A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at SchoolBeecher, Catharine Esther
General
A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School
Beecher, Catharine Esther
Home economics
When families have no bathing establishment, every member should wash
the whole person, on rising or going to bed, either in cold or warm
water, according to the constitution. It is especially important, that
children have the perspiration and other impurities, which their
exercise and sports have occasioned, removed from their skin before
going to bed. The hours of sleep are those when the body most freely
exhales the waste matter of the system, and all the pores should be
properly freed from impediments to this healthful operation. For this
purpose, a large tin wash-pan should be kept for children, just large
enough, at bottom, for them to stand in, and flaring outward, so as to
be very broad at top. A child can then be placed in it, standing, and
washed with a sponge, without wetting the floor. Being small at bottom,
it is better than a tub; it is not only smaller, but lighter, and
requires less water.
These remarks indicate the wisdom of those parents, who habitually wash
their children, all over, before they go to bed. The chance of life and
health, to such children, is greatly increased by this practice; and no
doubt much of the suffering of childhood, from cutaneous eruptions, weak
eyes, earache, colds, and fevers, is owing to a neglect of the skin.
The care of the teeth should be made habitual to children, not merely as
promoting an agreeable appearance, but as a needful preservative. The
saliva contains tartar, an earthy substance, which is deposited on the
teeth, and destroys both their beauty and health. This can be prevented,
by the use of the brush, night and morning. But, if this be neglected,
the deposite becomes hard, and can be removed only by the dentist. If
suffered to remain, it tends to destroy the health of the gums; they
gradually decay, and thus the roots of the teeth become bare, and they
often drop out.
When children are shedding their first set of teeth, care should be
taken, to remove them as soon as they become loose; otherwise the new
teeth will grow awry. When persons have defective teeth, they can often
be saved, by having them filled by a dentist. This also will frequently
prevent the toothache.
Children should be taught to take proper care of their nails. Long and
dirty nails have a disagreeable appearance. When children wash, in the
morning, they should be supplied with an instrument to clean the nails,
and be required to use it.
CHAPTER X.
ON EARLY RISING.
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 philosophy. 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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