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Page 10
If, as in many towns, the supply of drinking-water for many families comes
from the town pump or pumps, the same principles must be attended to. A
well in Golden Square, London, was noted for its especially bright and
sparkling water, so much so that people sent from long distances to secure
it. The cholera broke out; and all who drank from the well became its
victims, though the square seemed a healthy location. Analysis showed it
to be not only alive with a species of fungus growing in it, but also
weighted with dead organic matter from a neighboring churchyard. Every
tissue in the living bodies which had absorbed this water was inflamed,
and ready to yield to the first epidemic; and cholera was the natural
outcome of such conditions. Knowledge should guard against any such
chances. See to it that no open cesspool poisons either air or water about
your home. Sunk at a proper distance from the house, and connected with it
by a drain so tightly put together that none of the contents can escape,
the cesspool, which may be an elaborate, brick-lined cistern, or merely an
old hogshead thoroughly tarred within and without, and sunk in the ground,
becomes one of the most important adjuncts of a good garden. If, in
addition to this, a pile of all the decaying vegetable matter--leaves,
weeds, &c.--is made, all dead cats, hens, or puppies finding burial there;
and the whole closely covered with earth to absorb, as fresh earth has the
power to do, all foul gases and vapors; and if at intervals the pile is
wet through with liquid from the cesspool, the richest form of fertilizer
is secured, and one of the great agricultural duties of man
fulfilled,--that of "returning to the soil, as fertilizers, all the salts
produced by the combustion of food in the human body."
Where the water-supply is brought into the house from a common reservoir,
much the same rules hold good. We can not of course control the character
of the general supply, but we can see to it that our own water and waste
pipes are in the most perfect condition; that traps and all the best
methods of preventing the escape of sewer-gas into our houses are
provided; that stationary or "set" basins have the plug always in them;
and that every water-closet is provided with a ventilating pipe
sufficiently high and long to insure the full escape of all gases from the
house. Simple disinfectants used from time to time--chloride of lime and
carbolic acid--will be found useful, and the most absolute cleanliness is
at all times the first essential.
With air and water at their best, the home has a reasonable chance of
escaping many of the sorrows brought by disease or uncertain health; and,
the power to work to the best advantage being secured, we may now pass to
the forms that work must take.
CHAPTER IV.
THE DAY'S WORK.
It is safe to say that no class of women in the civilized world is
subjected to such incessant trials of temper, and such temptation to be
fretful, as the American housekeeper. The reasons for this state of things
are legion; and, if in the beginning we take ground from which the whole
field may be clearly surveyed, we may be able to secure a better
understanding of what housekeeping means, and to guard against some of the
dangers accompanying it.
The first difficulty lies in taking for granted that successful
housekeeping is as much an instinct as that which leads the young bird to
nest-building, and that no specific training is required. The man who
undertakes a business, passes always through some form of apprenticeship,
and must know every detail involved in the management; but to the large
proportion of women, housekeeping is a combination of accidental forces
from whose working it is hoped breakfasts and dinners and suppers will be
evolved at regular periods, other necessities finding place where they
can. The new home, prettily furnished, seems a lovely toy, and is
surrounded by a halo, which, as facts assert themselves, quickly fades
away. Moth and rust and dust invade the most secret recesses. Breakage and
general disaster attend the progress of Bridget or Chloe. The kitchen
seems the headquarters of extraordinary smells, and the stove an abyss in
its consumption of coal or wood. Food is wasted by bad cooking, or
ignorance as to needed amounts, or methods of using left-over portions;
and, as bills pile up, a hopeless discouragement often settles upon both
wife and husband, and reproaches and bitterness and alienation are guests
in the home, to which they need never have come had a little knowledge
barred them out.
In the beginning, then, be sure of one thing,--that all the wisdom you
have or can acquire, all the patience and tact and self-denial you can
make yours by the most diligent effort, will be needed every day and every
hour of the day. Details are in themselves wearying, and to most men their
relation to housekeeping is unaccountable. The day's work of a systematic
housekeeper would confound the best-trained man of business. In the
woman's hand is the key to home-happiness, but it is folly to assert that
all lies with her. Let it be felt from the beginning that her station is a
difficult one, that her duties are important, and that judgment and skill
must guide their performance; let boys be taught the honor that lies in
such duties,--and there will be fewer heedless and unappreciative
husbands. On the other hand, let the woman remember that the good general
does not waste words on hindrances, or leave his weak spots open to
observation, but, learning from every failure or defeat, goes on steadily
to victory. To fret will never mend a matter; and "Study to be quiet" in
thought, word, and action, is the first law of successful housekeeping.
Never under-estimate the difficulties to be met, for this is as much an
evil as over-apprehension. The best-arranged plans may be overturned at a
moment's notice. In a mixed family, habits and pursuits differ so widely
that the housekeeper must hold herself in readiness to find her most
cherished schemes set aside. Absolute adherence to a system is only
profitable so far as the greatest comfort and well-being of the family are
affected; and, dear as a fixed routine may be to the housekeeper's mind,
it may often well be sacrificed to the general pleasure or comfort. A
quiet, controlled mind, a soft voice, no matter what the provocation to
raise it may be, is "an excellent thing in woman." And the certainty that,
hard as such control may be, it holds the promise of the best and fullest
life here and hereafter, is a motive strong enough, one would think, to
insure its adoption. Progress may be slow, but the reward for every step
forward is certain.
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