St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-19
DRAPERIES UNWHOLES0ME.
THE IDEAL HOUSE HAS NO CAR.
PETS, ONLY RUGS, ON IT'S
FLOORS.
MODEL SANITARY
Smooth Surfaces and Clear Spaces,
Say Architects, Decorators and
Doctors All.

1t is coming now to be recognized that a
radical change beginning at the very foun-
dation Of our manner of life, is the only re-
lief to the heavy strain of modern living A
room loaded with bric-a-brac and clogged
with unnecessary furnishings is a distinct
and continuous burden. 1t demands con-
stant care to be kept clean, and it's confusion
adds to the fatigue Of weary brain. Most
of all, such a room is an hourly menace to
health. 1t Is impossible to reject longer the
statements amply verified by experiments con-
ceIning the actions of microbes. We know TO
a certainty that million or more of lively
organisms may be cultivated into prodigious
enemies from an amount of dust taken from
the top of a dining room or sleeping room
door that would cling to the point of a pin.
Having accepted this much, we hesitate to
apply it's moral to our individual conduct.
Scientists say that the first attitude of the
convert is one of indignation. 1t is a fact
that it is irritating to find ourselves forced
to admit that our household gods are not only
built of very inartistic clay, but of positively
dangerous material. Our education in stand
ards of the beautiful has not been established
upon common-sense principles.
Elaborate arrangements of window decora-
tion keep out pure air and sunlight as eff
fectively as heavy draperies prevent circula-
tion of air from room to room. Tangled ar
rangement of chairs and bric-a-brac and top
pling lamps is as suffocating to the lover of
freedom and good air as the things them
selves are evidences Of a foolhardy disregard
of the healthfulness of empty spaces.
t'Dust and disease" is the laconic phrase
in which the scientist sums up his result
after years of laborious study of the living
organisms which menace human life. We
cannot afford to disregard this edict. 1t
should effect a complete revolution in not
only the building and furnishing of the house
and Office but in the care and cleaning of
these constantly inhabited places.
Sanitarians would have clear, clean sur
faces, that can be wiped easily. They
would have wood floors everywhere. Car
pets are denounced by them, and all drap-
cries which hold dust and odors by their
heavy, loose texture. Upholstered furni-
ture, especially .tufted pieces, not looked
on with favor from a hygienic standpoint,
nor are accumulations of scarfs, tides, and
delicate mantel draperies that may not be
we'll and often shaken.
We can afford to sacrifice many of our
gods of the ornamental sort upon the altar
of health and comfort; when we do we will
find that the delights of greater simplicity
more than compensates for any loss of what
has seemed to US to be beauty.
According to the latest sanitary ideas floor
coverings ought not to be cleansed within
the rooms, and, therefore, they ought to be
easily removable to the open air. Sweep
ing, these teachers of the new science say
that sweeping which raises the dust to
settle it upon walls and pictures-is most
pernicious. 1t should be relegated to the
realm of the obsolete. If brooms must be
used, they should be dafnpened first. Bet
ter are carpet sweepehs, and best, light rugs
that be taken out and cleaned in the
open air. Whatever sort of cleaning that
does not remove the dust entirely from the
room is not proper cleaning. Following the
use of carpet sweepers, damp cloths to
wipe over permanently laid carpets prevent
the dust from settling on other furniture
and room fixtures.
Paperless walls are conceded to be the
best for health's sake, but, as all cannot at
once achieve these, those still in the bond
age must exercise eternal vigilance Every
short while papered walls should be wiped
or brushed down, and the cunning hiding
places for dust. the cornices and lintels,
backs of pictures. and curtain and picture
rods and chains be gone over to free them
from it; heavy draperies should be so hung
as to admit of easy removal when the room
is cleaned.
model sanitary room would have painted
walls and very little intricate carving upon
woodwork; hard floor, with rugs, and fur
niture unupholstered, but made comfortable
with cushions and pillows; draperies of wash
able material. and windows unincumbered by
number of different hangings. having rather
simple decorations, which would not exclude
sunlight and The penetration of light to
every corner IS the essence of cleanliness.
not only becauSs it disinfects, but because it