Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-20
Mistellaneous 8eadins,
MEDICINE IN THE OPEN AIR.
People Who Got Health BY Sleeping
Out of Doors.

1T was just at this season three
years ago that the doctor told us that
our baby, a boy 4 years old, must
sleep out OF DOORS" woman whose
winter home is in a suburb OF New
York explained TO friend VINO COM
mented on her healthful appearance.
He SAID the upper porch on the pacK
OF our house would make an ideal
outdoor sleeping room and ordered
the child's bed put out at once.
That was all very well, but When
bed time came it seemed so cruel 10
leave the child out there alone that
| moved out a cot myself. OF course
my husband objected, saying the
child was perfectly safe, but IL any,
body had to stay with him 1t should
be the nurse. AS l was not to be
changed he let me try it, prophesying
one night would be all for both me
and the child.
Il am sure it had been twenty years
since | had slept through a nlSht
without waking. Even as a young
girl | had suffered from insomnia and
the boy had inherited it from me. The
next morning when l awoke realized
| had slept the whole night through
and the child was still sound asleep.
There was a tinge of color IN ms
been there for two years. l called my
husband out to look at him and was
informed that he had spent the great
er part of the night going back and
forth to see how we both were stand
ing the experiment and had always
found us both fast asleep.
within a week l felt like another
person and the improvement in the
boy was even more marked. Then the
other children began to beg to be al
lowed to bring their beds out one
by one they came until all three were
sleeping on the porch, when my nus
band gave in and one evening he came
home saying he had ordered another
cot and would sleep on the porch to
see what the charm was.
He is there STILL we all are, and
never hear the slightest reference to
anybody's wanting to go in. All OF
the indoor bedrooms are just as they
were when we moved out on the up
per porch and occasionally we use
them when there is a severe beating
rainstorm, though my husband as
serts that he is sure it wouldn't hurt
any of us TO stay out and get little
damp air. However, he comes in
when / think it best to set an exam
pie for the children, because none OF
comes to sleeping in the stuffy air OF
indoors.
There is no furniture on the Sleep
ing porch except our beds and a strip
of carpet between them. We all un-
dress and dress in our indoor bed
rooms and come out on the porch
only for sleeping.
MY first night out there made me
think it would be best to have some
thing that would smut out the early
morning light and at the same time
not exclude the air. For this purpose
| had the old green piazza screens that
had been used on the front piazza the
summer before put up at the east and
south sides As there were only two,
the west was left open.
Every morning | wake up just
when it begins to dawn and | lower
these screens. That makes it quite
dark enough for the sleepcrs until
our regular getting up time, as my
children call it.
after the family moved out my
husband had curtains of tent cloth
made for the four open sides of the
porch, and they have been very salts
factory both for moderately severe
rains and for the coolest weather we
| have experienced so far We can gen.
orally leave up at least one Of these
curtains. so we get good, fresh air.
"Thcy are simply strips of tent cloth
| the width of the opening and have IL
piece of wood at the bottom like Il
window shade. There are small brass
rings on the sides through which is
passed the cord by which they are
raised and lowered.
aside from these curtains and my
husbands cot our sleeping porch has
cost us nothing and the results have
been all that the doctor propheSied,
or even more. Look at my complex
| ion. You remember what 4 parchcd
looking skin used to have? 1t was
| really nothing more than Il skin, now
| it is Il complexion, and | assure you
| ] haven't done Il thing for it but sleep
on our upper porch. Everybody is re-
marking on our COmplrXiOnS. They
say the children inherited them from
my husband and |, and | always reply
we acquired them from the night air
ON the porch.
| I'VE never suffered from the cold,
| because We began just at the season
of the year when it was getting warm
cr. When we came back from the
| mountains it soon began To get cold
and blankets were added. \ little Ia
| ter the doctor suggested that | would
find Il second mattress for each bed
comfortable for the winter. 50 | had
them put on.
| "Thcn the linen sheets were re-
placed by those of Canton flannel and
| | began To wrap the children's heads
in crochet Scarfs. because my hus-
band complained of the cold air on
| his head. These SCarfS didn't work
very well. Now all that is done is To
stuff a pillow up between the pillow
hi
of the bed. / find that entirely COM
' Portable for myself and the children