The Negro Laborer: A Word to HimCouncill, W. H. (William Hooper)
History
The Negro Laborer: A Word to Him
Councill, W. H. (William Hooper)
African Americans -- Employment; Work ethic
Do not buy cheap food, because it is cheap, but always have an eye to
quality. Musty meal, tainted meat and other half decayed and decaying
food have carried many a person to a premature grave.
Be careful about your drinking water. Use that of the best wells and
springs. Never use water which has stood over night in a bed room. It
is so much poison.
See that your food is properly prepared, as health depends largely upon
the observance of this rule. Boiled, stewed or roasted food is always
preferable to fried. Have plenty of vegetable food, and as little
animal as possible.
All bed rooms and bed clothing should be constantly thoroughly aired,
whether used or not. So should parlors.
Let some member of the family thoroughly post himself on all matters
pertaining to buying and cooking food, the laws of health, &c. In fact
these things should be discussed daily in the family that all may
understand them.
The meal hours should be the jolliest of the day. All at the table
should combine in jest and joke, as well as in giving valuable
suggestions and information. The children should take part also.
You can not be too careful about your dress. Have respect more for
comfort than for fashion. Teach your children this principle, and
it will not be long before finger and earrings, dangling chains,
bracelets, and such other relics of barbarity will be thrust aside by
common sense. The lowest savage bedecks his person with trinkets and
gewgaws.
The average festival and night meeting where people huddle together
are fruitful of disease. The inhaling of this bad air is equal to a
serpent's bite.
Carry method into your life and home. Have hours of prayer, reading,
sleeping, conversation, writing, working, &c.
More people die of want of sunlight and pure air than of any other
cause, even war.
When a person's clothes catch fire, smother the fire with blankets or
clothing.
From a few drops to a teaspoonful of coal oil is a splendid remedy for
croup, colds in the breast and like complaints. Saturate sugar with the
oil and it is easily taken.
A weak gargle of salt and water is a good remedy for sore throat.
Colds in the head may be cured by bathing the feet in very hot water
and wrapping them well. A little mustard added to the water will prove
beneficial.
A teaspoonful, each, of salt and mustard in water will prove effectual
where poison has been swallowed. It must be taken at once.
Dash water into the eye to remove dust. Don't rub the eye.
Burns and scalds may be relieved by dipping in cold water or flour.
If you are severely cut, tie a string tightly both below and above the
wound until the doctor arrives.
Very ugly warts have been cured by small doses of sulphate of magnesia,
or three grains of epsom salts taken morning and evening.
Mix 5 grains of carbolic acid and one ounce of glycerine. Rub the scalp
thoroughly at night and wash out in the morning, and your worst case of
dandruff will be cured.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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