Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-05


stands and its surroundings. Dampness
coming from the soil under or surrounding
the house Is a source of danger and gives
rise to many diseases If the earth under
the house ii damp and filled with noxious
gases, they naturally VIII rise and permeate
the whole house. Floors doors and walls
are protection against them. Unless a
cellar floor is made imperyious TO gases ana
dampness Ii is a constant breeder of dis
ease. The best authorities on sanitation
recommend that the floor of the cellar be
made of clay packed hard and covered with
a layer of cement Such cellar, with
good chain pipe, always will be dry and
sweet, and will go a long way toward keep
Ing the whole home in a good sanitary con-
dtion.
most pernicious source of impurity Is
sewer gas, which can enter houses only
where waste and soil pipes are in direct
communication with the main system OF
sewers.
There are two kinds-an odoriferous and
an odorless gas. The former Is most In
nocuous, but the latter is most deadly.
since 1t depresses the general system and
frequently contains the germs of disease
Sunlight and thorough ventilation destroy
the properties of this gas In order to pre-
vent sewer gas from entering a house all
waste pipes in connection with the sewers
should be carried along outside the house
and furnished with a ventilator, so that the
gas may escape into the external air.
Foul smells and gases arise from many
other causes, such as decomposition of or
ganic matter within the house. emanations
from the surface of the body, and prepara-
lions of arsenic and copper In wall paper.
Flowers give off carbonie acid gas a night
and gas jets pour much impurfty into the
atmosphere Overcrowding also greatly
vftiates the atmosphere
Every portion of house should be kept
scrupulously clean, and after infectious or
contagious diseases there should be a thor
ough cleansing and disinfecting of the fur
niture. bedding and carpets.
There is
No factor of success stronger than that
of having acquired good habits of work
Having once formed these we are left free
to look beyond the mere details of the
work and to see how best we may accom-
plish that which we have undertaken.
1t is like playing the piano. At first we
have to study the music and the keys. and
each note we strike requires separate and
distinct effort of the will. but in a little
while we begin to read the music readily,
and as our fingers wander over the keys
we are not conscious of guiding or direct
ing them.
And this Is the way we should learn to do
our work, whatever 1t may be. The details
of 1t should never trouble us; but they
should become az second nature. we should
be so accustomed to begin the day at the
same time each morning that when an eX-
ception occurs we should feel at a loss.
We should hdrdly be conscious Oh TAKING
up each separate task, but should go to 1t
as q matter of course. There necessarily in
most of our lives is more or less OF routine.
The same things have to be gone over day
after day, and so far as they themselves
are concerned lt makes little difference in
what order we do them so long as they are
done But for our own sakes we should as
soon as possible adopt an invariable rule of
proceeding in regard to them never depart
ing from II until at last we become uncon-
scious that we are following rule.
What a World
OF comfort it must be to those people
who always are able to do just the right
thing in Just the right time and In just the
RICH, way. 1t is a beautiful thing to see a
man or a woman who never is at loss.
who always is easy, with modest self
confidence, and who. therefore, does not go
through the world treading on other peo-
pies toes.
Every one who has not been endowed
generously with this gift of knowledge of
the right thing TO do owes it to society at
large to cultivate it in himself to his utmost
ability not only for his own sake. but for
the sake OF those with whom he is thrown
in contact.
Little In society Is more painful than to
see man SO embarrassed that he has lost
his head. and little makes one more uncom-
Portable than to be the innocent cause of
throwing another into confusion.
For Il is embarrassment and loss of self
possession that prevent people from doing
and saying the right things at the right
times
One should learn to Judge the people he
meets. He should try to see things from
ing those things that he knows will offend
their tastes.