Conducted by Mrs. I. H. Evans, Takoma Park, Washington D. C
By MRS. I. H. E.
Assisted by Miss Lora E. Clement Through the columns of this department, hints will be given on all matters pertaining to the home life. Short articles and letters are solicited from home makers, telling of their everyday experiences,—their joys and sorrows, their failures and successes. Making the Hot Days Bearable
THE problem of making the hot days endurable is one that must be solved by many who live in crowded places during July and August. The fortunate few who can take refuge by sea or lake, or enjoy the cool nights of some mountain retreat, escape the strain put upon the nerves and general physical reserve, to say nothing of temper and disposition, that must be endured by those who pass the heated days with no such respite. It requires careful planning on the part of most of the stay-at-homes to lessen the routine duties, provide the necessary meals, and keep up a fair degree of the cleanliness that is so essential to health. But much can be done. An hour or two gained in the cool of the very early morning may make it possible to take a siesta during the breathless hours of the afternoon. It is a good plan to go often to the woods and parks and public gardens near home. As early as you can after breakfast, take the children and go off for a day together in the green places. A box of sandwiches, a basket of fruit, and a supply of pure water,—these essentials will make the outing a real picnic to the little folks; and if there is a wading place and a sand pile, their happiness will be complete. To the mother these restful hours, in the cool shade, with reading or sewing, will also be a boon. And at the end of the week or month, she will find nearly as much accomplished as if she had spent all the days in the house. The diet in hot weather is of supreme importance. “No one,” says Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, “would deliberately cuddle up to a hot stove on a warm summer day; and yet we very often do worse when we sit down at the table, for we build a fire inside of ourselves from which there is no escape. Less heat-giving food is needed than in the winter, when we must fortify ourselves against the cold, and when we usually exercise more vigorously, and so need more ‘steam.’ The kind of food eaten in summer should be quite different, and nature points the way with her usual wise adaptation to human needs. Sweets, oils, meats, and rich, greasy foods of all kinds are to be slighted, and the emphasis put on the fresh, succulent vegetables and juicy acid fruits. Any excess of protein should be carefully avoided in hot weather. It is a food that insists on being burned, whether one is active or at rest. Let us ‘slow down’ our speed, put less fuel in the furnace, and partake of the ‘tonics’ that nature furnishes in the laxative and acid principles of fresh fruits and vegetables, the lemon, the grape, the pineapple, the peach, and the berries, not forgetting the dandelion greens, spinach, and lettuce.” Temperance is the golden rule of the summer days,—temperance in eating and temperance in partaking of cool drinks and ices. Overeating and irregularities in diet are the cause of much summer illness. All kinds of bacteria flourish in hot weather, and food spoils quickly. Guard your food supply. Milk is especially liable to contamination, and unless one is sure it is pure and clean, the safest plan is to Pasteurize it. Don’t Succumb to the Heat
When we have done all we can to mitigate the effect of the hot weather, we should forget it! Refuse to talk about it! “At least half of the human suffering is invited, coddled, domesticated, pampered, petted, solicited. The one who complains most of the heat is usually the one who has the least cause. You don’t often hear the hodcarrier or the binder of wheat complain about the heat. The man who is doing work is too busy to remember the weather. It is the idle who complain; fortunately, perhaps, it is the idle who suffer most.” Needless hurry and worry can be eliminated to a truly remarkable degree by a determined exercise of the will. A new automobile advertises one of its selling points thus: “You ride in the car, not on it.” That is all right for automobiles, but for troubles it is better to ride above them, not in them; the resultant saving in vitality is a decided asset toward passing the endurance test that the hot days will inevitably bring. “Make the hot days easier where you can; and when you are not able to do that, make them nobler.” And bear in mind that in any case the cool, delightful fall days are just around the corner!