BED AND DRESSING ROOMS.

Ventilation--Window curtains and blinds--Bedsteads--Spring mattresses

--Towels--Danger of fire at the toilet--Mantelpiece--Pictures and

frames--Superfluous necessaries--Taine's criticisms--Aids to reading

in bed--Service of the bath--Improvements in washstands--Arranging the

rooms--Attics made beautiful--Sick-rooms--Neatness--Disinfectants--

Chlorine gas--Condy's solution--Filters--Invalid chairs--Generous

efforts of the medical profession to improve the national health.

We pass a third of our time in our bed-rooms when we are in health, and

the whole of it when we are ill; therefore their ventilation and

general arrangement demand our most earnest consideration.

Some bed-rooms are draughty, occasioning cold and neuralgia, but the

more common fault is that they are not airy enough; for with our

extreme attention to what is called "English comfort," we too

frequently make our bed-rooms almost air-tight.

This causes restlessness by night and headache by day. It were far

better to accustom ourselves to sleep with our windows open, as the

night air is not at all injurious in dry weather, unless an east wind

is blowing. We must be guided by the weather, and trim to the wind; our

feeling will tell us whether we may, or may not, safely leave our

windows open much more surely than the almanac. The time when windows

should be shut throughout the house is when the dew is rising and

falling; then the damp enters and saturates everything.

People seldom attend to this point, but keep their windows open too

late in the afternoon, which in Italy is recognized as the dangerous

time. We have but little malaria in England, but what little there is

is at work just before and after sunset. Many persons, too, who like

myself have immense faith in fresh air, throw open their windows on

leaving their rooms in the morning, regardless of whether the air be

dry and warm, or whether a fog or bitter east wind will penetrate the

whole house to damp or chill it. It is more prudent, in case of bleak

or raw weather, to wait for an hour or two before opening the windows,

ventilation from the door being sufficient for the room while it is

empty.

It is useless to lay down laws as to the windows in our variable

climate. We must work by our natural thermometer, and let our skin

perform one of its most useful functions and tell us whether it is cold

or hot; but if our feelings are uncertain, give judgment in favour of

fresh air.

If your rooms have the old-fashioned long and narrow windows which are

always found in houses built in the reigns of the early Georges, the

Japanese paper curtains, being very cheap, are as good as any, the

intention being to drape a skeleton window, which curtainless is a

dismal object.

But more modern windows should not, or at least need not, have long

hanging curtains, but only just sufficient to cover the window without

leaving a streak of light. The drapery may hang from one side or from

both, according to taste; but unless you are very particular to admit

no light in your bed-room, a mere valance, or some ornament at the top

of the window, is enough. For instance, some pretty design in fretwork,

as the tracery of an Arabian arch, made of deal an inch thick, cut out

with a steam saw and stained or enamelled black, would be effective

when lined with rose colour, or any drapery suited to your room; and

you might furnish an appropriate design for the fretwork. This would be

easily dusted, and is not expensive.

White blinds are clean and pleasant for bed-rooms, but dark-green ones

are better for persons with weak sight; either these or Venetian blinds

are very useful where there are no shutters.

Brass and iron bedsteads have almost entirely superseded wooden ones,

and they are generally made without fittings for curtains. Indeed, in

our well-built modern houses there are so few draughts to be guarded

against that curtains are seldom necessary.

In bed-rooms of the present time valances to the beds are quite

superfluous, as the bed-round is completely out of fashion. This was

the name of the breadth of carpet which went round three sides of the

bed, leaving the remainder of the floor bare. The fashion was healthy

and economical, certainly, but it was tryingly ugly and cheerless.

For a bed-room, nothing is so good as the square carpet, with a broad

margin of the floor stained and varnished, as this is very easily taken

up for the floor and carpet to be cleaned. The carpet must be laid down

the first time by a man from the carpet-warehouse, so that it may be

evenly stretched, which is seldom done by a carpenter; but after that

it is easily spread, as it remains in shape, and needs very few nails

to keep it in position.

Bed-room carpets need not have brown paper laid under them, though this

is an advantage in other rooms, as it keeps dust and draught from

coming through the cracks of the floor, besides saving the carpet from

being cut by the edges of the boards. Kidderminster carpets are now

made in very nice patterns, and are quite suitable for bed-rooms where

Brussels carpets may be thought too expensive.

A hearth-rug is more useful in a bed-room than elsewhere, as a bed-room

fire should be of coal or wood, and not of gas, as this is injurious in

a bed-room.

