what is good for one is hurtful to another. In such cases, experiment alone can decide which are the most digestible articles of food. A person whose food troubles him must deduct one article after another, till he learns, by experience, which is the best for digestion. Much evil has been done, by assuming that the powers of one stomach are to be made the rule in regu- lating every other.

The most unhealthful kinds of food are those which are made so by bad cooking ; such as sour and heavy bread, cakes, pie-crust, and other dishes consisting of fat mixed and cooked with flour. Eancid butter and high-seasoned food are equally unwholesome. The fewer mixtures there are in cooking, the more healthful is the food likely to be.

There is one caution as to the mode of eating which seems peculiarly needful to Americans. It is indispensable to good

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digestion, that food be well chewed and taken slowly. It needs to be thoroughly chewed and mixed with saliva, in order to prepare it for the action of the gastric juice, which, by the peristaltic motion, will be thus brought into contact with every one of the minute portions. It has been found that a solid lump of food requires much more time and la- bor of the stomach for digestion than divided substances.

It has also been found, that as each bolus, or mouthful, enters the stomach, the latter closes, until the portion receiv- ed has had some time to move around and combine with the gastric juice, and that the orifice of the stomach resists the entrance of any more till this is accomplished. But, if the eater persists in swallowing fast, the stomach yields ; the food is then poured in more rapidly than the organ can perform its duty of preparative digestion ; and evil results are sooner or later developed. This exhibits the folly of those hasty meals, so common to travelers and to men of business, and shows why children should be taught to eat slowly.

After taking a full meal, it is very important to health that no great bodily or mental exertion be made till the labor of the stomach is over. Intense mental effort draws the blood to the head, and muscular exertions draw it to the muscles ; and in consequence of this, the stomach loses the supply which it requires when performing its office. When the blood with its stimulating effects is thus with- drawn from the stomach, the adequate supply of gastric juice is not afforded, and indigestion is the result. The heaviness which follows a full meal is the indication which Nature gives of the need of quiet. When the meal is mod- erate, a sufficient quantity of gastric juice is exuded in an hour, or an hour and a half ; after which, labor of body and mind may safely be resumed.

WTien undigested food remains in the stomach, and is at last thrown out into the bowels, it proves an irritating sub- stance, producing an inflamed state in the lining of the sto- mach and other organs.

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It is found that the stomach has the power of gradually accommodating its digestive powers to the food it habitually receives. Thus, animals which live on vegetables can gra- dually become accustomed to animal food ; and the reverse is equally true. Thus, too, the human stomach can even- tually accomplish the digestion of some kinds of food, which, at first, were indigestible.

But any changes of this sort should be gradual ; as those which are sudden are trying to the powers of the stomach, by furnishing matter for which its gastric juice is not pre- pared.

Extremes of heat or cold are injurious to the process of digestion. Taking hot food or drink, habitually, tends to debilitate all the organs thus needlessly excited. In using cold substances, it is found that a certain degree of warmth in the stomach is indispensable to their digestion ; so that, when the gastric juice is cooled below this temperature, it ceases to act. Indulging in large quantities of cold drinks, or eating ice-creams, after a meal, tends to reduce the tem- perature of the stomach, and thus to stop digestion. This shows the folly of those refreshments, in convivial meetings, where the guests are tempted to load the stomach with a variety such as would require the stomach of a stout farmer to digest; and then to wind up with ice-creams, thus lessening whatever ability might otherwise have existed to digest the heavy load. The fittest temperature for drinks, if taken when the food is in the digesting process, is blood heat. Cool drinks, and even ice, can be safely taken at other times, if not in excessive quantity. When the thirst is excessive, or the body weakened by fatigue, or when in a state of perspiration, large quantities of cold drinks are in- jurious.

Fluids taken into the stomach are not subject to the slow process of digestion, but are immediately absorbed and car- ried into the blood. This is the reason why liquid nourish- ment, more speedily than solid food, restores from exhaustion.

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The minute vessels of the stomach absorb its fluids, which are carried into the blood, just as the minute extremities of the arteries open upon the inner surface of the stomach, and there exude the gastric juice from the blood.

When food is chiefly liquid, (soup, for example,) the fluid part is rapidly absorbed. The solid parts remain, to be act- ed on by the gastric juice. In the case of St. Martin,* in fifty minutes after taking soup, the fluids were absorbed, and the remainder was even thicker than is usual after eat- ing solid food. This is the reason why soups are deemed bad for weak stomachs ; as this residuum is more difficult of digestion than ordinary food.

Highly-concentrated food, having much nourishment in a small bulk, is not favorable to digestion, because it can not ' be properly acted on by the muscular contractions of the stomach, and is not so minutely divided as to enable the gastric juice to act properly. This is the reason why a cer- tain bulk of food is needful to good digestion; and why those people who live on whale-oil and other highly nou- rishing food, in cold climates, mix vegetables and even saw- dust with it to make it more acceptable and digestible. So in civilized lands, fruits and vegetables are mixed with more highly concentrated nourishment. For this reason also, soups, jellies, and arrow-root should have bread or crackers mixed with them. This affords another reason why coarse bread, of unbolted wheat, so often proves beneficial. Where, from inactive habits or other causes, the bowels become con-

* The individual here referred to— Alexis St. Martin — was a young Canadian, eighteen years of age, of a good constitution and robust health, who, in 1822, was accidentally wounded by the discharge of a musket which carried away a part of the ribs, lacerated one of the lobes of the lungs, and perforated the stomach, making a large aperture, which never closed ; and which enabled Dr. Beaumont (a surgeon of the American army, sta- tioned at Michilimackinac, under whose care the patient was placed) to witness all the processes of digestion and other functions of the body for several years. ^

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stipated and sluggish, this kind of food proves the appro- priate remedy.

One fact on this subject is worthy of notice. In Eng- land, under the administration of William Pitt, for two years or more there was such a scarcity of wheat that, to make it hold out longer, Parliament passed a law that the army should have all their bread made of unbolted flour. The result was, that the health of the soldiers im- proved so much as to be a subject of surprise to themselves, the Officers, and the physicians. These last came out pub- licly and declared that the soldiers never before were so ro- bust and healthy ; and that disease had nearly disappeared from the army. The civic physicians joined and pronounced it the healthiest bread ; and for a time schools, families, and public institutions used it almost exclusively. Even the nobility, convinced by these facts, adopted it for their com- mon diet, and the fashion continued a long time after the scarcity ceased, until more luxurious habits resumed their sway.

"We thus see why children should not have cakes and can- dies allowed them between meals. Besides being largely carbonaceous, these are highly concentrated nourishments, and should be eaten with more bulky and less nourishing substances. The most indigestible of all kinds of food are fatty and oily substances, if heated. It is on this account that pie-crust and articles boiled and fried in fat or butter are deemed not so healthful as other food.

The following, then, may be put down as the causes of a debilitated constitution from the misuse of food. Eating too much, eating too often, eating too fast, eating food and condiments that are too stimulating, eating food that is too warm or too cold, eating food that is highly concentrated, without a proper admixture of less nourishing matter, and eating hot food that is difficult of digestion.

HEALTHFUL DRINKS.

THERE is no direction in which a woman more needs both scientific knowledge and moral force than in using her influence to control her family in regard to stimulating beverages.

It is a point fully established by experience that the full development of the human body and the vigorous exercise of all its functions can be secured without the use of stimu- lating drinks. It is, therefore, perfectly safe to bring up children never to use them, no hazard being incurred by such a course.

It is also found by experience that there are two evils in- curred by the use of stimulating drinks. The first is, their positive effect on the human system. Their peculiarity con- sists in so exciting the nervous system that all the functions of the body are accelerated, and the fluids are caused to move quicker than at their natural speed. This increased motion of the animal fluids always produces an agreeable effect on the mind. The intellect is invigorated, the im- agination is excited, the spirits are enlivened ; and these effects are so agreeable that all mankind, after having once experienced them, feel a great desire for their repetition.

But this temporary invigoration of the system is always followed by a diminution of the powers of the stimulated organs ; so that, though in all cases this reaction may not be perceptible, it is invariably the result. It may be set down as the unchangeable rule of physiology, that stimulating drinks deduct from the powers of the constitution in exact-

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ly the proportion in which they operate to produce tempo- rary invigoration.

The second evil is the temptation which always attends the use of stimulants. Their effect on the system is so agree- able, and the evils resulting are so imperceptible and distant, that there is a constant tendency to increase such excitement both in frequency and power. And the more the system is thus reduced in strength, the more craving is the desire for that which imparts a temporary invigoration. This process of increasing debility and increasing craving for the stimu- lus that removes it, often goes to such an extreme that the passion is perfectly uncontrollable, and mind and body perish under this baleful habit.

In this country there are three forms in^which the use of such stimulants is common ; namely, alcoholic drinks, opi- um mixtures, and tobacco. These are all alike in the main peculiarity of imparting that extra stimulus to the system which tends to exhaust its powers.

Multitudes in this nation are in the habitual use of some one of these stimulants ; and each person defends the indul- gence by certain arguments :

First, that the desire for stimulants is a natural propensity implanted in man's nature, as is manifest from the universal tendency to such indulgences in every nation. From this, it is inferred that it is an innocent desire, which ought to be gratified to some extent, and that the aim should be to keep it within the limits of temperance, instead of attempting to exterminate a natural propensity.

This is an argument which, if true, makes it equally pro- per for not only men, but women and children, to use opium, brandy, or tobacco as stimulating principles, provided they are used temperately. But if it be granted that perfect health and strength can be gained and secured without these stimulants, and that their peculiar effect is to diminish the power of the system in exactly the same proportion as they stimulate it, then there is no such thing as a temperate use,

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unless they are so diluted as to destroy any stimulating power ; and in this form they are seldom desired.

The other argument for their use is, that they are among the good things provided by the Creator for our gratifica- tion ; that, like all other blessings, they are exposed to abuse and excess ; and that we should rather seek to regulate their use than to banish them entirely.

This argument is based on the assumption that they are, like healthful foods and drinks, necessary to life and health, and injurious only by excess. But this is not true ; for when- ever they are used in any such strength as to be a gratifica- tion, they operate to a greater or less extent as stimulants ; and to just such extent they wear out the powers of the constitution ; and it is abundantly proved that they are not, like food and drink, necessary to health. Such articles are designed for medicine and not for common use. There can be no argument framed to defend the use of one of them which will not justify women and children in most danger- ous indulgences.

There are some facts recently revealed by the microscope in regard to alcoholic drinks, which every woman should understand and regard. It has been shown in a previous chapter that every act of mind, either by thought, feeling, or choice, causes the destruction of certain cells in the brain and nerves. It now is proved by microscopic science* that the kind of nutrition furnished to the brain by the blood to a certain extent decides future feelings, thoughts, and voli- tions. The cells of the brain not only abstract from the blood the healthful nutrition, but also are affected in shape, size, color, and action by unsuitable elements in the blood. This is especially the case when alcohol is taken into the stomach, from whence it is always carried to the brain. The consequence is, that it affects the nature and action of the

* For these statements the writer is indebted to Maudsley, a recent writer on Microscopic Physiology.

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brain-cells, until a habit is formed which is automatic; that is, the mind loses the power of controlling the brain in its development of thoughts, feelings, and choices as it would in the natural state, and is itself controlled by the brain. In this condition a real disease of the brain is created, called oino-mariia, (see Glossary}) and the only remedy is total abstinence, and that for a long period, from the alcoholic poison. And what makes the danger more fearful is, that the brain-cells never are so renewed but that this pernicious stimulus will bring back the disease in full force, so that a man once subject to it is never safe except by maintaining perpetual and total abstinence from every kind of alcoholic drink. Dr. Day, who for many years has had charge of an inebriate asylum, states that he witnessed the dissection of the brain of a man once an inebriate, but for many years in practice of total abstinence, and found its cells still in the weak and unnatural state produced by earlier indul- gences.

