The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-07-31
o N N LETTER.

In some way I feel impressed with
the idea that I should say something
this week as to the hygiene of the
home. I am aware that you who
live in the country have the adj
vantage of your sisters in cities,
still there are homes even in the
rural districts that are rarely ever
thrown wide open to sunlight and
air.
No carpet should be too costly to
submit to an occasional cleansing or
renovating by Gods own pure air
and sunshine. A "stuffy'' Or musty
room in a home is not only a nui-
sance but a dangerous menace to the
health of the jewellers therein. 1t
may be up stairs, a room that is
never occupied save by rats and
moths, but still, it is under the roof
where you sleep and where you +
supposed to look after the minutest
details as to cleanliness and health
fulness.
It may be that the spare room,
the one used by company is the
musty room, because you know that
you can fix it up when company
comes. Do you know that you will
have time to air it thoroughly then?
All the fixing, sweeping, busting,
rearranging of furniture and fresh
linen for the bed will not atone for
the missing sweetness in the atmOs-
phere of that room which might
have been impaired by a few hours
airing. Have you ever tried to sleep
in such a room, and did you succeed,
or were you tired and unrested when
day at last dawned? l honestly be-
lieve that musty sleeping rooms are
the direct cause of more nervous
prOstration than can be traced to
any other one thing.
Should the parlor be the close,
dark, musty indescribably chilly
room that it is in so many homes? I
think not, for who among us enjoys
a stay of even a few minutes in such
a room. How long has that pretty
carpet been in use, and has it ever
been taken up busted and aired?
How long since? Count the years
on your fingers. They seem like
months, but remember each year
represents twelve months instead of
one.
You are afraid to wash those
handsome lace curtains? Well you
need not be. It is true that the
papers tell you about how you must
wash them and then just how you
must pin them on a sheet spread on a
carpet or have a frame of a certain
kind to dry them on. Now I want
to tell you that I know a woman
who 1aunders hers whenever she
wishes to do so and does not have all
this trouble either. She simply
soaks them over night in strong
soap suds next morning she washes
them slightly and puts them in a pot
filed with more soapy water and
bOils them until the dirt disappears.
They should be stirred often with a
paddle or other wooden implement
having no splinters to tear the lace.
After removing rinse in several
waters, but do not try to iron them.
Simply starch them and then hang
to edge on the line, being care
full to straighten each notch or
scallop and see that they dry
straight.
You will be delighted with them
when hung and not count it trouble
to have accomplished so much with
so little worry. Don't forget when
relaying a carpet to put just a little
salt all around the edge and the
will not trouble it.
Our letters from Bashful Sue and
Jennie Acton are interesting. 1 can
not understand the silence of many
members of the Circle why no more
letters? AUNT JENNIE.
A BROTHERS INFLUENCE.
DEAR AUNT JENNIE Here I come