Go into one of our school-houses, and you may there see subjects preparing
for consumption. Our illustrations will give the reader a correct idea of
our meaning, without any explanation. The sewing-machines, or rather the
position which many girls assume while sitting at their work by them from
three to twelve hours a day, tend to depression of the lungs, obstruction
of circulation, reduction of the vitality, dyspepsia, and sooner or later
lead to consumption.
[Illustration: A HEALTHY POSITION.]
Let everybody when walking stand erect, with shoulders slightly thrown
back rather than inclined towards the chest, then outward, and keep the
mouth closed. When sitting, keep the body erect, or lean back slightly,
resting the shoulders, rather than the spinal column, against any
substance excepting feathers, changing the limbs from time to time to any
easy position. If tired, and one can consistently "loll," recline to one
side, resting the cheek upon the hand. If one is very tired, and desires
to "rest fast," sit with the feet and hands crossed or arms folded.
[Illustration: A CONSUMPTIVE POSITION.]
If you lie crooked in bed, do it on the side. "To bend up double, man
never was made," says the song. Do not bolster up the head so as to get a
square look at your toes, or, being in a feather bed, till you resemble a
letter C. Rather use but one light curled-hair pillow. It is cool and
healthy. Avoid feather beds and pillows.
"Didn't your 'grandma sleep during nearly a hundred years' on a feather
bed?" My quizzer has returned, peeped over my shoulder, and asked this
question. Now see me quench him at a swoop.
"Yes, she did; and I think it probable that if she had not she would have
been living now. My grandmother's good habits, free use of muscle,
sunshine, and air, more than offset the use of mince pies, and the evil of
sleeping on a feather bed in winter."