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

1t 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, aud out
door exercise are each conducive to strength
OF body aud 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 counteraet the influence OF unhealth-
ful habits aud improper ways Of living. But
the imprudent exposures, the improper diet,
the lack Of cleanliness, the tainted, damp
air Of sleeping rooms, begin 10 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 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 50 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-
speets light, heat and ventilation are often
quite as bad as circumstances viii 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 a 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
tables from the other parts Of the cellar, and
there Is usually more or less decaying vege-
table matter TO load the air with poisonous
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.
II is very frequently the case that there is
no system Of drainage az all, unless the pro-
cess Of nature can be called by thai name.
The rain water from the caves, and the slOps
FROM the kitchen sink and the dairy-hOuse
are carried at the most but a few feet away
and are then left TO sink into the ground or
10 form fostering pools on top, at their pleas
ure. a condition Of things that would put
the inhabitants OF city blOck in a panic Of
alarm, and cause the pcremptory 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 10 perform their-work.
And there is very much less attention
paid tn personal cleanliness than consider
atoms Of health and comfort would seem to
require. This is owing largely 10 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 aud sweating all day, IL would
seem that frequent and general ablutions
would be quite essential. It might not be
an easy matter TO build country residences
with heating apparatus aud hot and cold
water pipes, but they might be constructed
with view TO proper ventilation and drain
age, and II would cost but little more In the
beginning 10 furnish them with bathrooms
The cellar could be arranged with some re-
gard for healthfulness 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 aud more manners at the
family table and fewer luncheons before re-
firing at night.