Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-03-19
SLEEPING ROOMS.
The Caro- That Should Characterize Our
Sleeping Apartments.

The Care That Should Characterize Our
Sleeping Apartments.
1t is sometimes thought to be token
of neatness that the occupant of bed
room tidy it up by making-up the bed
before breakfast. But this is not advis-
able. 1t is better that the bed be
smoothed up until the morning ablu-
tions and dressing have been performed.
so that the exhalations of the night
shall not escape into the room. Then,
the last thing before leaving the room,
take off all articles of the bed-clothing,
hang them as separately as may be
| over the foot of the bed and upon
chairs, and open the windows. so that
everything may be thoroughly aired
before the bed is made.
The windows should be left open in
pleasant weather until the sun begins
to decline. when they should be closed.
since late in the day the air, except on
very bright days, begins to be charged
with sensible moisture-t lat is, it is
damp air is nearly as bad as to sleep in
damp sheets.
The common exception to sleeping in
pressed, is perfectly sound in fact. To
be sure, ''night air. can. in strict
sense. be nothing else than ''n; ght air;''
but what is meant in the objection is air
unduly charged with sensible moisture
To breathe such air during the day
would be just as deleterious as to
breathe it during the night. only that
during sleep the physical system is in a
condition less fitted to resist it's evil
influence. This does not apply to ma
larious districts, where noxious eXhala-
tons are thrown from the soil into the
ar much more abundantly during the
night than during the day. Thus one
may pass the day in the Pontine
Marshes near Rome. or in the rice
swamps of South Carolina, with toler-
able safety, while it is almost fatal to
sleep there for a single night.
1t is very desirable that only one
person should occupy bed. In no
case, if it can poss bly, be avoided,
should two persons very different in
age. temperament and habits, sleep to-
gether. The evils resulting to young
person from sleeping with an aged one
are universally recognized. The child
is almost sure to become enfeebled;
whether the aged person is benefited
thereby, as is commonly supposed, is
not so certain. The common opinion
is that the old person, in some mysteri-
Gus way, draws out vitality from the
young one and absorbs it into his own
system.
But, leaving this out of view. there
are evils more or less inseparable from
double-bed sleeping. Very rarely will
two persons sleep together whose sys-
bed-clothing; and, if a compromise is
other too much. If one. of them be
one be wakeful, he will disturb the
sleep of the other. And in any case
each must in some degree inhale the
vitiated air which has just been
breathed out by the other. The
single beds, of course, occupy
somewhat more space than a dou-
BILE one. And in case the size and
shape of the bedroom. or the uses other
than sleeping, for which it may be re-
quired. preclude two ordinary beds, a
trundle- bed, to be run beneath the
other during the day, is preferable to a
double bed, especially where one of the
occupants is child.
A bedroom should. as far as possible.
not be used as a store-room; and, in
case it is necessary to have trunk or
two in it, these may be utilized as
touches or seats. by covering them
w tn cushions made for the purpose.
Most especially the space under the bed
should not be used as repository for
things to be kept out of sight. Wher-
ever else shoes. bundles, and odds and
ends may be placed, they should never
be placed under the bed.
In healthful home, no bedroom to |
be occupied by single person. will
contain less than eight hundred cubic
feet. For two persons, its cubical con-
tents should be greater by at least one
half; and still more liberal amount of
space is desirable if the size of the
house will permit.-La,cs of Health.