There has unfortunately been a difference of opinion among medical men as to the use of alcohol. Liebig, the celebrated writer on animal chemistry, having found that both sugar and alcohol were heat-producing articles of food, framed a theory that alcohol is burnt in the lungs, giving off carbonic acid and water, and thus serving to warm the body. But modern science has proved that it is in the cap- illaries that animal heat is generated, and it is believed that alcohol lessens instead of increasing the power of the body to bear the cold. Sir John Ross, in his Arctic voyage, proved by his own experience and that of his men that cold-water drinkers could bear cold longer and were stronger than any who used alcohol.

Carpenter, a standard writer on physiology, says the ob- jection to a habitual use of even small quantities of alcoholic drinks is, that " they are universally admitted to possess a poisonous character," and " tend to produce a morbid condi- tion of body ;" while " the capacity for enduring extremes

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of heat and cold, or of mental or bodily labor, is diminished rather than increased by their habitual employment."

Prof. J. Bigelow, of Harvard University, says, "Alcohol is highly stimulating, heating, and intoxicating, and its effects are so fascinating that when once experienced there is dan- ger that the desire for them may be perpetuated."

Dr. Bell and Dr. Churchill, both high medical authori- ties, especially in lung disease, for which whisky is often recommended, come to the conclusion that " the opinion that alcoholic liquors have influence in preventing the deposition of tubercle is destitute of any foundation ; on the contrary, their use predisposes to tubercular deposition." And " where tubercle exists, alcohol has no effect in modifying the usual course, neither does it modify the morbid effects on the system."

Prof. Youmans, of New-York, says : " It has been demon- strated that alcoholic drinks prevent the natural changes in the blood, and obstruct the nutritive and reparative func- tions." He adds, " Chemical experiments have demonstrated that the action of alcohol on the digestive fluid is to destroy its active principle, the pepsin, thus confirming the observa- tions of physiologists, that its use gives rise to serious disor- ders of the stomach and malignant aberration of the whole economy."

"We are now prepared to consider the great principles of science, common sense, and religion, which should guide every woman who has any kind of influence or responsibil- ity on this subject.

It is allowed by all medical men that pure water is per- fectly healthful and supplies all the liquid needed by the body ; and also that by proper means, which ordinarily are in the reach of all, water can be made sufficiently pure.

It is allowed by all that milk, and the juices of fruits, when taken into the stomach, furnish water that is always pure, and that our bread and vegetable food also supply it in large quantities. There are besides a great variety of

HEALTHFUL DRINKS. 143

agreeable and healthful beverages, made from the juices of fruit, containing no alcohol, and agreeable drinks, such as milk, cocoa, and chocolate, that contain no stimulating prin- ciples, and which are nourishing and healthful.

As one course, then, is perfectly safe and another in- volves great danger, it is wrong and sinful to choose the path of danger. There is no peril in drinking pure water, milk, the juices of fruits, and infusions that are nourishing and harmless. But there is great danger to the young, and to the commonwealth, in patronizing the sale and use of alcoholic drinks. The religion of Christ, in its distinctive feature, involves generous self -denial for the good of others, especially for the weaker members of society. It is on this principle that St. Paul sets forth his own example, " If meat make n _y brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend." And again he teaches, ""We, then, that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please our- selves."

This Christian principle also applies to the common drinks of the family, tea and coffee.

It has been shown that the great end for which Jesus Christ came, and for which he instituted the family state, is the training of our whole race to virtue and happiness, with chief reference to an immortal existence. In this mis- sion, of which woman is chief minister, as before stated, the distinctive feature is self-sacrifice of the wiser and stronger members to save and to elevate the weaker ones. The chil- dren and the servants are these weaker members, who by ignorance and want of habits of self-control are in most danger. It is in this aspect that we are to consider the ex- pediency of using tea and coffee in a family.

These drinks are a most extensive cause of much of the nervous debility and suffering endured by American women ; and relinquishing them would save an immense amount of such suffering. Moreover, all housekeepers will allow that

144 THE AMERICAN WOMAN^S HOME.

they can not regulate these drinks in their kitchens, where the ignorant use them to excess. There is little probability that the present generation will make so decided a change in their habits as to give up these beverages ; but the sub- ject is presented rather in reference to forming the habits of children.

It is a fact that tea and coffee are at first seldom or never agreeable to children. It is the mixture of milk, sugar, and water, that reconciles them to a taste, which in this manner gradually becomes agreeable. Now suppose that those who provide for a family conclude that it is not their duty to give up entirely the use of stimulating drinks, may not the case appear different in regard to teaching their children to love such drinks ? Let the matter be regarded thus : The experiments of physiologists all prove that stimulants are not needful to health, and that, as the general rule, they tend to debilitate the constitution. Is it right, then, for a parent to tempt a child to drink what is not needful, when there is a probability that it will prove, to some extent, an under- mining drain on the constitution 1 Some constitutions can bear much less excitement than others ; and in every family of children, there is usually one or more of delicate organi- zation, and consequently peculiarly exposed to dangers from this source. It is this child who ordinarily becomes the vic- tim to stimulating drinks. The tea and coffee which the parents and the healthier children can use without immedi- ate injury, gradually sap the energies of the feebler child, who proves either an early victim or a living martyr to all the sufferings that debilitated nerves inflict. Can it be right to lead children where all allow that there is some danger, and where in many cases disease and death are met, when another path is known to be perfectly safe ?

The impression common in this country, that warm drinks, especially in winter, are more healthful than cold, is not warranted by any experience, nor by the laws of the physical system. At dinner, cold drinks are universal, and no one

HEALTHFUL DRINKS. 145

deems them injurious. It is only at the other two meals that they are supposed to be hurtful.

There is no doubt that warm drinks are healthful, and more agreeable than cold, at certain times and seasons ; but it is equally true that drinks above blood-heat are not health- ful. If a person should bathe in warm water every day, debility would inevitably follow ; for the frequent applica- tion of the stimulus of heat, like all other stimulants, even- tually causes relaxation and weakness. If, therefore, a person is in the habit of drinking hot drinks twice a day, the teeth, throat, and stomach are gradually debilitated. This, most probably, is one of the causes of an early decay of the teeth, which is observed to be much more common among Ameri- can ladies, than among those in European countries.

It has been stated to the writer, by an intelligent traveler who had visited Mexico, that it was rare to meet an indi- vidual with even a tolerable set of teeth, and that almost every grown person he met in the street had merely rem- nants of teeth. On inquiry into the customs of the country, it was found that it was the universal practice to take their usual beverage at almost the boiling-point ; and this doubt- less was the chief cause of the almost entire want of teeth in that country. In the United States, it can not be doubted that much evil is done in this way by hot drinks. Most tea- drinkers consider tea as ruined if it stands until it reaches the healthful temperature for drink.

The following extract, from Dr. Andrew Combe, presents the opinion of most intelligent medical men on this sub- ject.*

" Water is a safe drink for all constitutions, provided it be resorted to in obedience to the dictates of natural thirst

* The writer would here remark, in reference to extracts made from va- rious authors, that, for the sake of abridging, she has often left out parts of a paragraph, but never so as to modify the meaning of the author. Some ideas, not connected with the subject in hand, are omitted, but none are altered.

146 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S H ME.

only, and not of habit. Unless the desire for it is felt, there is no occasion for its use during a ineal."

" The primary effect of all distilled and fermented liquors is to stimulate the nervous system and quicken the circula- tion. In infancy and childhood, the circulation is rapid and easily excited ; and the nervous system is strongly acted upon even by the slightest external impressions. Hence, slight causes of irritation readily excite febrile and convulsive dis- orders. In youth, the natural tendency of the constitution is still to excitement, and consequently, as a general rule, the stimulus of fermented liquors is injurious."

These remarks-show that parents, who find that stimulating drinks are not injurious to themselves, may mistake in in- ferring from this that they will not be injurious to their children.

Dr. Combe continues thus : " In mature age, when diges- tion is good, and the system in full vigor, if the mode of life be not too exhausting, the nervous functions and general circulation are in their best condition, and require no stim- ulus for their support. The bodily energy is then easily sustained by nutritious food and a regular regimen, and consequently artificial excitement only increases the wasting of the natural strength."

It may be asked, in this connection, why the stimulus of animal food is not to be regarded in the same light as that of stimulating drinks. In reply, a very essential difference may be pointed out. Animal food furnishes nutriment to the organs which it stimulates, but stimulating drinks excite the organs to quickened action without affording any nou- rishment.

It has been supposed by some that tea and coffee have, at least, a degree of nourishing power. But it is proved that it is the milk and sugar, and not the main portion of the drink, which imparts the nourishment. Tea has not one particle of nourishing properties ; and what little exists in the coffee-berry is lost by roasting it in the usual mode. All

HEALTHFUL DRINKS. 147

that these articles do, is simply to stimulate without nou- rishing.

Although there is little hope of banishing these drinks, there is still a chance that something may be gained in at- tempts to regulate their use by the rules of temperance. If, then, a housekeeper can not banish tea and coffee en- tirely, she may use her influence to prevent excess, both by her instructions, and by the power of control committed more or less to her hands.

It is important for every housekeeper to know that the health of a family very much depends on \hs purity of wa- ter used for cooking and drinking. There are three causes of impure and unhealthf ul water. One is, the existence in it of vegetable or animal matter, which can be remedied by filtering through sand and charcoal. Another cause is, the existence of mineral matter, especially in limestone coun- tries, producing diseases of the bladder. This is remedied in a measure by boiling, which secures a deposit of the lime on the vessel used. The third cause is, the corroding of zinc and lead used in pipes and reservoirs, producing oxides that are slow poisons. The only remedy is prevention, by having supply-pipes made of iron, like gas-pipe, instead of zinc and lead ; or the lately invented lead pipe lined with tin, which metal is not corrosive. The obstacle to this is, that the trade of the plumbers would be greatly diminished by the use of reliable pipes. When water must be used from supply-pipes of lead or zinc, it is well to let the water run some time be- fore drinking it and to use as little as possible, taking milk instead ; and being further satisfied for inner necessities by the water supplied by fruits and vegetables. The water in these is always pure. But in using milk as a drink, it must be remembered that it is also rich food, and that less of other food must be taken when milk is thus used, or bilious troubles will result from excess of food.

The use of opium, especially by women, is usually caused at first by medical prescriptions containing it. All thatf has

148 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

been stated as to the ,effect of alcohol in the brain is true of opium ; while, to break a habit thus induced is almost hopeless. Every woman who takes or who administers this drug, is deal- ing as with poisoned arrows, whose wounds are without cure.

The use of tobacco in this country, and especially among young boys, is increasing at a fearful rate. On this subject, we have the unanimous opinion of all medical men ; the fol- lowing being specimens.

