Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-04-25
Sunshine

By the use of this term we do not mean
merely sunlight, but the direct rays or shine
of the sun. Mankind are dying for the want
OF 1t. We build our houses, to be sure, with
world Of windows, but they are chiefly put
IN to make handsome display outside We
are careful to curtain them inside and blind
them outside, so as to shut out the precious
rays OF the sun. 1t is a good argument in
favor Of curtains and blinds, that if the light
be let in too strongly it will fade the carpet
SO far as carpets are concerned this is true, as
they are generally made, but can we have no
colors in carpets which the light will not
seriously affect? If carpets fade by letting the
light in, there is another thing that fades by
keeping the light out, viz, the human being.
On the shady side of the street, the hospital
and prison, cholera, scrofula, bilious COM
plants, and nervous diseases are more fire.
quent and fatal than ON the sunny side. We
advise everybody to live on the sunny side of
their houses. The room in which the family
spends most Of its time should be on the side
where the sun can find its way into it. Let
the parlor, if it be seldom used, be on the
shady side. We observe that there is not
cottager so ignorant that will not set her
plants, II she have taste enough to grow them,
IN the east window in the morning. and at noon
carry them to south window, and in the
afternoon put them in west window. But
perhaps she is careful to keep her children in
the shade, and her precious self, SO far as
possible, out of the rays of the sun. The
plants, in obedience to natural law, are kept
healthy, while the children and mother, being
kept IN the shade, suffer in consequence.
Light is beginning to be considered a great
curatice agent, and we apprehend the time is
not far distant when there will be sun-baths.
Corridors with glass roofs will be so adjusted
that persons can properly remove their clothing
and take a bath in the sun for an hour or two,
much to the improvement of their health. The
chief advantage of going to'the country is to
get into the sunshine, and to be in the pure
breezes. If we desired merely to keep cool,
we should stay in the shady city. People talk
of shot walls and "burning pavements - it
is much hotter in the country, for the breeze
that plays there in midday brings only heated
air in from outdoors. But in the city the
breeze brings air in from the shady side of
the street, and the lower rooms of city house
are consequently much cooler in midday than
the exposed houses Of the country.
Our soldiers, who were able to bear the
labor and fatigue of war, are invigorated by
the outdoor life they lived. We know young
man in New York who came back from the
war and resumed his former occupation of
bookkeeping, and lost thirty pounds weight
in six weeks. 1t would do him good to be
farmer.
Parents can do nothing better for their puny
sick boys than to put them on a farm for three
or four summers and let the sun battle them
the ivelong day. They will, by such life,
grow rapidly, and become tough, brawny and
broad. We have seen this tried to the highest
advantage In more than one instance under
our advice.