Miss Beecher's Housekeeper and Healthkeeper. Catharine Esther Beecher
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V.
ON STOVES AND CHIMNEYS.
The general Properties of Heat, Conduction, Convection, Radiation, Reflection—Cooking done by Radiation the simplest but most wasteful Mode: by Convection (as in Stoves and Furnaces) the cheapest—The Range—The model Cooking-stove—Interior Arrangements and Principles—Contrivances for economizing Heat, Labor, Time, Fuel, Trouble, and Expense—Its Durability, Simplicity, etc.—Chimneys: why they smoke, and how to cure them—Furnaces: the Dryness of their Heat—Necessity of Moisture in warm Air—How to obtain and regulate it 182
CHAPTER VI.
ECONOMIC MODES OF BEAUTIFYING A HOME.
Educating Influence of natural and artistic Beauty—On Curtains—Sketch of a Parlor with cheap and beautiful Ornaments—On the tasteful Combination of Colors 192
CHAPTER VII.
ON THE CARE OF HEALTH.
Importance of some Knowledge of the Body and its Needs—Fearful Responsibility of entering upon domestic Duties in Ignorance—The fundamental vital Principle—Cell-life—Wonders of the Microscope—Cell-multiplication—Constant interplay of Decay and Growth necessary to Life—The red and white Cells of the Blood—Secreting and converting Power—The nervous System—The Brain and the Nerves—Structural Arrangement and Functions—The ganglionic System—The nervous Fluid—Necessity of properly apportioned Exercise to Nerves of Sensation and of Motion—Evils of excessive or insufficient Exercise—Equal Development of the Whole 199
CHAPTER VIII.
DOMESTIC EXERCISE.
Connection of Muscles and Nerves—Microscopic cellular muscular Fibre—Its Mode of Action—Dependence on the Nerves of voluntary and involuntary Motion—How Exercise of Muscles quickens Circulation of the Blood, which maintains all the Processes of Life—Dependence of Equilibrium upon proper muscular Activity—Importance of securing Exercise that will interest the Mind 208
CHAPTER IX.
HEALTHFUL FOOD AND DRINKS.
Construction of the Body in Relation to Food—The Construction of a Kernel of Wheat as proportioned to the Body—Construction and Action of the Stomach—Advice as to Food, Drinks, and Stimulants—Opinions of Physicians 214
CHAPTER X.
ON CLEANLINESS.
Construction of the Skin—The secreting Organs—Care of the Skin 235
CHAPTER XI.
CLOTHING.
Construction of the Bones—Influence of Dress—Description of two Modes of Breathing, and the Effects of Weight and Tightness of Clothing—Proper Mode of sustaining the Clothing 243
CHAPTER XII.
EARLY RISING.
A Virtue peculiarly American and democratic—In aristocratic Countries, Labor considered degrading—The Hours of Sunlight generally devoted to Labor by the working Classes, and to Sleep by the indolent and wealthy—Sunlight necessary to Health and Growth, whether of Vegetables or Animals—Particularly needful for the Sick—Substitution of artificial Light and Heat by Night a great Waste of Money—Eight hours’ Sleep enough—Excessive Sleep debilitating—Early Rising necessary to a well-regulated Family, to the Amount of Work to be done to the Community, to Schools, and to all Classes in American Society 254
CHAPTER XIII.
DOMESTIC MANNERS.
Good Manners the Expression of Benevolence in personal Intercourse—Serious Defects in Manners of the Americans—Causes of peculiar Manners to be found in American Life—Want of clear Discrimination—Necessity for Distinctions of Superiority and Subordination—Importance that young Mothers should seriously endeavor to remedy this Defect while educating their Children—Democratic Principle of Equal Rights to be applied, not to our own Interests, but to those of others—The same Courtesy to be extended to all Classes—Necessary Distinctions arising from mutual Relations to be observed—The Strong to defer to the Weak—Precedence yielded by Men to Women in America—Good Manners must be cultivated in early Life—Mutual Relations of Husband and Wife—Parents and Children—The Rearing of Children to Courtesy—De Tocqueville on American Manners 260
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PRESERVATION OF GOOD TEMPER IN THE HOUSEKEEPER.
Easier for a Household under the Guidance of an equable Temper in the Mistress—Dissatisfied Looks and sharp Tones destroy the Comfort of System, Neatness, and Economy—Considerations to aid the Housekeeper—Importance and Dignity of her Duties—Difficulties to be overcome—Good Policy to calculate beforehand upon the Derangement of well-arranged Plans—Object of Housekeeping, the Comfort and well-being of the Family—The End should not be sacrificed to secure the Means—Possible to refrain from angry Tones—Mild Speech most effective—Exemplification—Allowances to be made for Servants and Children—Power of Religion to impart Dignity and Importance to the ordinary and petty Details of domestic Life 274
CHAPTER XV.
HABITS OF SYSTEM AND ORDER.
Relative Importance and Difficulty of the Duties a Woman is called to perform—Her Duties not trivial—A Habit of System and Order necessary—Right Apportionment of Time—General Principles—Christianity to be the Foundation—Intellectual and social Interests to be preferred to Gratification of Taste or Appetite—Neglect of Health a Sin in the Sight of God—Regular Season of Rest appointed by the Creator—Divisions of Time—Systematic Arrangement of house Articles and other Conveniences—Regular Employment for each Member of a Family—Children—Family Work—Forming Habits of System—Early Rising a very great Aid—Due Apportionment of Time to the several Duties 280
CHAPTER XVI.
HEALTH OF MIND.
Intimate Connection between the Body and Mind—Brain excited by improper Stimulants taken into the Stomach—Mental Faculties then affected—Causes of mental Disease—Want of oxygenized Blood—Fresh Air absolutely necessary—Excessive Exercise of the Intellect or Feelings—Such Attention to Religion as prevents the Performance of other Duties wrong—Unusual Precocity in Children usually the Result of a diseased Brain—Idiocy often the Result, or the precocious Child sinks below the Average of Mankind—This Evil yet prevalent in Colleges and other Seminaries—A medical Man necessary in every Seminary—Some Pupils always needing Restraint in regard to Study—A third Cause of mental Disease, the Want of appropriate Exercise of the various Faculties of the Mind—Extract from Dr. Combe—Beneficial Results of active intellectual Employments—Indications of a diseased Mind 293
CHAPTER XVII.
CARE OF THE AGED.
Preservation of the Aged, designed to give Opportunity for Self-denial and loving Care—Patience, Sympathy, and Labor for them to be regarded as Privileges in a Family—The Young should respect and minister unto the Aged—Treating them as valued Members of the Family—Engaging them in domestic Games and Sports—Reading aloud—Courteous Attention to their Opinions—Assistance in retarding Decay of Faculties by helping them to Exercise—Keeping up Interest