A distinguished medical writer thus states the case : " Every physician knows that the agreeable sensations that tempt to the use of tobacco are caused by nicotine, which is a rank poison, as much so as prussic acid or arsenic. When smoked, the poison is absorbed by the blood of the mouth, and car- ried to the brain. When chewed, the nicotine passes to the blood through the mouth and stomach. In both cases, the whole nervous system is thrown into abnormal excitement to expel the poison, and it is this excitement that causes agree- able sensations. The excitement thus caused is invariably followed by a diminution of nervous power, in exact pro- portion to the preceding excitement to expel the evil from the

Few will dispute the general truth and effect of the above statement, so that the question is one to be settled on the same principle as applies to the use of alcoholic drinks. Is it, then, according to the generous principles of Christ's religion, for those who are strong and able to bear this poison, to tempt the young, the ignorant, and the weak to a prac- tice not needful to any healthful enjoyment, and which leads multitudes to disease, and often to vice? For the use of tobacco tends always to lessen nerve-power, and probably every one out of five that indulges in its use awakens a mor- bid craving for increased stimulus, lessens the power of self-control, diminishes the strength of the constitution, and sets an example that influences the weak to the path of danger and of frequent ruin.

The great danger of this age is an increasing, intense

HEALTHFUL DRINKS. 149

worldliness, and disbelief in the foundation principle of the religion of Christ, that we are to reap through everlasting ages the consequences of habits formed in this life. In the light of his word, they only who are truly wise " shall shine as the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars, forever and ever."

It is increased faith or belief in the teachings of Christ's religion, as to the influence of this life upon the life to come, which alone can save our country and the world from that inrushing tide of sensualism and worldliness, now seeming to threaten the best hopes and prospects of our race.

And woman, as the chief educator of our race, and the prime minister of the family state, is bound in the use of meats and drinks to employ the powerful and distinctive motives of the religion of Christ in forming habits of tem- perance and benevolent self-sacrifice for the good of others.

XI.

CLEANLINESS.

BOTH the health and comfort of a family depend, to a great extent, on cleanliness of the person and the family surroundings. True cleanliness of person involves the sci- entific treatment of the skin. This is the most complicated organ of the body, and one through which the health is af- fected more than through any other ; and no persons can or will be so likely to take proper care of it as those by whom its construction and functions are understood.

Fig. 57 is a very highly magnified portion of the skin. The layer marked 1 is the outside, very thin skin, called the cuticle or scarf skin. This consists of transparent layers of

Fig. 57.

minute cells, which are constantly decaying and being renewed, and the white scurf that passes from the skin to the cloth- ing is a decayed portion of

these cells. This part of the skin has neither nerves nor blood-vessels.

The dark layer, marked 2, 7, 8, is that portion of the true skin which gives the external color marking diverse races. In the portion of the dark layer marked 3, 4, is seen a net- work of nerves which run from two branches of the nervous

CLEANLINESS.

trunks coming from the spinal marrow. These are nerves of sensation, by which the sense of touch or feeling is per- formed. Fig. 58 represents the blood-vessels, (intermingled with the nerves of the skin,) which divide into minute capillaries, that act like the capillaries of the lungs, taking oxygen from the air, and giving out carbonic acid. At a and b are seen the roots of two hairs, which abound in certain parts of the skin, and are nourished by the blood of the capillaries.

At Fig. 59 is a magnified view of another set of vessels, called the lymphatics or absorb- ents. These are extremely minute vessels that interlace with the nerves and blood-vessels of the skin. Their office is to aid in collecting the use- less, injurious, or decayed mat- ter, and carry it to certain re- servoirs, from which it passes in to some of the large veins, to be thrown out through the lungs, bowels, kidneys, or skin. These absorbent or lymphatic vessels have mouths opening on the surface of the true skin, and, though covered by the

cuticle, they can absorb both liquids and solids that are placed in close -contact with the skin. In proof of this, one of the main trunks oi the lymphatics in the hand can be cut off from all communication with other portions, and tied up : and if the hand is immersed in milk a given time, it will be found that the milk has been absorbed through the cuticle and fills the lymphatics. In this way, long-con-

Fig. 59.

152

THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

Fig. 60.

tinued blisters on the skin will introduce the blistering mat- ter into the blood through the absorbents, and then the kid- neys will take it up from the blood passing through them to carry it out of the body, and thus become irritated and in- flamed by it.

There are also oil-tubes, imbedded in the skin, that draw off oil from the blood. This issues on the surface and spreads over the cuticle to keep it soft and moist.

But the most curious part of the skin is the system of innumerable minute perspiration-tubes. Fig. 60 is a draw- ing of one very greatly magnified. These tubes open on the cuticle, and the openings are called pores of the skin. They descend into the true skin, and there form a coil, as is seen in the drawing. These tubes are hollow, Hke a pipe-stem, and their inner surface consists of wonderfully minute capilla- ries filled with the impure venous blood. And in these small tubes the same process is going on as takes place when the carbonic acid and water of the blood are exhaled from the lungs. The capillaries of these tubes through the whole skin of the body are thus constantly exhaling the noxious and decayed particles of the body, just as the lungs pour them out through the mouth and nose.

It has been shown that the perspiration-tubes are coiled up into a ball at their base. The number and extent of these tubes are astonishing. In a square inch on the palm of the hand have been counted, through a microscope, thir- ty-five hundred of these tubes. Each one of them is about a quarter of an inch in length, including its coils. This makes the united lengths of these little tubes to be seventy-

CLEANLINESS. 153

three feet to a square inch. Their united length over the whole body is thus calculated to be equal to twenty-eight miles. What a wonderful apparatus this ! And what mis- chiefs must ensue when the drainage from the body of such an extent as this becomes obstructed !

But the inside of the body also has a skin, as have all its organs. The interior of the head, the throat, the gullet, the lungs, the stomach, and all the intestines, are lined with a skin. This is called the mucous membrane, because it is constantly secreting from the blood a slimy substance called mucus. When it accumulates in the lungs, it is called^AZ^m. This inner skin also has nerves, blood-vessels, and lymphatics. The outer skin joins to the inner at the mouth, the nose, and other openings of the body, and there is a constant sympathy between the two skins, and thus between the inner organs and the surface of the body.

SECRETING ORGANS.

Those vessels of the body which draw off certain portions of the blood and change it into a new form, to be employed for service or to be thrown out of the body, are called se- creting organs. The skin in this sense is a secreting organ, as its perspiration-tubes secrete or separate the bad portions of the blood, and send them off.

Of the internal secreting organs, the liver is the largest. Its chief office is to secrete from the blood all matter not properly supplied with oxygen. For this purpose, a set of veins carries the blood of all the lower intestines to the liver, where the imperfectly oxidized matter is drawn off in the form of Hie, and accumulated in a reservoir called the gall-bladder. Thence it passes to the place where the smaller intestines receive the food from the stomach, and there it mixes with this food. Then it passes through the long intestines, and is thrown out of the body through the rectum. This shows how it is, that want of pure and cool

154 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

air and exercise causes excess of bile, from lack of oxygen. The liver also has arterial blood sent to nourish it, and cor- responding veins to return this blood to the heart. So there are two sets of blood-vessels for the liver — one to secrete the bile, and the other to nourish the organ itself.

The kidneys secrete from the arteries that pass through them all excess of water in the blood, and certain injurious substances. These are carried through small tubes to the bladder, and thence thrown out of the body.

The pancreas, a whitish gland, situated in the abdomen below the stomach, secretes from the arteries that pass through it the pancreatic juice, which unites with the bile from the liver, in preparing the food for nourishing the body.

There are certain little glands near the eyes that secrete the tears, and others near the mouth that secrete the saliva, or spittle.

These organs all have arteries sent to them to nourish them, and also veins to carry away the impure blood. At the same time, they secrete from the arterial blood the pe- culiar fluid which it is their office to supply.

All the food that passes through the lower intestines which is not drawn off by the lacteals or by some of these secreting organs, passes from the body through a passage called the rectum.

Learned men have made very curious experiments to as- certain how much the several organs throw out of the body, It is found that the skin throws off five out of eight pounds of the food and drink, or probably about three or four pounds a day. The lungs throw off one quarter as much as the skin, or about a pound a day. The remainder is carried off by the kidneys and lower intestines.

There is such a sympathy and connection between all the organs of the body, that when one of them is unable to work, the others perform the office of the feeble one. Thus, if the skin has its perspiration-tubes closed up by a

CLEANLINESS. 155

chill, then all the poisonous matter that would have been thrown out through them must be emptied out either by the lungs, kidneys, or bowels.

When all these organs are strong and healthy, they can bear this increased labor without injury. But if the lungs are weak, the blood sent from the skin by the chill engor- ges the weak blood-vessels, and produces an inflammation of the lungs. Or it increases the discharge of a slimy mu- cous substance, that exudes from the skin of the lungs. This fills up the air-vessels, and would very soon end life, were it not for the spasms of the lungs, called coughing, which throw off this substance.

If, on the other hand, the bowels are weak, a chill of the skin sends the blood into all the blood-vessels of the intes- tines, and produces inflammation there, or else an excessive secretion of the mucous substance, which is called a diar- rhea. Or if the kidneys are weak, there is an increased se- cretion and discharge from them, to an unhealthy and in- jurious extent.

This connection between the skin and internal organs is shown, not only by the internal effects of a chill on the skin ; but by the sympathetic effect on the skin when these internal organs suffer. For example, there are some kinds of food that will irritate and influence the stomach or the bowels ; and this, by sympathy, will produce an immediate eruption on the skin. Some persons, on eating strawberries, will imme- diately be affected with a nettle-rash. Others can not eat certain shell-fish without being affected in this way. Many humors on the face are caused by a diseased state of the internal organs with which the skin sympathizes.

This short account of the construction of the skin, and of its intimate connection with the internal organs, shows the philosophy of those modes of medical treatment that are addressed to this portion of the body.

It is on this powerful agency that the steam-doctors rely, when, by moisture and heat, they stimulate all the innu

156

merable perspiration -tubes and lymphatics to force out from the body a flood of unnaturally excited secretions; while it is " kill or cure," just as the chance may meet or oppose the demands of the case. It is the skin also that is the chief basis of medical treatment in the Water Cure, whose slow processes are as much safer as they are slower.

At the same time it is the ill-treatment or neglect of the skin which, probably, is the cause of disease and decay to an incredible extent. The various particulars in which this may be seen will now be pointed out. In the man- agement and care of this wonderful and complex part of the body, many mistakes have been made.

The most common one is the misuse of the bath, especially since cold water cures have come into use. This mode of medical treatment originated with an ignorant peasant, amid a population where outdoor labor had strengthened nerves and muscles and imparted rugged powers to every part of the body. It was then introduced into England and America without due consideration or knowledge of the diseases, habits, or real condition of patients, especially of women. The consequence was a mode of treatment too severe and exhausting ; and many practices were spread abroad not warranted by true medical science.

But in spite of these mistakes and abuses, the treatment of the skin for disease by the use of cold water has become an accepted doctrine of the most learned medical practi- tioners. It is now held by all such that fevers can be de- tected in their distinctive features by the thermometer, and that all fevers can be reduced by cold baths and packing in the wet sheet, in the mode employed in all water-cures. Di- rections for using this method will be given in another place.

It has been supposed that large bath-tubs for immersing the whole person are indispensable to the proper cleaning of the skin. This is not so. A wet towel, applied every morn- ing to the skin, followed by friction in pure air, is all that is absolutely needed ; although a full bath is a great luxury.

CLEANLINESS. 157

Access of air to every part of the skin when its perspiratory tubes are cleared and i,ts blood-vessels are filled by friction is the best ordinary bath.

In early life, children should be washed all over, every night or morning, to remove impurities from the skin. But in this process, careful regard should be paid to the peculiar constitution of a child. Very nervous children sometimes revolt from cold water, and like a tepid bath. Others pre- fer a cold bath ; and nature should be the guide. It must be remembered that the skin is the great organ of sensation, and in close connection with brain, spine, and nerve-centres : so that what a strong nervous system can bear with advantage is too powerful and exhausting for another. As age advances, or as disease debilitates the body, great care should be taken not to overtax the nervous system by sudden shocks, or to diminish its powers by withdrawing animal heat to excess. Persons lacking robustness should bathe or use friction in a warm room ; and if very delicate, should expose only a portion of the body at once to cold air.

