The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1884-02-09
For "THE UNION"
SOAP AND WATER.
GoyANsTowN, January 31st

by mall pamphlet puDlsned Dy tne Austrahan
Health Society, Melbourne. In that far distant
land, until within a short period Of time but little
known, we find the people greatly interested in
sanitary science. They have Boards of Health.
Public lectures on health are delivered in the hall
of the Young Mems Christian Association. When
these lectures published they given to the
| public gratuitously. The citizens fully appreci-
ate the fact that health is wealth, that health is
essential to the permanent prosperity of people,
financially and politically.
Yours, j. ROBERT WARD.
Mrs. Mcguire had been at a lecture,
and had heard some things which she
considered very strange and hard to be-
lieve. How was it possible that there
could be in human body SO many as
two million sweat glands, with two
millions of little openings by which to
expel the sweat But on reflection she
concluded that, as she expressed it, "the
bald-headed old fellow in the spectacleS
would scarcely tell lie about it. -
Two pints of sweat every day she con-
sidered very large amount indeed, but
she had been assured that in state of
thorough health an active person will
perspire to that extent. And if this
moisture is unable to find its way out,
the body becomes hot and fevered, and
that to SO serious degree that ifa body
were vanished all over, so as to close
every one of these minute openings,
death must ensue in very few days.
"Well, we'll Live and learn" said
Mrs. Mcguire; and she agreed with the
lecturer that if all this was true, it must
be of the utmost importance to keep
the skin thoroughly clean, and the pores
we'll open for the skin was not the
mere outside covering she had thought
it. No: it was working part of
the system, whose business it was to rid
the body of undue moisture, and to
keep it at a proper temperature, neither
too hot or too cold.
That very night, therefore, she resol-
we'd to give the skins of herself and
family better chance, and to begin
the very next day to use abundance of
soap and water But somehow she for
got about it next morning. The fact
was, she happened to see her neighbour
over the fence, just after breakfast, and
stopped to tell her about the quarrel
she had the day before with Mrs. Bates
across the way /; with careful details as
to what Mrs. Bates said to her, and the
crushing things she had administered
in reply. She and her neighbour then
discussed what Mrs. Bates had been be-
fore old Bates married her, and great
many other matters which concerned
the two of them very little as compared
with the cleanliness, comfort, and health
of their families. Thus the whole
morning passed away, and Mrs. Mcguire
determined to make a fair start next
morning.
But next morning her neighbour just
looked in to ask if she had heard that
old Bates had not been home all right.
1t was supposed he had slept on the
streets. Mrs. Mcguire and her neigh
bour spent the whole of that morning
in discussing Mrs. Bates's share in driv-
ing him to it, and SO the promised
"clearing up" was put off. Thus day
after day slipped by, till Mrs. Mcguire
forgot all about her good resolves
Those important little channels, the
pores of the skin, remained, in the case
of Mrs. Mcguire and her children, pug
ged up with dirt as before; and when
Mrs. Bates called the young Maguires
"black- faced picaninnies," their mother
did battle for them with the tongue, but
never thought of using tub, though
inwardly she felt that a hit had been
made.
The home of the Maguires was not a
happy one; for the little ones were not
only far from clean in their persons, or
sweet-smelling in their clothing, but
they were also fretful and peevish; al
ways quarrelling, always crying, and
never giving the place half an hour of
silence.
This fretfullness was greatly due to
| the want of soap and wateI. The body
must get rid of so much perspiration
each day, and the process must go on
continuously. As rule we know moth
ing of it, for no sooner does the mois-
ture come to the top of these minute
pores, than it is turned into invisible
vapour and goes off into the air with
out our seeing it. 1t is only when we
perspire very rapidly that sweat drops
can be seen on the skin; but, though
we may not notice it, we ought to be
always perspiring. We cannot feel our
bodies cool and fresh if we allow the
pores to be plugged up with dirt
When that is the case, the body becomes
hot and irritable; the skin becomes
itchy, and even though the person may
seem-to be otherwise in good health, he
is certain to be uneasy, and very likely
to be irritable.
Little children are especially apt to
become cross, and to have their temper
spoilt, if they have dirty skin. They
themselves cannot tell what is the mat
ter, but hot, irritable skin, through
which little sweat can come, IS the
cause of their fretfulness.
1t was the remembrance of this fact
which one day brought back Mrs. Ma
guire to her good resolutions. Her
Youngest, child of nearly three years
old, was very troublesome one after
noon. Poor little creature! 1t crawled
or tottered about the place with only
dirty flannel petticoat, and dirty
linen frock, on its unsavoury little body.
The mother had several times threaten
ed it for bawling aloud and crying for
things that were forbidden to it. At
length, in the midst of one long peevish
cry. she darted on it and operated un-
til pinky glow appeared beneath the
dirt. But she was a woman of too stout
a build for long exertion, and she sank
back breathless into chair. AS she
cooled down little, she began to reflect,
and the means of the little sufferer
melted her mothers heart. There it
sat in the corner, mopping its stream
ing eyes and nose with the backs of
both hands, and every now and then a