Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-01-21

SO-S->St ~>A~@.
Taking Care Of the Health.
II is just as bad to take too much care
of the health ~ too little and 1t ID prob
ably just as injurious. "There are peo-
ple," says La Rochefoucauld, the famous
French writer of maxims, "who would
never have been In love II they had never
heard talk of it." And there are un-
doubtedly people who would never, or
hardly ever, be i'll II they thought less
about 1t.
People who are afraid to open their
windows lest q draught should give them
cold or neuralgia, who are afraid to 60
ont If there Is little rain, or little
wind, or little cold, because they are 30
delicate" invariably become more so,
and in time make themselves as sensitive
as dollhouse plants, which can only live
in the overheated greenhouse.
But while Overcare of the health Is to
be deprecated, this does not mean that
MISUNDERSTOOD rules should not be
obeyed if one wishes to avoid illness,
such as the danger of impure air in I'M
ventilated rooms, contracting chills,
drinking impure water, eating and drink
ing too much, etc. This knowledge,
however, need not turn the care of the
health into bugbear. We can make
fad of our health as of any other useful
thing.
1t is possible by living more healthful
lives to keep away those troublesome
colds that some people consider neces-
sary evil of winter.
| A frequent cause of taking cold in
winter is the unhealthy system OF living
in overheated rooms. BY this means the
general condition of the body is debilitat-
ed and rendered liable to contract chills
and colds when exposed to the cold air
out of-doors.
For sitting-room, temperature of 6s
or 10 degrees is quite warm enough Tor
health. -,
A bedroom should always be we'll
ventilated and have the windows open at
night, even in the coolest weather, If one
wants to avoid colds in winter. Rooms
that are closely shut up at night are not
conducive to healthy sleep, and the per-
son who occupies such a room always
feels sense Of languor and fatigue In
the morning. A daily morning bath,
either tepid or cold, is of great import.
ance, as personal cleanliness Is essential
to good health.
Clothing is another very important
factor. In cold weather it is a great mis-
take to put on great number of thick,
heavy garments, which by their own
weight are a drag upon the shoulders
and hips and soon cause fatigue. Such
clothing, also, does not allow of the
proper ventilation of the skin, which is
80 essential to maintain the body heat at
it's normal height. 1t is mistake to
suppose that the closer and thicker it is
the warmer it is. This is by no means
the case; some of the warmest under
garments are of rather open-meshed
medium-weight wool.
Fancy waists that are sometimes worn
in winter with an open yoke of lace, ex.
posing the neck and chest, are fruitful
source of colds, and ladies at all subject
to catarrh and chest troubles should
avoid them.
Too much covering about the neck, or
what is sometimes called "buudling the
neck up'' in scarfs or furs in cold wealth
er, is not advisable, as it has tendency
to render the throat delicate and liable to
cold, soreness, etc.
Next as means of warding of colds
comes exercise. In this country more
than half the winter is fine, bracing
weather-cold, perhaps, but extremely
healthful. Let street cars, carriages,
and cabs go whizzing past you on such
days, and walk-tramp, if it is necessary,
with well-shod feet through the snow.
While you walk, breathe, not the little,
sniffy breaths some women take, but
deep, long abdominal breaths. Fill your
lungs with splendid fresh air many times
a day. You will live much longer and
be great deal healthier for doing this.
Diet is important too. The chill of
winter requires warming food, but
warming food dooes not mean that one
must overeat. Every woman who keeps
house ought to know something of the
chemistry of food, enough to understand
its health-giving and heating properties
The housewife who possesses this knowl-
edge and puts it into practice will find
the family doctors bills rapidly dwin-
ding.
The daily abuse of the stomach from
overeating, from loading it with indi-
gestible food and, worst of all, expecting
it, as many society people do, to take
care of heavy midnight suppers, is the
source of many colds that are often laid
to other things. Many an attack of in
digestion is followed almost Immediate
lly by a heavy cold that is frequently
very hard to cure. And cold is often
an Indication of indigestion that is other
wise unrecognized. Overlooking is as
dangerous at times as underfeeding, and
a cold contracted by a man or woman
fed to repletion is more difficult to cure
than the same cold would be in hard
working person whose body was not
weakened by eating too much rich food.
The lesson in all this for the housewife
is that with properly planned and pre-
pared food she can ward off multitude
of diseases that follow unhygienic living.
For a proper diet is one of the surest
roads to health.
One of the best and simplest ways to
keep the stomach clean, strong and
healthy is by drinking cup OF hot
water every morning Immediately on
getting out of bed and just before retir-
ing at night. This simple practice, If
persisted in-this is the great point
will enable you to laugh at ailments
which owe their origin to disordered
stomach and liver or to the chronic con-
stipation from which so many people
suffer.
If you have been unfortunate enough
to take cold, there are several simple
home remedies that will give great re-
lief. For a sore throat, sip cupful OF
not milk into which teaspoonful OF
flowers of sulphur has been stirred. For
a feverish cold, sprinkle teaspoonful of
sulphur upon hot shovel, and while
the air of your room is full of the fumes,
take hot bath in which tablespoonful
of sulphur has been thrown, and 60 to
bed and wrap up very warmly; and If
you can stand it, it greatly aids the cure
to drink cup of hot milk and sulphur
prescribed for sore throat, for whether
the throat is sore or not, this greatly
benefits the system. Sulphur used fire.
quently as medicine is said to keep the
skin in q fine condition and the hair
abundant and free from grayness.
If you have pain in any part OF the
body, melt equal quantities of lard,
paraffin and turpentine in front of the
fire until it is lukewarm and apply to the
seat of the pain. 1t does not burn as
one would naturally suppose, and Is
capital for curing pain in the chest, back,
shoulders, etc.
If you are obliged to 60 out while suf-
ferinp from severe cold, it is an excel