Johnson, a celebrated writer on agricultural chemistry, tells of an experiment by friction on the skin of pigs, whose skins are like that of the human race. He treated six of these animals with a curry-comb seven weeks, and left three other pigs untouched. The result was a gain of thirty-three pounds more of weight, with the use of five bushels less of food for those curried, than for the neglected ones. This result was owing to the fact that all the functions of the body were more perfectly performed when, by friction, the skin was kept free from filth and the blood in it exposed to the air. The same will be true of the human skin. A cal dilation has been made on this fact, by which it is estima- ted that a man, by proper care of his skin, would save over thirty-one dollars in food yearly, which is the interest on over five hundred dollars. If men will give as much care to their own skin as they give to currying a horse, they will gain both health and wealth.

XII.

I

CLOTHING.

THERE is no duty of those person^ having control of a family where principle and practice are more at variance than in regulating the dress of young girls, especially at the most important and critical period of life. It is a dif- ficult duty for parents and teachers to contend with the power of fashion, which at this time of a young girl's life is frequently the ruling thought, and when to be out of the fashion, to be odd and not dress as all her companions do, is a mortification and grief that no argument or instructions can relieve. The mother is often so overborne that, in spite of her better wishes, the daughter adopts modes of dress alike ruinous to health and to beauty.

The greatest protection against such an emergency is to train a child to understand the construction of her own body and to impress upon her, in early days, her obliga- tions to the invisible Friend and Guardian of her life, the " Former of her body and the Father of her spirit," who has committed to her care so precious and beautiful a casket. And the more she can "be made to realize the skill and beauty of construction shown in her earthly frame, the more will she feel the obligation to protect it from injury and abuse.

It is a singular fact that the war of fashion has attacked most fatally what seems to be the strongest foundation and defense of the body, the bones. For this reason, the con- struction and functions of this part of the body will now receive attention.

The bones are composed of two substances, one animal.

CLOTHING. 159

aud the other mineral. The animal part is a very fine network, called cellular membrane. In this are deposited the harder mineral substances, which are composed princi- pally of carbonate and phosphate of lime. In very early life, the bones consist chiefly of the animal part, and are then soft and pliant. As the child advances in age, the bones grow harder, by the gradual deposition of the phos- phate of lime, which is supplied by the food, and carried to the bones by the blood. In old age, the hardest material preponderates ; making the bones more brittle than in ear- lier life.

The bones are covered with a thin skin or membrane, filled with small blood-vessels which convey nourishment to them.

Where the bones unite with others to form joints, they are covered with cartilage, which is a smooth, white, elas- tic substance. This enables the joints to move smoothly, while its elasticity prevents injuries from sudden jars.

The joints are bound together by strong, elastic bands called ligaments, which hold them firmly and prevent dis- location.

Between the ends of the bones that unite to form joints are small sacks or bags, that contain a soft lubricating fluid. This answers the same purpose for the joints as oil in mak- ing machinery work smoothly, while the supply is constant and always in exact proportion to the demand.

If you will examine the leg of some fowl, you can see the cartilage that covers the ends of the bones at the joints, and the strong white ligaments that bind the joints toge- ther.

The health of the bones depends on the proper nourish- ment and exercise of the body as much as that of any other part. When a child is feeble and unhealthy, or when it grows up without exercise, the bones do not become firm and hard as they are when the body is healthfully devel- oped by exercise. The size as well as the strength of the

160 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

bones, to a certain extent, also depend upon exercise and good health.

The chief supporter of the body is the spine, which con- sists of twenty-four small bones, interlocked or hooked into each other, while between them are elastic cushions of car- tilage which aid in preserving the upright, natural position. Fig. 61 shows three of the spinal bones, hooked into each other, the dark spaces showing the disks or flat cir- cular plates of cartilage between them.

The spine is held in its proper position, partly by the ribs, partly by muscles, partly by aid of the elastic disks, and partly by the close pack- ing of the intestines in front of it.

The upper part of the spine is often thrown out of its proper position by constant stooping of the head over books or work. This affects the elastic disks so that they grow thick at the back side and thinner at the front side by such constant pressure. The result is the awkward projection of the head forward which is often seen in schools and col- leges.

Another distortion of the spine is produced by tight dress around the waist. The liver occupies the right side of the bo^dy and is a solid mass, while on the other side is the larger part of the stomach, which is often empty. The conse- quence of tight dress around the waist is a constant pres- sure of the spine toward the unsupported part where the stomach lies. Thus the elastic disks again are compressed ; till they become .thinner on one side than the other, and harden into that condition. This produces what is called the lateral curvature of the spine, making one shoulder higher than the other.

The compression of the lower part of the waist is especial-

CLOTHING, 161

ly dangerous at the time young girls first enter society and are tempted to dress according to the fashion. Many a school-girl, whose waist was originally of a proper and healthful size, has gradually pressed the soft bones of youth until the lower ribs that should rise and fall with every breath, become entirely unused. Then the abdomi- nal breathing, performed by the lower part of the lungs, ceases ; the whole system becomes reduced in strength ; the abdominal muscles that hold up the interior organs be- come weak, and the upper ones gradually sink upon the lower.

This pressure of the upper interior organs upon the lower ones, by tight dress, is increased by the weight of clothing resting on the hips and abdomen. Corsets, as usually worn, have no support from the shoulders, and consequently all the weight of dress resting upon or above them presses upon the hips and abdomen, and this in such a way as to throw out of use and thus weaken the most important sup- porting muscles of the abdomen, and impede abdominal breathing.

The diaphragm is a kind of muscular floor, extending across the centre of the body, on which the heart and lungs rest. Beneath it are the liver, stomach, and the abdomi- nal viscera, or intestines, which are supported by the abdo- minal muscles, running upward, downward, and crosswise. When these muscles are thrown out of use, they lose their power, the whole system of organs mainly resting on them for support can not continue in their naturally snug, compact, and rounded form, but become separated, elongated, and un- supported. The stomach begins to draw from above instead of resting on the viscera beneath. This in some cases causes dull and wandering pains, a sense of pulling at the centre of the chest, and a drawing downward at the pit of the stomach. Then as the support beneath is really gone, there is what is often called " a feeling of goneness" This is sometimes relieved by food, which, so long as it remains in a solid form, helps to hold up the falling superstructure.

162 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

This displacement of the stomach, liver, and spleen inter- rupts their healthful functions, and dyspepsia and biliary difficulties not unfrequently are the result.

As the stomach and its appendages fall downward, the diaphragm, which holds up the heart and lungs, must des- cend also. In this state of things, the inflation of the lungs is less and less aided by the abdominal muscles, and is con- fined chiefly to their upper portion. Breathing sometimes thus becomes quicker and shorter on account of the elon- gated or debilitated condition of the assisting organs. Con- sumption not unfrequently results from this cause.

The heart also feels the evil. " Palpitations," " flutter- ings," " sinking feelings," all show that, in the language of Scripture, "the heart trembleth, and is moved out of its place."

But the lower intestines are the greatest sufferers from this dreadful abuse of nature. Having the weight of all the unsupported organs above pressing them into unnatural and distorted positions, the passage of the food is inter- rupted, and inflammations, indurations, and constipation are the frequent result. Dreadful ulcers and cancers may be traced in some instances to this cause.

Although these internal displacements are most common among women, some foolish members of the other sex are adopting customs of dress, in girding the central portion of the body, that tend to similar results.

But this distortion brings upon woman peculiar distresses. The pressure of the whole superincumbent mass on the pelvic or lower organs induces sufferings proportioned in acuteness to the extreme delicacy and sensitiveness of the parts thus crushed. And the intimate connection of these organs with the brain and whole nervous system renders in- juries thus inflicted" the causes of the most extreme anguish, both of body and mind. This evil is becoming so com- mon, not only among married women, but among young girls, as to be a just cause for universal alarm.

CLOTHING. 163

How very common these sufferings are, few but the medi- cal profession can realize, because they are troubles that must be concealed. Many a woman is moving about in un- complaining agony who, with any other trouble involving equal suffering, would be on her bed surrounded by sym- pathizing friends.

The terrible sufferings that are sometimes thus induced can never be conceived of, or at all appreciated from, any use of language. Nothing that the public can be made to believe on this subject will ever equal the reality. Not only mature persons and mothers, but fair young girls some- times, are shut up for months and years as helpless and suffering invalids. from this cause. This may be found all over the land. And there frequently is a horrible extremity of suffering in certain forms of this evil, which no woman of feeble constitution can ever be certain may not be her doom. Not that in all cases this extremity is involved, but none can say who will escape it.

In regard to this, if one must choose for a friend or a child, on the one hand, the horrible torments inflicted by savage Indians or cruel inquisitors on their victims, or, on the other, the protracted agonies that result from such de- formities and displacements, sometimes the former would be a merciful exchange.

And yet this is the fate that is coming to meet the young as well as the mature in every direction. And tender parents are unconsciously leading their lovely and hapless daughters to this awful doom.

There is no excitement of the imagination in what is here indicated. If the facts and details could be presented, they would send a groan of terror all over the land. For it is not one class, or one section, that is endangered. In every part of our country the evil is progressing.

And, as if these dreadful ills were not enough, there have been added methods of medical treatment at once useless, tor- turing to the mind* and involving great liability to immorali- ties.

iGi

THE AMERICAN WOMAN* S HOME.

Fig. 62.

In hope of abating these evils, drawings are given (Fig.

62 and Fig. 63) of the front and back of a jacket that will

preserve the advantages of the corset without its evils. This jacket may at first be fitted to the figure with cor- sets underneath it, just like the waist of a dress. Then, delicate whalebones can be used to stiffen the jacket, so that it will take the proper shape, when the corset may be dispensed with. The but- tons below are to hold all

articles of dress below the waist by button-holes. By this

method, the bust is supported as well as by corsets, while

the shoulders support from above, as they should do, the

weight of the dress below. ~No stiff bone should be allowed

to press in front, and the jacket should be so loose that a

full breath can be inspired with ease, while in a sitting

position.

The proper way to dress a young girl is to have a cotton

or flannel close-fitting jacket

next the body, to which the

drawers should be buttoned.

Over this, place the chemise;

and over that, such a jacket

as the one here drawn, to

which should be buttoned the

hoops and other skirts. Thus

every article of dress will be

supported by the , shoulders.

The sleeves of the jacket can

be omitted, and in that case a

strong lining, and also a tape binding, must surround the

arm-hole, which should be loose.

63.

CLOTHING. 165

Tt is hoped that increase of intelligence and moral power among mothers, and a combination among them to regulate fashions, may banish the pernicious practices that have pre- vailed. If a school-girl dress without corsets and without tigl4 belts could be established as a fashion, it would be one step gained in the right direction. Then if mothers could secure daily domestic exercise in chambers, eating- rooms and parlors in loose dresses, a still farther advance would be secured.

A friend of the writer inforfns her that her daughter had her wedding outfit made up by a fashionable milliner in Paris, and every dress was beautifully fitted to the form, and yet was not compressing to any part. This was done too without the use of corsets, the stiffening being delicate and yielding whalebones.

Not only parents but all having the care of young girls, especially those at boarding-schools, have a fearful responsi- bility resting upon them in regard to this important duty.

