St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-11-14

IL Is undoubtedly true that the most favor
able conditions for healthfulness Of mind
and body are 10 be found on the side Of
country life, Sunshine, pure air, and out
door exercise are each conducive TO strength
ofbody and length Of days. But feeling
seems to exist among who live in country
homes, that by virtue OF their naturally
healthful surroundings, their outdoor life
and occupations, they may safely set at
naught the plainest hygienic and sanitary
rules No doubt the pure air. which they
cannot help but breathe when out of doors,
and the vigorous open-Air employment, IN
which they must engage, does tend for a
time to counterfeit the influence of unhealth-
full habits, and improper ways Of living. But
the imprudent exposures, the improper diet,
the lack Of cleanliness, the tainted, damp
air Of Sleeping rooms, begin to show their
effects before the prime Of life is past in
many painful and disagreeable ways. Rheu-
matte and dyspeptic troubles and nervous
affections are some of the methods BY which
nature Furnishes these transgressors Of her
laws. II Is a fact diseases coming under the
head OF those mentioned, are more common
in the farming regions than anywhere else.
A distinguished medical authority has put it
on record that insanity, which so frequently
breaks out in families, is mainly caused by
the severe and constant manual labor, with
innutritious food, Improperly selected or
poorly cooked.
In the building Of country homes gener-
ally very little attention is paid to proper
ventilation, drainage and other health con
siderations. The sleeping rooms are often
constructed In utter defiance Of the plainest
sanitary regulations. Their situation as re-
spects light, heat and ventilation are often
quite as bad as circumstances will permit.
The living rooms in winter are poorly and
irregularly heated, and the inmates are con-
stantly exposed TO sudden drafts and chills
from open doors and easements.
And as 4 breeder Of disease there are few
things that excel the average farmhouse
cellar. II underlies the whole house, with
nothing TO prevent its exhalations rising
into the upper rooms except a thin board
floor In this cellar all manner Of things for
family use are kept the season round. Meat,
vegetables, milk. butter, bread, pastry, pre-
serve, pickles and fruit are here stored in
their various receptacles. There is very sell
dom anything TO seperate the fruit and Vege-
tables from the other parts of the cellar, and
there is usually more or less deeaying vege-
table matter 10 load the air with poisopous
germs. At various seasons Of the year the
cellar walls collect dampncsS, or small pools
or water lie under their loose board floor,
sending up malariOus odoIs into the rooms
above.
1t Is very frequently the case that there is
no system OF drainage at all, unless the pro-
Ire NJ ,a ha rn1la 1 nv hat
The rain water from the caves, and the slOps
from the kitchen sink and the dairy-hOuse
are carried at the most but few feet away
and are then left 10 sink into the ground or
TO form fostering pools on top, at their pleas
ure. A condition Of things that would put
the inhabitants OF . city bloch in a panic Of
alarm, and cause the peremptory interior
ence OF the health officers, Is suffered 10 exist
for years under the shadow of country homes.
Water for family use is often drawn from
springs and wells that cannot be otherwise
than affected by the surrounding drainage,
and especially by their eontiguity to the farm
yard and other unsavory places.
In matters of diet there is the same reck-
less disregard Of the rules Of health. In the
busy season especially, the meals are eaten
hurriedly, bolted down, with scarcely an in
terval OF rest afterwards for the digestive
organs to perform their work.
And there is very much less attention
paid tn personal cleanliness than consider
stious Of health and comfort would seem to
TO luire. This is owing largely to lack Of
those facilities for the use OF water that are
so common in city homes. For people who
are employed in fields and around farm
yards, tOiling and sweating all day, it would
seem that frequent and general additions
would be quite essential. 1t might not be
an easy matter to build country. residences
with heating apparatus and hot and cold
water pipes, but they might be constructed
with view to proper ventilation and drain
age, and it would cost but little more in the
beginning to furnish them with bathrooms.
The cellar could be arranged with some re-
gard for heaithfulness and, at least. kept free
of garbage. The barns and other out-houses
could be placed at a respectable distance
from residences, and thu surroundings of the
latter might be kept pure and clean. There
might be less haste and more manners at the
family table and fewer luncheons before re-
firing at night.