Carpets, window curtains, and any hangings that catch dust should be abolished--rugs that can be rolled up and taken out of doors to be shaken and beaten should be used instead; and too many pieces of bric-a-brac and ornaments should be avoided. All surfaces of walls, ceilings, and floors should be made as smooth and hard and free from angles, ledges, and projecting lines as possible. The colds usually caught by members of the family during "spring cleaning" are usually due to the swarms of germs stirred up from their peaceful resting places. Let those sleeping germs lie, until you can devise some means of removing them without brushing, or whisking, them straight into your nostrils. CHAPTER XXVII ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES Ordinarily, Accidents are not Serious. Accidents will happen--even in the best regulated families! While taking all reasonable care to avoid them, it is not best to worry too anxiously about the possibility of accidents; for a nervous, fearful state of mind is almost as likely to give rise to them as is a reckless and indifferent one. Fortunately, most accidents, especially with growing boys and girls, are comparatively trifling in their results, and to a considerable extent must simply be reckoned as part of the price that has to be paid for experience, self-control, and skill. To have keen senses, vigorous and elastic muscles, and a clear head, is better protection against accidents than too much caution; it is also the best kind of insurance that can be taken out against their proving serious. The real problem is not so much to avoid accidents as to be ready to meet them promptly, skillfully, and with good judgment when they occur, as they inevitably will. As the old masters of swordsmanship used to teach, "Attack is the best defense." Luckily, healthy children are as quick as a cat and as tough as sole-leather--if they weren't, the race would have been wiped out centuries ago. Children in their play, on errands, going to and from school, and in excursions through the woods and the fields, run, of course, a great many risks. But in spite of all these dangers, the number of children killed, or even seriously injured, in these "natural" accidents, is not half of one per cent of those who die from disease or bad air or poor food or overwork. Another cheering thing about accidents is that ninety-nine out of every hundred of them are not serious; and if you are only wise enough to know what to do--and still more what not to do--in taking care of them, you can recover from them safely and quickly. The bodies of healthy children have an astonishing power of repairing themselves. Their bones are not so brittle as those of "grown-ups"; and even when one of them is broken, if properly splinted and dressed, it will heal up in a little more than half the time required by the adult. And wounds and scratches and bruises, _if kept perfectly clean_, will heal very rapidly.