The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-10
HELP FOR THE INVALID
| BUNNY ENTERTAINMENT WILL TnI-
 UMPH OVER FEEBLENEyS
Le1 Evexything Tn the nssn suggest Hepooe-rNo Wall Pnpers With Set pafterns--xeep the Fills
 0uf or SlEAf.
m uARGAnEr E. sANGsrER.

By MARGARET E. sANGsTER.
 fC0pyriGht. 1905. by Joseph B. Bowles.)
 BY the invalid I do not mean the
 victim of an acute illness in whose
 behalf the doctors and nurses arc in
 atfendance. and who for the time mo-
 nopoIixes the attention of the entire
 household. A gravo attack of disease
 such as pieurisy. pneumonia or typhoid.
 is thing to be met and fought with
 the courage. persistence and resource
 of tho latest medical skill. and with
 the continued vigilance of the very
 best and most intelligent nursing.
 When such an illness invades a home
 1t is turned at once into a silent but
 energetic battlefield and the cam.
 paign is not over until the patient is
 fairly convalescent and pronounced out
 of danger.
 Tn any one of dozen houses that
 stand on 2 village street. or are close-.
 iy crowded in the barrack-like con-
 ttguity of the town. there may be a
 chronic invalid.s This person may he
 young or old. It seems a little sadder
 if he or she happen to be young. than
 if invalidism has laid it's whitening
 spell upon vitality when the sands are
 almost run from the hour glass. Stiil
 there are young old people and old
 young people. and sunny tempera-
 nent may triumph over feebleness even
 when the invalid is beyond three
 score years and ten. On the other
 hand, a morose, fretful and disagree
 able disposition will make it's possess
 or tyrant although she may be not
 much beyond the twenties. Some
 months ago one of the monthly maga-
 zines published an amusing story of a woman whose illness. partly real and partly fancfed. had made her look older than the mother her caprices were fast wearing out, and had trans f0rmed her into a creature not unlike a fiend. If any of us are really in- vaiids and cannot help ourselves we may as well make up our minds to the inevitable and not quarrel with fate or repine at the will of God. As for our friends. we may be sure that if we are lovablc they will be loving. if we are serene and even tempered they l will find our company tolerable, and l that they will try to make our handi- | cap as light as possible.
 An invaIid's room should be warm in | winter and cool in summer. At this | season it should be so situated that | the sunshine will flood 1t, and there | phould be some green things growing. l or a Towering plant or two to give 1t | that impression of life and health which Is cordial and tonic to a suffer | sr. Its walls should be painted or pa- pered in soft neutral tint. and there | should not be too many pictures. | Nothing is more irritating to nerves that are ajar than wall paper in dis cordant and inharmonious tones with | a set pattern that repeats itself over and over. The invalid sitting in her chair or lying on her Tbed begins to count the rosebuds or the geometric sqnares and counts on till the dreary iteration makes her half beside her self.
 Everything about an inva1id's room ought to be keyed to an ideal of rest. | The furniture should not be crowded | amount of it at all desirable. A table | beside the bed large enough to hold | candle and candlestick. book or two. | not too large or too heavy for easy and if necessary. a bottle of | salts or soothing drops is a great con- venience. Let nc add here that unless | absolutely necessary medicines, pills. | pottons and prescriptions of every ya- riety should be kept out of sight. It | Is not well for an invalid to have the look and the odor of medicine for- ever thrust on the attention.
 Whenever an invalid Is able to en- gage in light tasks, such as knitting, | making patchwork. helping a child with puzzling lesson, or any other | occupation that is not too taxing, the snnui of the situation will be greatly likeness and folded hands are terribly fatiguing. One would better get little overtired from at tempting something perhaps a bit be- yond her strength than be tired out | because there has been nothing to do. | One of the weariest experiences of in- comes from being laid aside. | seeing the procession go by. and realiz- | ing that one is out of 1t.
 If the invalid is fond of music the | if 10 ma Gat that she may not loose the strains of | violin or piano when a player is in | the house. For many years a woman | once brilliant as a. rose in bloom, lay | chained to a couch, unable to move | hand or foot, cared for by a devoted | husband and nurses who relieved one | another. her mind all the time splen- | didIy dormant over her attenuated | frame, and her tortured nerves. One | thing she was always able to enjoy, | and that was music. So never a day | passed that music was not heard in | her chamber, the door set wide that the | performer on an instrument or the | might cheer her with the numbers she loved. Her room was d bower of | beauty and a dream of harmony In | tint and adornment, and it was so | placed that only sweet sounds ever en- tered it.
 A6oInGT lnVatlQ CHdmUeT was QiI- ferent from this. For it had no luxury, and was bare to austerity. It was in home of poverty. The divan on which the invalid spent her daylight hours was near a window which com manded a view of busy street. This | woman was also able to hear music, and a. canary sang for her in it's cage, and sometimes she heard street pi- ano or an organ as wandering min. streI passed the door below.
 Every invalid cannot listen to music. There are many to whom it would be torment rather than pleasure. When this is the case every sound should be hushed and the children taught to tread lightly when they walk by the closed door. At first, when one thinks of it, it seems rather a hardship that should be required to mod crate their Innocent glee and repress their spirits in the season of life when joy is natural and should be uncheck- cd, and yet 1t is not bad training in that gentleness and unseifishnees which will make them iovIier by and by.
 Always before an invalid should be held the hope of getting well. A phy- sian once said to me: Tt is the nature of disease to get we'll" Pain wears itself out in time. One need not, and indeed one should not make up her mind that she is to be always in the clutches of some malady which has her in a relentless grasp for the moment. The grasp may relax. Some happy | turn Of affairs may bring back health