In regard to the dressing of young children, much discre- tion is needed to adapt dress to circumstances and peculiar constitutions. The leading fact must be borne in mind that the skin is made strong and healthful by exposure to light and pure air, while cold air, if not excessive, has a tonic influence. If the skill of infants is rubbed with the hand till red with blood, and then exposed naked to sun and air in a well-ven- tilated room, it will be favorable to health.

There is a constitutional difference in the skin of different children in regard to retaining the animal heat manufactur- ed within, so that some need more clothing than others for comfort. Nature is a safe guide to a careful nurse and mother, and will indicate by the looks and actions of a child when more clothing is needful. As a general rule, it is safe for a healthful child to wear as little clothing as suffi- ces to keep it from complaining of cold. Fifty years ago, it was not common for children to wear as much under-cloth- ing as they now do. The writer well remembers how even

166 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

girls, though not of strong constitutions, used to play for hours in the snow-drifts without the protection of drawers, kept warm by exercise and occasional runs to an open fire. Arid multitudes of children grew to vigorous maturity through similar exposures to cold air-baths, and without the frequent colds and sicknesses so common among children of the present day, who are more carefully housed and warmly dressed. But «are was taken that the feet should be kept dry and warmly clad, Because, circulation being feebler in the extremities, this precaution was important.

It must also be considered that age brings with it decrease in vigor of circulation, and the consequent generation of heat, so that more warmth of air and clothing is needed at an advanced period of life than is suitable for the young.

These are the general principles which must be applied with modification to each individual case. A child of deli- cate constitution must have more careful protection from cold air than is desirable for one more vigorous, while the leading general principle is retained that cold air is a health- ful tonic for the skin whenever it does not produce an un- comfortable chilliness.

GOOD COOKING.

THERE are but a few things on which health and 'happi- ness depend more than on the manner in which food is cooked. You may make houses enchantingly beautiful, hang them with pictures, have them clean and airy and con- venient; but if the stomach is fed with sour bread and burnt meats, it will raise such rebellions that the eyes will see no beauty anywhere. The abundance of splendid ma- terial we have in America is in great contrast with the style of cooking most prevalent in our country. How often, in journeys, do we sit down to tables loaded with material, originally of the very best kind, which has been so spoiled in the treatment that there is really nothing to eat ! Green biscuits with acrid spots of alkali ; sour yeast-bread ; meat slowly simmered in fat till it seemed like grease itself, and slowly congealing in cold grease ; and above all, that un- pardonable enormity, strong butter! How one longs to show people what might have been done with the raw ma- terial out of which all these monstrosities were concocted !

There is no country where an ample, well-furnished table is more easily spread, and for that reason, perhaps, none where the bounties of Providence are more generally ne- glected. Considering that our resources are greater than those of any other civilized people, our results are compara- tively poorer.

It is said that a list of the summer vegetables which are exhibited on New- York hotel-tables being shown to a French artiste, he declared that to serve such a dinner properly

168 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

would take till midnight. A traveler can not but be struck with OTir national plenteousness, on returning from a Con- tinental tour, and going directly from the ship to a New- York hotel, in the bounteous season of autumn. For months habituated to neat little bits of chop or poultry, garnished with the inevitable cauliflower or potato, wrhich seemed to be the sole possibility after the reign of green peas was over ; to sit down all at once to such a carnival ! to such ripe, juicy tomatoes, raw or cooked ; cucumbers in brittle slices ; .rich, yellow sweet-potatoes ; broad lima-beans, and beans of other and various names ; tempting ears of Indian- corn steaming in enormous piles ; great smoking tureens of the savory succotash, an Indian gift to the table for which civilization need not blush ; sliced egg-plant in delicate frit- ters ; and marrow-squashes, of creamy pulp and sweetness ; a rich variety, embarrassing to the appetite, and perplexing to the choice.

Verily, the thought must often occur that the vegetarian doctrine preached in America leaves a man quite as much as he has capacity to eat or enjoy, and that in the midst of such tantalizing abundance he has really lost the apology, which elsewhere bears him out in preying upon his less gifted and accomplished animal neighbors.

But with all this, the American table, taken as a whole, is inferior to that of England or France. It presents a fine abundance of material, carelessly and poorly treated. The management of food is nowhere in the world, perhaps, more slovenly and wasteful. Every thing betokens that want of care that waits on abundance ; there are great capabili- ties and poor execution. A tourist through England can seldom fail, at the quietest country-inn, of finding himself served with the essentials of English table-comfort — his mutton-chop done to a turn, his steaming little private appa- ratus for concocting his own tea, his choice po't jf marmalade or slice of cold ham, and his delicate rolls and creamy but- ter, all served with care and neatness. In France, one never

GOOD COOKING. 169

asks in vain for delicious cafi-au-lait, good bread and but- ter, a nice omelet, or some savory little portion of meat with a French name. But to a tourist taking like chance in American country-fare, what is the prospect ? What is the coffee? what the tea? and the meat? and above all, the butter ?

In writing on cooking, the main topics should be first, bread ; second, butter ; third, meat ; fourth, vegetables ; and fifth, tea — by which last is meant, generically, all sorts of warm, comfortable drinks served out in tea-cups, whether they be called tea, coffee, chocolate, broma, or what not.

If these five departments are all perfect, the great ends of domestic cookery are answered, so far as the comfort and well-being of life are concerned. There exists another department, which is often regarded by culinary amateurs and young aspirants as the higher branch and very collegi- ate course of practical cookery ; to wit, confectionery, by which is designated all pleasing and complicated compounds of sweets and spices, devised not for health and nourish- ment, and strongly suspected of interfering with both- mere tolerated gratifications of the palate, which we eat, not with the expectation of being benefited, but only with the hope of not being injured by them. In this large de- partment rank all sorts of cakes, pies, preserves, etc., whose excellence is often attained by treading under foot and dis- regarding the five grand essentials.

There is many a table garnished with three or four kinds of well-made cake, compounded with citron and spices and all imaginable good things, where the meat was tough and greasy, the bread some hot preparation of flour, lard, saleratus, and acid, and the butter un- utterably detestable, where, if the mistress of the feast had given the care, time, and labor to preparing the simple items of bread, butter, and meat, that she evi- dently had given to the preparation of these extras, the lot of her guests and family might be much more comfortable.

170 THE AMERICAN WOMAN* 'S HOME.

But she does not think of these common articles as const! tuting a good table. So long as she has puff pastry, rich black cake, clear jelly and preserves, she considers that such unimportant matters as bread, butter, and meat may take care of themselves. It is the same inattention to com- mon things as that which leads people to build houses with stone fronts, and window-caps and expensive front-door trimmings, without bathing-rooms or fireplaces, or venti- lators.

Those who go into the country looking for summer board in farm-houses know perfectly well that a table where the butter is always fresh, the tea and coffee of the best kinds and well made, and the meats properly kept, dressed, and served, is the one table of a hundred, the fabulous enchanted island. It seems impossible to get the idea into the minds of many people that what is called common food, carefully prepared, becomes, in virtue of that very care and attention, a delicacy, superseding the necessity of artificially compounded dainties.

To begin, then, with the very foundation of a good table — Bread : What ought it to be ?

It should be light, sweet, and tender. This matter of lightness is the distinctive line between savage and civilized bread. The savage mixes simple Hour and wa- ter into balls of paste, which he throws into boiling water, and which come out solid, glutinous masses, of which his common saying is, " Man eat dis, he no die," which a. facetious traveler who was obliged to subsist on it inter- preted to mean, " Dis no kill you, nothing will." In short, it requires the stomach of a wild animal or of a savage to digest this primitive form of bread, and of course more or less attention in all civilized modes of bread-making is giv- en to producing lightness. By lightness ib meant simply that in order to facilitate digestion the particles are to be separated from each other by little holes or air-cells ; and all the different methods of making light bread are neither more nor less than the formation of bread with these an cells.

GOOD COOKING. 171

So far as we know, there are four practicable methods of aerating bread ; namely, by fermentation ; by effervescence of an acid and an alkali; by aerated egg, or egg which has been filled with air by the process of beating ; and lastly, by pressure of some gaseous substance into the paste, by a process much resembling the impregnation of water in a soda-fountain. All these have one and the same object — to give us the cooked particles of our flour separated by such permanent air-cells as will enable the stomach more readily to digest them.

A very common mode of aerating bread in America is by the effervescence of an acid and an alkali in the flour. The carbonic acid gas thus formed produces minute air- cells in the bread, or, as the cook says, makes it light. When this process is performed with exact attention to chemical laws, so that the acid and alkali completely neu- tralize each other, leaving no overplus of either, the result is often very palatable. The difficulty is, that this is a hap- py conjunction of circumstances which seldom occurs. The acid most commonly employed is that of sour milk, and, as milk has many degrees of sourness, the rule of a certain quantity of alkali to the pint must necessarily produce very different results at different times. As an actual fact where this mode of making bread prevails, as we lament to say it does to a great extent in this country, one finds five cases of failure to one of success.

It is a woeful thing that the daughters of our land have abandoned the old respectable mode of yeast-brewing and bread-raising for this specious substitute, so easily made, and so seldom well made. The green, clainmy, acrid sub- stance, called biscuit, which many of our worthy republi- cans are obliged to eat in these days, is wholly unworthy of the men and wSmen of the republic. Good patriots ought not to be put off in that way — they deserve better fare.

As an occasional variety, as a household convenience for obtaining bread or biscuit at a moment's notice, the process

172 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'' S HOME.

of effervescence may be retained ; but we earnestly entreat American housekeepers, in scriptural language, to stand in the way and ask for the old pa.ths, and return to the good yeast-bread of their sainted grandmothers.

If acid and alkali must be used, by all means let them be mixed in due proportions. !No cook should be left to guess and judge for herself about this matter. There are articles made by chemical rule which produce very perfect results, and the use of them obviates the worst dangers in making bread by effervescence.

Of all processes of aeration in bread-making, the oldest and most time-honored mode is by fermentation. That this was known in the days of our Saviour is evident from the forcible simile in which he compares the silent perme- ating force of truth in human society to the very familiar household process of raising bread by a little yeast.

There is, however, one species of yeast, much used in some parts of the country, against which protest should be made. It is called salt-risings, or milk-risings, and is made by mixing flour, milk, and a little salt together, and leaving them to ferment. The bread thus produced is often very attractive, when new and made with great care. It is white and delicate, with fine, even air-cells. It has, however, when kept, some characteristics which remind us of the terms in which our old English Bible describes the effect of keeping the manna of the ancient Israelites, which we are informed, in words more explicit than agreeable, " stank, and bred worms." If salt-rising bread does not fulfill the whole of this unpleasant description, it Certainly does em- phatically a part of it. The smell which it has in baking, and when more than a day old, suggests the inquiry, whether it is the saccharine or the putrid fermentation with which it is raised. Whoever breaks a pi'ece of it after a day or two, will often see minute filaments or clammy strings drawing out from the fragments, which, with the unmis- takable smell, will cause him to pause before consummat- ing a nearer acquaintance.

GOOD COOKING. 173

The fermentation of flour by means of brewer's or dis- tiller's yeast produces, if rightly managed, results far more palatable and wholesome. The only requisites for success in it are, first, good materials, and, second, great care in rimall things. There are certain low-priced or damaged kinds of flour which can never by any kind of domestic chemistry be made into good bread ; and to those persons whose stomachs forbid them to eat gummy, glutinous paste, under the name of bread, there is no economy in buying these poor brands, even at half the price of good flour.

