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Classic
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page 337
than carpet, because freer from dust, and this is the room used in case of
sickness. If made properly it will wear for several years. Canton mattings are
made on boats in pieces about two yards long, and afterward joined on shore into
pieces of fifty yards. It is easy to see where these short pieces are joined;
after cutting into lengths, first sew these places across and across on the
wrong side, then sew the breadths together and tack down like a carpet. Matting
should never be washed with any thing except moderately-warmed salt and water,
in the proportion of a pint of salt to a half pail of soft water. Dry quickly
with a soft cloth. A bed-room matting should be washed twice during the season,
a room much used, oftener. In this room there should be a medicine closet, high
above the reach of children, where are kept camphor, hot drops, mustard, strips
of old linen, etc., for sudden sickness or accident. There should also be a
large closet, a part of which is especially set apart for children's use, with
low hooks where they may hang their clothes, a box for stockings, a bag for
shoes, and other conveniences, which will help to teach them system and order.
The bedding should be the best that can be afforded. The inner husks of corn
make a good under-bed. Oat-straw is also excellent. Mattresses of Spanish moss
are cheaper than hair, but soon mat down. A mattress made of coarse wool is
quite as nice as hair, and as serviceable. When the woven-wire bed is used, a
light mattress is all that is needed; and this combination makes the healthiest
and best bed, because it affords the most complete exposure of the bedding to
air. The best covering is soft woolen blankets. Comforters made of cotton should
be used with great caution, as they need to be frequently exposed to sun and
air. The best comforter is made of delaines, which may be partly worn, with wool
instead of cotton quilted in. Beds are almost always made up too early. The
thrifty housekeeper likes to have rooms put to rights in the morning, but it
brings up the old adage of "the white glove" which "hides a dirty hand." The bed
should lie open for several hours every morning, and at least once a week all
the bedding should be thoroughly aired. Air pillows in wind but not in sun.
THE GUEST-CHAMBER.
The bed of the guest-chamber should always stand so that when one opens the eyes
in the morning, the light from the window will not be directly upon them, as it
is trying to weak eyes, and unpleasant to strong ones. Keep the bureau where the
sun's rays will never strike the mirror, and where it will not be heated by the
stove, as either will granulate the amalgam. Chambers should always be provided
with transoms over the doors, and windows arranged so as to lower easily from
the top. A light feather-bed covered with a case like a pillow, may be either
used over the mattress, or a comfort may be used over it and the feather-beds
under it. Tacked on the inside of the washstand-doors, two crotcheted pockets
are nice for bathing sponges, and
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