HEALTH IN THE SLEEPING ROOM.
By Selected
IF there is any calling in which there is a wide field for women it is in architecture. In the average home the chambers are often the smallest and most inconvenient rooms in the house, situated, perhaps, on the shady side, with no definite place planned for the bed, which must frequently be where the wind will blow directly on the sleeper's head if the one window is left open at night. When we take into consideration the fact that about one-third of our lives is spent in our sleeping rooms, it would seem imperative that we give earnest thought and attention to the requirements necessary for the health of the occupants. Rooms situated on the north side of the house should never be used as chambers, except for guests who occupy them only occasionally. The lack of sunshine and good ventilation in a chamber is sufficient of itself to account for many of the ills with which we are afflicted. If you can choose or provide your own furnishings, do not carpet the floor. In a chamber, above all other rooms, a hard-wood floor provided with a few rugs is best, both on account of neatness and health. The carpet conceals an enormous amount of refuse, and tells no tales of what it harbors. The less furniture in the room the better. Rattan or willow chairs, with removable cushions of cotton texture, are desirable; brass or iron bedsteads are preferable to wood, and a screen high enough to protect one from the draught of an open window at night is almost as necessary as a bedstead. Those who are fortunate enough to be able to build their house as they choose, if they follow the advice of eminent physicians, will not paper the walls of their bedrooms, which should be finished in hard plaster with a smooth finish, and tinted; nor will they paint the woodwork, which should be of hard wood, finished in oil. Physicians assert that it is not healthful to sleep near the wall, on account of dampness, and also because one's breath is thrown back from a wall and inhaled again.