But good flour and good yeast being supposed, with a temperature favorable to the development of fermentation, the whole success of the process depends on the thorough diffusion of the proper proportion of yeast through the whole mass, and on stopping the subsequent fermentation at the precise and fortunate point. The true housewife makes her bread the sovereign of her kitchen — its behests must be attended to in all critical points and moments, no matter what else be postponed.

She who attends to her bread only when she has done this, and arranged that, and performed the other, very often finds that the forces of nature will not wait for her. The snowy mass, perfectly mixed, kneaded with care and strength, rises in its beautiful perfection till the moment comes for filling the air-cells by baking. A few minutes now, and the acetous fermentation will begin, and the whole result be spoiled. Many bread-makers pass in utter carelessness over this sacred and mysterious boundary. Their oven has cake in it, or they are skimming jelly, or attending to pome other of the so-called higher branches of cookery, whi>e the bread is quickly passing into the acetous stage. At last, when they are ready to attend to it, they find that it has been going its own way, — it is so sour that the pungent smell is plainly perceptible. Il^ow the saleratus-bottle is handed down, and a quantity of the dissolved alkali mixed with the paste — an expedient sometimes making itself too

174 THE AMERICAN WOMAN1 S HOME.

manifest by greenish streaks or small acrid spots in the bread. As the result, we have a beautiful article spoiled — bread without sweetness, if not absolutely sour.

In the view of many, lightness is the only property re- quired in this article. The delicate refined sweetness which exists in carefully kneaded bread, baked just before it passes to the extreme point of fermentation, is something of which they have no conception ; and thus they will even regard this process of spoiling the paste by the acetous fer- mentation, and then rectifying that acid by effervescence with an alkali, as something positively meritorious. How else can they value and relish bakers' loaves, such as some are, drugged with ammonia and other disagreeable things ; light indeed, so light that they seem to have neither weight nor substance, but with no more sweetness or taste than so much cotton wool ?

Some persons prepare bread for the oven by simply mix- ing it in the mass, without kneading, pouring it into pans, and suffering it to rise there. The air-cells in bread thus prepared are coarse and uneven ; the bread is as inferior in delicacy and nicety to that which is well kneaded as a raw servant to a perfectly educated and refined lady. The pro- cess of kneading seems to impart an evenness to the minute air-cells, a fineness of texture, and a tenderness and plia- bility to the whole substance, that can be gained in no other way.

The divine principle of beauty has its' reign over bread as well as over all other things ; it has its laws of aesthetics ; and that bread which is so prepared that it can be formed into separate and well-proportioned loaves, each one care- fully worked and moulded, will develop the most beautiful results. After being moulded, the loaves should stand usually not over ten minutes, just long enough to allow the fermenta- tion going on in them to expand each little air-cell to the point at which it stood before it was worked down, and then they should be immediately put into the oven.

GOOD COOKING. 175

Many a good thing, however, is spoiled in the oven. We can not but regret, for the sake of bread, that our old steady brick ovens have been almost universally superseded by those of ranges and cooking-stoves, which are infinite in their caprices, and forbid all general rules. One thing, however, may be borne in mind as a principle — that the excellence of bread in all its varieties, plain or sweetened, depends on the perfection of its air-cells, whether produced by yeast, egg, or effervescence ; that one of the objects of baking is to fix these air-cells, and that the quicker this can be done through the whole mass, the better will the result be. When cake or bread is made heavy by baking too quickly, it is because the immediate formation of the top crust hinders the exhaling of the moisture in the centre, and prevents the air-cells from cooking. The weight also of the crust pressing down on the doughy air-cells below de- stroys them, producing that horror of good cooks, a heavy streak. The problem in baking, then, is the quick applica- tion of heat rather below than above the loaf, and its steady continuance till all the air-cells are thoroughly dried into permanent consistency. Every housewife must watch her own oven to know how this can be best accomplished.

Bread-making can be cultivated to any extent as a fine art — and the various kinds of biscuit, tea-rusks, twists, rolls, into which bread may be made, are much better worth a housekeeper's ambition than the getting-up of rich and expensive cake or confections. There are also varieties of material which are rich in good effects. Unbolted flour, altogether more wholesome than the fine wheat, and when properly prepared more palatable — rye-flour and corn-meal, each affording a thousand attractive possibilities — all of these come under the general laws of bread-stuffs, and are worth a careful attention.

A peculiarity of our American table, particularly in the Southern and Western States, is the constant exhibition of various preparations of hot bread. In many families of the

176 THE AMERICAN WOMArf S HOME.

South and "West, bread in loaves to be eaten cold is an ar- ticle quite unknown. The effect of this kind of diet upon the health has formed a frequent subject of remark among travelers ; but only those know the full mischiefs of it who have been compelled to sojourn for a length of time in families where it is maintained. The unknown horrors of dyspepsia from bad bread are a topic over which we will- ingly draw a vail.

Next to Bread comes Butter — on which we have to say, that, when we remember what butter is in civilized Europe, and compare it with what it is in America, we wonder at the forbearance and lenity of travelers in their strictures on our national commissariat.

Butter, in England, France, and Italy, is simply solidified cream, with all the sweetness of the cream in its taste, fresh- ly churned each day, and unadulterated by salt. At the present moment, when salt is five cents a pound and butter fifty, we Americans are paying, at high prices, for about one pound of salt to every ten of butter, and those of us who have eaten the butter of France and England do this with rueful recollections.

There is, it is true, an article of butter made in the American style with salt, which, in its own kind and way, has a merit not inferior to that of England and France. Many prefer it, and it certainly takes a rank equally respect- able with the other. It is yellow, hard, and worked so perfectly free from every particle of buttermilk that it might make the voyage of the world without spoiling. It is salted, but salted with care and delicacy, so that it may be a question whether even a fastidious Englishman might not prefer its golden solidity to the white, creamy freshness of his own. But it is to be regretted that this article is the exception, and not the rule, on our tables.

America must have the credit of manufacturing and put- ting into market more bad butter than all that is made in all the rest of the world together. The varieties of bad

GOOD COOKING. 177

tastes and smells which prevail in it are quite a study. This has a cheesy taste, that a mouldy, this is flavored with cabbage, and that again with turnip, and another has the strong, sharp savor of rancid animal fat. These varieties probably come from the practice of churning only at long intervals, and keeping the cream meanwhile in unventilated cellars or dairies, the air of which is loaded with the efflu- via of vegetable substances. No domestic articles are so sympathetic as those of the milk tribe : they readily take on the smell and taste of any neighboring substance, and hence the infinite variety of flavors on which one mournful- ly muses who has late in autumn to taste twenty firkins of butter in hopes of finding one which will simply not be in tolerable on his winter table.

A matter for despair as regards bad butter is, that at the tables where it is used it stands sentinel at the door to bar your way to every other kind of food. You turn from your dreadful half -slice of bread, which fills your mouth with bitterness, to your beef-steak, which proves virulent with the same poison ; you think to take refuge in vegetable diet, and find the butter in the string-beans, and polluting the in- nocence of early peas ; it is in the corn, in the succotash, in the squash ; the beets swim in it, the onions have it poured over them. Hungry and miserable, you think to solace yourself at the dessert ; but the pastry is cursed, the cake is acrid with the same plague. You are ready to howl with despair, and your misery is great upon you — especially if this is a table where you have taken board for three months with your delicate wTife and four small children. Your case is dreadful, and it is hopeless, because long usage and habit have rendered your host perfectly incapable of discovering what is the matter. " Don't like the butter, sir ? I assure you I paid an extra price for it, and it's the very best in the market. I looked over as many as a hundred tubs, and picked out this one." You are dumb, but not less despair- ing.

178

Yet the process of making good butter is a very simple one. To keep the cream in a perfectly pure, cool atmo- sphere, to churn while it is yet sweet, to work out the but- termilk thoroughly, and to add salt with such discretion as not to ruin the fine, delicate flavor of the fresh cream — all this is quite simple, so simple that one wonders at thousands and millions of pounds of butter yearly manufactured which are merely a hobgoblin bewitchment of cream .into foul and loathsome poisons.

The third head of my discourse is that of Meat, of which America furnishes, in the gross material, enough to spread our tables royally, were it well cared for and served.

The faults in the meat generally furnished to us are, first, that it is too new. A beef steak, which three or four days of keeping might render palatable, is served up to us palpi- tating with freshness, with all the toughness of animal mus- cle yet warm.

In the next place, there is a woeful lack of nicety in the butcher's work of cutting and preparing meat. Who that remembers the neatly trimmed mutton-chop of an English inn, or the artistic little circle of lamb-chop fried in bread- crumbs coiled around a tempting centre of spinach which may always be found in France, can recognize any family resemblance to, those dapper, civilized preparations, in these coarse, roughly -hacked strips of bone, gristle, and meat ^fhich are commonly called mutton-chop in America? There seems to be a large dish of something resembling meat, in which each fragment has about two or three edible morsels, the rest being composed of dry and burnt skin, fat, and ragged bone.

Is it not time that civilization should learn to demand somewhat more care and nicety in the modes of preparing what is to be cooked and eaten ? Might not some of the re- finement and trimness which characterize the preparations of the European market be with advantage introduced into our own ? The housekeeper who wishes to garnish her ta

GOOD COOKING. 179

ble with some of those nice things is stopped in the outset by the butcher. Except in our large cities, where some for- eign travel may have created the demand, it seems impossi- ble to get much in this line that is properly prepared.

If this is urged on the score of aesthetics, the ready reply will be, " Oh ! we can't give time here in America to go into niceties and French whim-whams !" But the French mode of doing almost all practical things is based on that true philosophy and utilitarian good sense which characterize that seemingly thoughtless people. Nowhere is economy a more careful study, and their market is artistically arranged to this end. The rule is so to cut their meats that no por- tion designed to be cooked in a certain manner shall have wasteful appendages which that mode of cooking will spoil. The French soup-kettle stands ever ready to receive the bones, the thin fibrous flaps, the sinewy and gristly portions, which are so often included in our roasts or broilings, which fill our plates with unsightly debris, and finally make an amount of blank waste for which we pay our butcher the same price that we pay for what we have eaten.

The dead waste of our clumsy, coarse way of cutting meats is immense. For example, at the beginning of the season, the part of a lamb denominated leg and loin, or hind-quarter, may sell for thirty cents a pound., Now this includes, besides the thick, fleshy portions, a quantity of bone, sinew, and thin fibrous substance, constituting full one third of the whole weight. If we put it into the oven entire, in the usual manner, we have the thin parts over- done, and the skinny and fibrous parts utterly dried up, by the application of the amount of heat necessary to cook the thick portion. Supposing the joint to weigh six pounds, at thirty cents, and that one third of the weight is so treat- ed as to become perfectly useless, we throw away sixty cents. Of a piece of beef at twenty-five cents a pound, fifty cents' worth is often lost in bone, fat, and burnt skin.

The fact is, this way of selling and cooking meat in

180 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

large, gross portions is of English origin, and belongs to a country where all the customs of society spring from a class who have no particular occasion for economy. The prac- tice of minute and delicate division comes from a nation which acknowledges the need of economy, and has made it a study. A quarter of lamb in this mode of division would be sold in three nicely prepared portions. The thick part would be sold by itself, for a neat, compact little roast ; the rib-bones would be artistically separated, and all the edible matter would form those delicate dishes of lamb- chop, which, fried in bread-crumbs to a golden brown, are so ornamental and palatable a side-dish ; the trimmings which remain after this division would be destined to the soup-kettle or stew-pan.

