Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-06-21
Health Away from Home.

Already city people are making ar
rangements to spend several months,
more or less, away from their homes.
The Medical News warns all such that
il the public patronized no house which
is not provided with pure water and a
perfect system Of drainage, these essen
tial features Of a healthy habitation
would soon be supplied. And yet how
many Of the little villages and hamlets
and towns located in the most healthful
of regions are ruined as sanitariums by
the absence of what is euphemistically
called "good drainage. The Ne'cs
goes on:
1.-THE results Of the summer vacation
are often most disastrous. For the
want Of exercise Of common prudence
and foresight, many a one who has left
home in search Of health or recreation
has been overtaken by preventable dis
ease, or has returned with the seeds Of
some malady already implanted in his
system. Beauty of location, salubri-
BUSINESS of climate, comforts and con-
veniences, and pleasant society are not
to be undervalued, but they count for
naught if the air and water-supply are
poisoned through defects in the drain
age system. Without perfect drainage
and wholesome water, the safety of no
locality can be insured, however attrac-
tive it may be in other respects. 1t is,
therefore, the duty of every one seek
ing summer resort for his family to
make diligent inquiry on both these
points, and to satisfy himself that there
is nothing wrong about either Of them,
before coming to decision"
We know a charming location in
Virginia. where the water is fine, the
beds excellent, the fare good enough
for king, and where a person might
well drink in stores of health if it were
not for one fatal defect. The NewS
warns the hotel proprietors as follows:
The business Of season and the
reputation of house have been de-
stroyed by the occurrence of sickness
due to inattention to these important
matters. But a higher motive should
actuate them to comply with the re-
qurements Of sanitary law. The die
tates of humanity and honesty forbid
that advantage should be taken OF their
patrons by Offering accommodations
professedly safe, when no effort has
been made to guard them from dangers
which lie concealed from view, and of
which they have had no means Of gain
ing knowledge
The Philadelphia Telegraph says
these remarks are principally directed
to simple country living, though that is,
after all, but a part, and perhaps the
smallest part, Of the result Of the sum
mer exodus" and adds:
cit is the curious fact that intelli-
gent people constantly commit their
families to the effects Of faulty sanitary
conditions i'll country and other summer
homes through lack Of the simplest and
most ordinary care. Nothing can be
further from the truth than to suppose
that the country as country must Of
necessity be more wholesome than the
town"
1.-The citizen careful in his ordinary
enterprises, thoughtful enough in look
ing into the health surroundings Of a
town residence, is likely to take up
country abode entirely on trust. Per-
haps he reasons, the rural sojourn be-
ing so brief one it does not greatly
matter about the hygienic conditions
possibly he has general conviction
that everything about the country
must Of necessity be health-giving
but in either Of these notions he is
most completely in the wrong. AS
often as not the average country house
is constructed with entire disregard Of
the vital consideration of drainage.
This is thing the proposing summer
bosrder is bound TO look into if he
values his family's health and his own.
No less is he bound to regard the quail
ty Of the drinking-water, and the rela-
tive positions of the springs, the wells,
and the kitchen drains"
These are timely words. People
seeking health must learn not to seek
it in such places as the Telegraph al
ludes to. 1t were far better to remain
in the city than to take up your abode
in the widest rural region if in this
region your landlord sows all around
you the seeds Of disease.