"What a fine face!" I exclaimed; "What a very beautiful girl!" By
and bye I whispered to my wife, to ask who that young lady was?--
pointing to the left. While she was looking, I remarked, "What a
very plain face she has!" My better two-thirds replied, with the
slightest possible sneer:
"It seems to me that you men haven't five grains of common sense
about women. Now you don't pretend that you have forgotten that
_very beautiful girl!_"
"But you don't mean to say that that is the same one I was
admiring?"
"The same," quietly observed my better three-quarters. In a moment a
bit of humor came from the platform; the large mouth flew open, and
thirty magnificent pearls darted into view.
"Oh, yes, to be sure; why of course, who couldn't tell that?" I
remarked, as brave as a sheep.
"My better seven-eighths quietly suggested, from behind her fan,
"Now, suppose you attend to the lecture, and stop looking at the
girls; how would you like it if you were lecturing, and one of your
auditors should be looking all over the house?"
From that moment I kept my eyes on the speaker, but the _points_ in
the lecture were very few, and between them I had time to think
"what a magic there is in fine teeth!" If a young woman has a
mouthful of beautiful teeth, I don't care how long her nose is, nor
what the color of her eyes; she looks sweet, wholesome, handsome!
On the other hand, no matter how exquisitely moulded the face, if,
when the mouth is opened, decayed, blackened teeth appear; you cease
to admire, and exclaim, "poor thing! poor thing!"
Besides this, if you lose your teeth, you can no longer speak
plainly.
But more than both of these considerations put together and
multiplied by a hundred, if you lose your teeth, you can no longer
grind your food well; and then comes indigestion with its train of
horrors.
How may the teeth be preserved?
Simply, by keeping them clean! A clean tooth cannot decay. You may
eat sweet things, acids, take hot drinks, ice creams,--you may abuse
your teeth in a hundred ways,--if you will keep them clean, they
will not decay. I will show you as many white blackbirds, as you
will show me clean white teeth beginning to decay.
How shall they be kept clean? I answer with a tooth-pick, used
thoroughly after eating, and followed by rinsing the mouth, and the
morning and evening use of a tooth-brush with a powder composed of
pulverized soap and prepared chalk.
In addition to this, cultivate the habit of sleeping with your mouth
shut. That dryness and bad taste in the mouth which come of sleeping
with it open, is always injurious to everything within the mouth,
including the teeth.
And, perhaps, this is the best place to speak of the error or
misfortune of sleeping with the mouth open, in its influence upon
the respiratory apparatus.
I cannot agree with the famous Catlin, who attributes so much to
this bad habit. But really it is difficult to read his remarkable
little work, without being convinced that sleeping with the mouth
open is a most unfortunate habit. The most obvious mischief is the
introduction through the open mouth and wind-pipe of dust and other
minute objects, which the nose would strain out. The opening in the
nose through which the air must pass, is only a narrow fissure, and
its sides are armed with numerous hairs, which reach over and
intertwine with those of the opposite wall, thus making it very
difficult for particles of dust to pass through into the lungs. This
point in Mr. Catlin's argument is too obviously true to need any
special proofs; and perhaps another point of less moment is
sufficiently obvious; viz., if the air be allowed to pass directly
through the wide-open mouth into the lungs, its temperature when
permeating the lung tissue is too low, and thus injury to that
delicate tissue results; but if the air passes through the tortuous
and contracted nasal passages, it is brought into such immediate
contact with the blood in the lining membrane of those passages,
that it is modified, and the lungs themselves are saved from the
rude shock of a raw cold breath.
I have now given the more patent of the reasons for keeping the
mouth shut while sleeping, and will only add that the habit of
sleeping with the mouth shut, may be formed by a careful clearing of
the nasal passages on lying down, and by going to sleep with a
determination to keep the lips closed. Observing these rules, and
being careful not to sleep with the head too low, you will soon
awaken in the morning with the lips closed, and with the mouth moist
and sweet.