The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-11-27
Tdeas for Uann1em.

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As we pass. or are supposed to pass.
fully q third Of our time in bed, while
many are obliged also To spend more or
less Of their waking hours IN the apart
ment which serves as their sleeping room.
1t need not be said thai q great deal Of
attention should be given to making our
sleeping quarters as pleasant, comfortable
and safe as possible. There has been. in
times gone by. too little regard for this
matter Of bedrooms. says Good House
keeping"
Thanks to modern good sense, we are
getting over a good many Of these
thoughtless ideas, and those which still
linger cannot too soon be eliminated. A
sleeping room should be 90 situated that 1t
can be thoroughly aired every day, and
If the direct rays of the sun can enter on
each sunny day. so much the better. A
solid. well painted and vanished floor is
much better thon q poor floor covered
with a carpet. Indeed, q carpet is a Ques-
tionable luxury under any circumstances
for such an apartment. In how many a
chamber does the dusty, musty smell of
q neglected carpet FepeI one coming In
from the purer air without; there can be
no surer hiding place for disease germs
than such a -foor-cpvering- It is a great
deal better that the floor shall be par
TALLY covered with rugs. even cheap,
homemade ones, which can be busted,
summed and aired. while the floor a be
kept clean and sweet. and the entire
apartment wholesome and healthful. On
the same principle, heavy hangings, por-
there's. curtains and the like are out OF
place. II we would have Of the bedcham-
Der the sweetest, purest room possible.
There is one a~bomination which ought
to be un~sparingly c-ondemned-at least The
use which Is too generally made OF IT.
and that is the folding bed. A great many
persons who get out Of these beds In the
morning Immediately make" them,
spreading up the clothing. which is per-
meated through and through with the ex-
halations of the night, and shut the cab
met close tnl 1t Is wanted for occupation
next evening. Comment Is unnecessary
Perhaps 1t will be urged that conditions
render the procedure necessary; but II SO,
In the interest Of health and life, the con-
ditions ought to be changed.
r- III -&4t+hG Nt1N-- 12
No bedroom should ever be shut close
during the night, even fit is a large
apartment. 1t is hard to imagine q room
which cannot in some manner be ventil-
ated, to a certain extent Perhaps the
best conditions cannot By amy means be
reached; but limos anything is better
than breathing poisonous ar over and
over. If nothing better can be done, let
the window be raised a trife, so that a
current OF air will find its entrance be-
tween the upper and sowerssashes. This
may be so diverted by a curtain or even
a piece of newspaper that It will create
no draft. but will stir a gentle circulation
whitman the apartment. This expedisnt
may often be resorted to IN cases Of nj
ness, giving q change OF air in the cham
her. but in so gradual q manner that no
al effects can result
The more freely bedding can be EXPOSED
to the sun and air the better. but expos
ure to the sun should not include the pill
lows or feather beds. The oily quality OF
the feathers IS acted upon by exposure
to a. hot sun, producing a strong. often
and unhealthy odor-in direct opposs-l
hon so the result which it Is intended to
lain. But there should be frequent ex-
ture to the air and the more persist
ly his is carried out. the more health
Win be the bed. Feathers are danger
things at the best. They are alb
ls5rbs,1s and diflcult to cleanse. Moreover
they are very durable, and doubtless there
are murtftndss of beds IN every
ity which have been M use for scorassof
years-hew many we need not attempt
closely to estimate-without a thorough
~renoVatien. IT Is hardly pleasant to
think Of e~nsconssng oneself in a guest
provided with a bed of this
sort, sinking into the persuasive egn-
brace of a mass of feathers upon which
ali sorts of people have been sleeping for
a generation or two, and sleeping all
through the night in the warm vapors
which the heat of the occupants body
will generate from this questionable mass.
1t Is because we never stop to hin Of
cheese things in the abstract, and to dis
socsate them with prevailing customs,
that we tolerafe them.
Proper use OF the pillow Is not simply a
matter Of usage, for many people seem
wholly ignorant of the purpose for which
IT is provided. Let a person lie upon the
side, resting the head upon the floor. The
bending of the neck viii very shortly be-
come unbearabie torture. II the head is
raised to an equal angle In the other d.
~rection. the result, physiologicaliy. viii be
the same, though a tfihe less painful. Yet
that IS what many people do. who bolster
" the head abnormaly while sleeping.
be- injurious effects, the Interference
with the circulation, which should go on
In the easiest manner possible while one
sleeps, will be clear to anyone with COM
mon knowledge of the requirements of
the heart and blood vessels. The head
should simply be brought to that level
which viii place it in the most natural
position in relation to the rest of the
organism. It Is better that the pillow
shall be frm-not hard enough to be pain
full. and on the other hand, not sufiiciently
yielding to ndnce heat, since it is a
maxim OF uaquesticnable value that the
head is to be kept cool and the feet
warm; the reason for this being that the
circulation OF blood is the and
most direct in the head. and weakest be-
cause most remote at the feet.
GOODNESS Of the. extremities also dulis
the power of the nerves, checking still
further the circulation, while undue heat
auickens the action of the heart and tho