In a French market is a little portion for every purse, and the far-famed and delicately flavored soups and stews which have arisen out of French economy are a study worth a housekeeper's attention. ]STot one atom of food is wasted in the French modes of preparation ; even tough animal cartilages and sinews, instead of appearing burned and blackened in company with the roast meat to which they happen to be related, are treated according to their own laws, and come out either in savory soups, or those fine, clear meat-jellies which form a garnish no less agreeable to the eye than palatable to the taste.

Whether this careful, economical, practical style of meat- cooking can ever to any great extent be introduced into our kitchens now is a question. Our butchers are against it ; our servants are wedded to the old wholesale wasteful ways, which seem to them easier because they are accustomed to them. A cook who will keep and properly tend a soup- kettle which shall receive and utilize all that the coarse preparations of the butcher would require her to trim away, who understands the art of making the most of all these remains is a treasure scarcely to be hoped for. If such things ai3 to be done, it must be primarily through the

GOOD COOKING. 181

educated brain of cultivated women who do not scorn to turn their culture and refinement upon domestic problems.

When meats have been properly divided, so that each portion can receive its own appropriate style of treatment, next comes the consideration of the modes of cooking. These may be divided into two great general classes : those where it is desired to keep the juices within the meat, as in baking, broiling, and frying — and those whose object is to extract the juice and dissolve the fibre, as in the making of soups and stews. In the first class of operations, the process must be as rapid as may consist with the thorough cooking of all the particles. In this branch of cookery, doing quickly is doing well. The fire must be brisk, the attention alert. The introduction of cooking-stoves offers to careless domestics facilities for gradually drying-up meats, and despoiling them of all flavor and nutriment — facilities which appear to be very generally accepted. They have almost banished the genuine, old-fashioned roast-meat from our tables, and left in its stead dried meats with their most precious and nutritive juices evaporated. How few cooks, unassisted, are competent to the simple process of broiling a beefsteak or mutton-chop ! how very generally one has to choose between these meats gradually dried away, or burned on the outside and raw within ! Yet in England these articles never come on the table done amiss ; their perfect cooking is as absolute a certainty as the rising of the sun.

No one of these rapid processes of cooking, however, is BO generally abused as frying. The frying-pan has awful sins to answer for. What untold horrors of dyspepsia have arisen from its smoky depths, like the ghost from witches' caldrons ! The fizzle of frying meat is a warning knell on many an ear, saying, " Touch not, taste not, if you would not burn and writhe 1"

Yet those who have traveled abroad remember that some of the lightest, most palatable, and most digestible

182 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME.

+

preparations of meat have come from this dangerous source. But we fancy quite other rites and ceremonies inaugurated the process, and quite other hands performed its offices, than those known to our kitchens. Probably the delicate cdtelettes of France are not flopped down into half- melted grease, there gradually to warm and soak and fizzle, while Biddy goes in and out on her other ministrations, till finally, when they are thoroughly saturated, and dinner -hour impends, she bethinks herself, and crowds the fire below to a roaring heat, and finishes the process by a smart burn, in- volving the kitchen and surrounding precincts in volumes of Stygian gloom. From such preparations has arisen the very current medical opinion that fried meats are indigesti- ble. They are indigestible, if they are greasy ; but French cooks have taught us that a thing has no more need to be greasy because emerging from grea'se than Venus had to be salt because she rose from the sea.

There are two ways of frying employed by the French cook. One is, to immerse the article to be cooked in boil- ing fat, with an emphasis on the present participle — and the philosophical principle is, so immediately to crisp every pore, at the first moment or two of immersion, as effectually to seal the interior against the intrusion of greasy particles ; it can then remain as long as may be necessary thoroughly to cook it, without imbibing any more of the boiling fluid than if it were inclosed in an egg-shell. The other method is to rub a perfectly smooth iron surface with just enough of some oily substance to prevent the meat from adhering, and cook it with a quick heat, as cakes are baked on a griddle. In both these cases there must be the most rapid application of heat that can be made without burning, and by the adroitness shown in working out this problem the skill of the cook -is tested. Any one whose cook attains this important secret will find fried things quite as digestible, and often more palatable, than any other.

In the second department of meat-cookery, to wit, the

GOOD COOKING. 183

slow and gradual application of heat for the softening and dissolution of its fibre and the extraction of its juices, common cooks are equally untrained. Where is the so- called cook who understands how to prepare soups and etews? These are precisely the articles in which a French kitchen excels. The soup-kettle, made with a double bottom, to prevent burning, is a permanent, ever- present institution, and the coarsest and most impracticable meats distilled through that alembic come out again in soups, jellies, or savory stewst The toughest cartilage, even the bones, being first cracked, are here made to give forth their hidden virtues, and to rise in delicate and appetizing forms.

One great law governs all these preparations : the appli- cation of heat must be gradual, steady, long protracted, never reaching the point of active boiling. Hours of quiet simmering dissolve all dissoluble parts, soften the sternest fibre, and unlock every minute cell in which Nature has stored away her treasures of nourishment. This careful and protracted application of heat and the skillful use of flavors constitute the two main points in all those nice preparations of meat for which the French have so many names — processes by which a delicacy can be imparted to the coarsest and cheapest food superior -to that of the finest articles under less philosophic treatment.

French soups and stews are a study, and they would not be an unprofitable one to any person who wishes to live with comfort and even elegance on small means.

There is no animal fibre that will not yield itself up to long- continued, steady heat. But the difficulty with almost any of the common servants who call themselves cooks is, that they have not the smallest notion of the philosophy of the application of heat. Such a one will complacently tell you concerning certain meats, that the harder you boil them the harder they grow — an obvious fact which, under her mode of treatment by an indiscriminate galloping boil, has fre«

184 THE AMERICAN WOMAN* S HOME.

quently come under her personal observation. If you tell her that such meat must stand for six hours in a heat just below the boiling point, she will probably answer, " Yes, ma'am," and go on her own way. Or she will let it stand till it burns to the bottom of the kettle — a most common termination of the experiment. «

The only way to make sure of the matter is, either to ob- tain a French kettle, or to fit into an ordinary kettle a false bottom, such as any tinman may make, that shall leave a space of an inch or two between the meat and the fire. This kettle may be maintained in a constant position on the range, and into it the cook may be instructed to throw all the fibrous trimmings of meat, all the gristle, tendons, and bones, having previously broken up these last with a mallet. Such a kettle, the regular occupant of a French cooking-stove, which they call the pot au feu^ will furnish the basis for clear, rich soups, or other palatable dishes. This is ordinarily called " stock."

Clear soup consists of the dissolved juices of the meat and gelatine of the bones, cleared from the fat and fibrous portions by straining. The grease, which rises to the top of the fluid, may be easily removed when cold.

English and American soups are often heavy and hot with spices. There are appreciable tastes in them. They burn your mouth with cayenne, or clove, or allspice. You can tell at once what is in them, oftentimes to your sorrow. But a French soup has a flavor which one recognizes at once as delicious, yet not to be characterized as due to any single condiment ; it is the just blending of many things. The same remark applies to all their stews, ragouts, and other delicate preparations. No cook will ever study these flavors ; but perhaps many cooks' mistresses may, and thus be able to impart delicacy and comfort to economy.

As to those things called hashes, commonly manufac- tured by uri watched, untaught cooks out of the remains of yesterday's meal, let us not dwell too closely on their mem-

GOOD COOKING. 185

ory — compounds of meat, gristle, skin, fat, and burnt fibre, with a handful of pepper and salt flung at them, dredged with lumpy flour, watered from the spout of the tea-kettle, and left to simmer at the cook's convenience while she is otherwise occupied. Such are the best performances a housekeeper can hope for from an untrained cook.

But the cunningly devised minces, the artful preparations choicely flavored, which may be made of yesterday's repast — by these is the true domestic artist known. No cook un- taught by an educated brain ever makes these, and yet economy is a great gainer by them.

As regards the department of Vegetables, their number and variety in America are so great that a table might al- most be furnished by these alone. Generally speaking, their cooking is a more simple art, and therefore more like- ly to be found satisfactorily performed, than that of meats. If only they are not drenched with rancid butter, their own native excellence makes itself known in most of the ordi- nary modes of preparation.

There is, however, one exception. Our staunch old friend, the potato, is to other vegetables what bread is on the table. Like bread, it is held as a sort of sine-qua-non ; like that, it may be made invariably palatable by a little care in a few plain particulars, through neglect of which it often becomes intolerable. The soggy, waxy, indigesti- ble viand that often appears in the potato-dish is a down- right sacrifice of the better nature of this vegetable.

The potato, nutritive and harmless as it appears, belongs to a family suspected of very dangerous traits. It is a family connection of the deadly-nightshade and other ill-re- puted gentry, and sometimes shows strange proclivities to evil — now breaking out uproariously, as in the noted pota- to-rot, and now more covertly, in various evil affections. For this reason scientific directors bid us beware of the wa- ter in which potatoes are boiled — into which, it appears, the evil principle is drawn off; and they caution us not to shred

186 THE AMERICAN WOMAN9 S HOME.

them into stews without previously suffering the slices to lie for an hour or so in salt and water. These cautions are worth attention.

The most usual modes of preparing the potato for the ta- ble are by roasting or boiling. These processes are so sim- ple that it is commonly supposed every cook understands them without special directions ; and yet there is scarcely an uninstructed cook who can boil or roast a potato.

A good roasted potato is a delicacy worth a dozen coin- positrons of the cook-book ; yet when we ask for it, what burnt, shriveled abortions are presented to us ! Biddy rushes to her potato-basket and pours out two dozen of dif- ferent sizes, some having in them three times the amount of matter of others. These being washed, she tumbles them into her oven at a leisure interval, and there lets them lie till it is time to serve breakfast, whenever that may be. As a result, if the largest are cooked, the smallest are presented in cinders, and the intermediate sizes are withered and wa- tery. Nothing is so utterly ruined by a few moments of overdoing. That which at the right moment was plump with mealy richness, a quarter of an hour later shrivels and becomes watery — and it is in this state that roast pota- toes are most frequently served.

In the same manner we have seen boiled potatoes from an untaught cook coming upon the table like lumps of fel- low wax — and the same article, under the directions of a skillful mistress, appearing in snowy balls of powdery white- ness. In the one case, they were thrown in their skins into water, and suffered to soak or boil, as the case might be, at the cook's leisure, and after they were boiled to stand in the water till she was ready to peel them. In the other case, the potatoes being first peeled were boiled as quickly as possible in salted water, which the moment they were done was drained off, and then they were gently shaken for a moment or two over the fire to dry them still more thoroughly. We have never yet seen the potato so de-

GOOD COOKING. 1ft/

praved and given over to evil that it could not be reclaimed by this mode of treatment.

As to fried potatoes, who that remembers the crisp, gold- en slices of the French restaurant, thin as wafers and light as snow-flakes, does not speak respectfully of them ? What cousinship with these have those coarse, greasy masses of sliced potato, wholly soggy and partly burnt, to which we are treated under the name of fried potatoes in America ? In our cities the restaurants are introducing the French article to great acceptance, and to the vindication of the fair fame of this queen of vegetables.

Finally, we arrive at the last great head of our subject, to wit — Tea — meaning thereby, as before observed, what our Hibernian friend did in the inquiry, " Will y'r honor take c tay tay ' or coffee tay ?"

We are not about to enter into the merits of the great tea-and-coffee controversy, further than in our general cau- tion concerning them in the chapter on Healthful Drinks ; but we now proceed to treat of them as actual existences, and speak only of the modes of making the best of them.

The French coffee is reputed the best in the world ; and a thousand voices have asked, What is it about the French coffee ?

In the first place, then, the French coffee is coffee, and not chickory, or rye, or beans, or peas. In the second place, it is freshly roasted, whenever made — roasted with great care and evenness in a little revolving cylinder which makes part of the furniture of every kitchen, and which keeps in the aroma of the berry. It is never overdone, so as to destroy the coffee-flavor, which is in nine cases out of ten the fault of the coffee we meet with. Then it is ground, and placed in a coffee-pot with a filter through which, when it has yielded up its life to the boiling water poured upon it, the delicious extract percolates in clear drops, the coffee- pot standing on a heated stove to maintain the temperature. The nose of the coffee-pot is stopped up to prevent the es-

188

cape of the aroma during this process. The extract thug obtained is a perfectly clear, dark fluid, known as cafenoir, or black coffee. It is black only because of its strength, being in fact almost the very essential oil of coffee. A ta- ble-spoonful of this in boiled milk would make what is or- dinarily called a strong cup of coffee. The boiled milk is prepared with no less care. It must be fresh and new, not merely warmed or even brought to the boiling-point, but slowly simmered till it attains a thick, creamy richness. The coffee mixed with this, and sweetened with that sparkling beet-root sugar which ornaments a French table, is the cele- brated cafe-au-lait, the name of which has gone round the world. \

As we look to France for the best coffee, so we must look to England for the perfection of tea. The tea-kettle is as much an English institution as aristocracy or the Prayer- Book ; and when one wants to know exactly how tea should be made, one has only to ask how a fine old English house- keeper makes it.

The first article of her faith is, that the water must not merely be hot, not merely have ~boikd a few moments since, but be actually boiling at the moment it touches the tea. Hence, though servants in England are vastly better trained than with us, this delicate mystery is seldom left to their hands. Tea-making belongs to the drawing-room, and high- born ladies preside at " the bubbling and loud hissing urn," and see that all due rites and solemnities are properly per- formed— that the cups are hot, and that the infused tea waits the exact time before the libations commence.

Of late, the introduction of English breakfast-tea has raised a new sect among the tea-drinkers, reversing some of the old canons. Breakfast- tea must be boiled ! Unlike the delicate article of olden time, which required only a momentary infusion to develop its richness, this requires a longer and severer treatment to bring out its strength — thus confusing all the established usages, and throwing the

/ GOOD COOKING. 189

work into the hands of the cook in the kitchen. The faults of tea, as too commonly found at our hotels and boarding-houses, are, that it is made in every way the reverse of what it should be. The water is hot, perhaps, but not boiling; the tea has a general flat, stale, smoky taste, devoid of life or spirit ; and it is served usually with thin milk, instead of cream. Cream is as essential to the richness of tea as of coffee. Lacking cream, boiled milk is better than cold.

Chocolate is a French and Spanish article, and one sel- dom served on American tables. "We in America, however, make an article every way equal to any which can be im- ported from Paris, and he who buys the best vanilla-choco- late may rest assured that no foreign land can furnish any thing better. A very rich and delicious beverage may be made by dissolving this in milk, slowly boiled down after the French fashion,

A word now under the head of Confectionery, meaning by this the whole range of ornamental cookery — or pastry, ices, jellies, preserves, etc. The art of making all these very perfectly is far better understood in America than the art of common .cooking. There are more women who know how to make good cake than good bread — more who can furnish you with a good ice-cream than a well-cooked mutton-chop ; a fair charlotte-russe is easier to gain than a perfect cup of coffee ; and you shall find a sparkling jelly to your dessert where you sighed in vain for so sim- ple a luxury as a well-cooked potato.

Our fair countrywomen might rest upon their laurels in these higher fields, and turn their great energy and ingenu- ity to the study of essentials. To do common things per- fectly is far better worth our endeavor than to do uncom- mon things respectably. We Americans in many things as yet have been a little inclined to begin making our shirt at the ruffle ; but, nevertheless, when we set about it, we can make the shirt as nicely as any body ; it needs only that we

190 THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S HOME,

turn our attention to it, resolved that, ruffle or no ruffle, the shirt we will have.

A few words as to the prevalent ideas in respect to French cookery. Having heard much of it, with no very distinct idea of what it is, our people have somehow fallen into the notion that its forte lies in high spicing — and so when our cooks put a great abundance of clove, mace, nut- meg, and cinnamon into their preparations, they fancy that they are growing up to be French cooks. But the fact is, that the Americans and English are far more given to spicing than the French. Spices in our made dishes are abundant, and their taste is strongly pronounced. Liv- ing a year in France one forgets the taste of nutmeg, clove, and allspice, which abounds in so many dishes in Ameri- ca. The English and Americans deal in spices, the French in flavors — flavors many and fine, imitating often in their delicacy those subtle blendings which nature pro- duces in high-flavored fruits. The recipes of our cookery- books are most of them of English origin, coming down from the times of our phlegmatic ancestors, when the solid, burly, beefy growth of the foggy island required the heat of fiery condiments, and could digest heavy sweets. Wit- ness the national recipe for plum-pudding : which may be rendered : Take a pound of every indigestible substance you can think of, boil into a cannon-ball, and serve in flaming brandy. So of the Christmas mince-pie, and many other national dishes. But in America, owing to our brighter skies and more fervid climate, we have devel- oped an acute, nervous delicacy of temperament far more akin to that of France than of England.

Half of the recipes in our cook-books are mere murder to such constitutions and stomachs as we grow here. We require to ponder these things, and think how we, in our climate and under our circumstances, ought to live ; and in doing so, we may, without accusation of foreign foppery, take some leaves from many foreign books.

XIV.

EAELY EISING.

THERE is no practice which has been more extensively eulogized in all ages than early rising ; and this universal impression is an indication that it is founded on true philo- sophy. For it is rarely the case that the common sense of mankind fastens on a practice as really beneficial, especially one that demands self-denial, without some substantial reason.

This practice, which may justly be called a domestic vir- tue, is one which has a peculiar claim to be styled American and democratic. The distinctive mark of aristocratic nations is a disregard of the great mass, and a disproportionate re- gard for the interests of certain privileged orders. All the customs and habits of such a nation are, to a greater or less extent, regulated by this principle. E"ow the mass of any nation must always consist of persons who labor at occupa- tions which demand the light of day. But in aristocratic countries, especially in England, labor is regarded as the mark of the lower classes, and indolence is considered as one mark of a gentleman. This impression has gradually and imperceptibly, to a great extent, regulated their cus- toms, so that, even in their hours of meals and repose, the higher orders aim at being different and distinct from those who, by laborious pursuits, are placed below them. From this circumstance, while the lower orders labor by day and sleep at night, the rich, the noble, and the honored sleep by day, and follow their pursuits and pleasures by night.

It will be found that the aristocracy of London breakfast

192 THE AMERICAN WOMAN9 S HOME.

near midday, dine after dark, visit and go to Parliament be tween ten and twelve at night, and retire to sleep toward morning. In consequence of this, the subordinate classes who aim at gentility gradually fall into the same practice. The influence of this custom extends across the ocean, and here, in this democratic land, we find many who measure their grade of gentility by the late hour at which they arrive at a party. And this aristocratic folly is growing upon us, so that, throughout the nation, the hours for visiting and retiring are constantly becoming later, while the hours for rising correspond in lateness.

The question, then, is one which appeals to American women, as a matter of patriotism and as having a bearing on those great principles of democracy which we conceive to be equally the principles of Christianity. Shall we form our customs on the assumption that labor is degrading and indolence genteel ? Shall we assume, by our practice, that the interests of the great mass are to be sacrificed for the pleasures and honors of a privileged few ? Shall we ape the customs of aristocratic lands, in those very practices which result from principles and institutions that we condemn? Shall we not rather take the place to which we are entitled, as the leaders, rather than the followers, in the customs of society, turnback the tide of aristocratic inroads, and carry through the whole, not only of civil and political but of social and domestic life, the true principles of democratic freedom and equality ? The following considerations may serve to strengthen an affirmative decision.

The first relates to the health of a family. It is a uni- versal law of physiology, that all living things flourish best in the light. Vegetables, in .a dark cellar, grow pale and spindling. Children brought up in mines are always wan and stunted, while men become pale and cadaverous who live under ground. This indicates the folly of losing the genial influence which the light of day produces on all animated creation.

EARLY RISING. 193

Sir James Wylie, of the Bussian imperfal service, states that in the soldiers' barracks, three times as many were taken sick on the shaded side as on the sunny side ; though both sides communicated, and discipline, diet, and treatment were the same. The eminent French surgeon, Dupuytren, cured a lady whose complicated diseases baffled for years his own and all other medical skill, by taking her from a dark room to an abundance of daylight.

Florence Nightingale writes : " Second only to fresh air in importance for the sick is light. Not only daylight but direct sunlight is necessary to speedy recovery, except in a small number of cases. Instances, almost endless, could be given where, in dark wards, or wards with only northern exposure, or wards with borrowed light, even when proper- ly ventilated, the sick could not be, by any means, made speedily to recover."

In the prevalence of cholera, it was invariably the case that deaths were more numerous in shaded streets or in houses having only northern exposures than in those having sunlight. Several physicians have stated to the writer that, in sunny exposures, women after childbirth gained strength much faster than those excluded from sunlight. In the writer's experience, great nervous debility has been always immediately lessened by sitting in the sun, and still more by lying on the earth and in open air, a blanket beneath, and head and eyes protected, under the direct rays of the sun.

Some facts in physiology and natural philosophy have a bearing on this subject. It seems to be settled that the red color of blood is owing to iron contained in the red blood- cells, while it is established as a fact that the sun's rays are metallic, having " vapor of iron " as one element. It is also true that want of light causes a diminution of the red and an increase of the imperfect white blood-cells, and that this sometimes results in a disease called .leucoemia, while all who live in the dark have pale and waxy skins, and flabby, weak muscles. Thus it would seem that it is the sun that

194

imparts the iron" and color to the blood. These things be- ing so, the customs of society that bring sleeping hours into daylight, and working and study hours into the night, are direct violations of the laws of health. The laws of health are the laws of God, and " sin is the transgression of law."

To this we must add the great neglect of economy as well as health in substituting unhealthful gaslight, poison- ous, anthracite warmth, for the life-giving light and warmth of the sun. Millions and millions would be saved to this nation in fuel and light, as well as in health, by returning to the good old ways of our forefathers, to rise with the sun, and retire to rest "when the bell rings for nine o'clock."

The observations of medical men, whose inquiries have been directed to this point, have decided that from six to eight hours is the amount of sleep demanded by persons in health. Some constitutions require as much as eight, and others no more than six hours of repose. But eight hours is the maximum for all persons in ordinary health, with or- dinary occupations. In cases of extra physical exertions, or the debility of disease, or a decayed constitution, more than this is required. Let eight hours, then, be regarded as the ordinary period required for sleep by an indus- trious people like the Americans.

It thus appears that the laws of our political condition, the laws of the natural world, and the constitution of our bodies, alike demand that we rise with the light of day to prosecute our employments, and that we retire in time for the requisite amount of sleep.

In regard to the effects of protracting the time spent in repose, many extensive and satisfactory investigations have been made. It has been shown that, during sleep, the body perspires most freely, while yet neither food nor exercise are ministering to ita wants. Of course, if we continue our slumbers beyond the time required to restore the body to its usual vigor, there is an unperceived undermining of the

EARLY RISING. 195

constitution, by this protracted and debilitating exhalation. This process, in a course of years, renders the body deli- cate and less able to withstand disease, and in the result shortens life. Sir John Sinclair, who has written a large work on the Causes of Longevity, states, as one result of his extensive investigations, that he has never yet heard or read of a single case of great longevity where the indi- vidual was

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