Take care never to let the head of the bed be placed before the

fire-place. This is sometimes foolishly done, and unsuspecting sleepers

get neuralgia from it. In summer a pretty pattern, cut out in

tissue-paper so as to resemble lace, tacked on a slight frame covered

with black tarletane, and fitted into the fire-place, allows

ventilation and keeps out the dust from the chimney. Little girls love

to cut these fire-papers, and one of them, with care, lasts two

summers, and often three.

When there are no bed-curtains, it is sometimes advisable to line the

ironwork at the head of the bed, so that the sleeper may not be exposed

to draught. Spring mattresses, with soft woollen mattresses upon them,

are the most comfortable beds of any; and Heal's folding spring

mattresses, though expensive, cannot be too strongly recommended. These

spring beds are so easily made up, that this is a matter of very

trifling consideration in any house where there are two pairs of hands,

children's or grown-up people's. It is necessary to turn back the

bed-clothes completely over the foot of the bed, and leave it to air

for an hour, at least, after the window has been opened. There is a

great fancy now for having trimmed pillow-covers, and pieces of

ornamental needlework to spread over the bed after it is turned down;

the fashion is pretty, but superfluous, as a nicely worked counterpane

looks equally well, and need not be folded up at bedtime.

Towels may, and should be, ornamented, but not so much as to make them

inconvenient for use. The collection of linen exhibited by the Duchess

of Edinburgh gave many of us an interesting lesson in things of this

kind. One of the silliest pieces of finery seen in a bed or dressing

room is the trimmed towel-horse cover. Towels cannot possibly dry if

the evaporation is stopped, and even when the cover is made of thin

muslin, it is only a troublesome frivolity.

Every lady has her own particular taste about her toilet-table, so that

I only give a caution to let it be safe, and not liable to take fire.

We frequently want candles on our dressing-tables; therefore it stands

to reason that the veil often placed over the looking-glass is highly

dangerous. This drapery is intended to keep the sun from scorching the

back of the glass, but it is safer to stand the glass elsewhere than in

the window when the room is exposed to the midday sun, although it will

not be so pleasant for use.

The rose-lined white muslin petticoat which was once such a popular way

of concealing a deal dressing-table is highly dangerous. Indeed, it is

difficult to conceive any combination more inflammable than the veiled

glass set in the midst of cotton window-curtains, and two candles

standing on a cotton toilet-cover, with a frilled muslin pincushion

between them, and full muslin drapery below.

The most convenient table allows the large square-seated stool, so

comfortable to sit on while dressing the hair, to be pushed under it

when not in use. When light ornaments are placed on a bed-room

mantelpiece and exposed to a current of air, it is advisable to have

two upright pieces of board, painted, cut out, or otherwise made

ornamental, placed one on each side of the shelf to protect the

knick-knacks from being blown down; and if these are numerous, one or

two shelves may be put above the mantelpiece, forming a pretty little

museum of curiosities which may be too small, or too trifling, to be

placed with advantage in the drawing-room; and houses of the class I am

describing seldom have a boudoir. If the mantelpiece is covered with

cloth or velvet, the shelves and back might be covered with the same,

and this would be very becoming to the ornaments. Tunisian or point

lace forms a very good edging to a mantelboard, and when a foot deep,

or nearly so, it is extremely handsome. Water-colour sketches should

abound in a bed-room, souvenirs of places we have visited, or of

friends who have made the drawings, being doubly enjoyed when we are

recovering from illness, or when we are awake early in the summer

morning. Sketches are as pleasant as books, without the trouble of

holding them up to our eyes. They should be carefully arranged so as

not to look spotty; and they must be hung flat against the wall by

having the rings placed high in the frames, as, although it is becoming

to the pictures, the effect of them hanging much forward makes many

people giddy, and in an invalid will sometimes produce a feeling akin

to sea-sickness.

Neatly made frames of the cheap German gilding (which will wash) answer

very well for sketches hung in the less prominent situations in a

bedroom, and bring a luxury within the reach of many who would not

otherwise afford it.

Now I am come to the difficult part of my subject--the tug of war, in

fact--for I want men to do something for themselves, and women to do

without something dear to their hearts. I think I will speak of the

latter clause first.

In bed-rooms especially is seen that truly English love of superfluous

comforts which we mistake for civilization: it meets us everywhere, in

and out of the house, but it abounds in our bed and dressing rooms.

The amount of toilet so-called necessaries is incredible, and the

number of patent objects overwhelming. When we consider that seven

things only are necessary to our personal neatness and cleanliness--soap,

sponge, towel, and tooth-brush for washing, and brush and comb and

nail-scissors for the rest of the toilet--and then count the other

paraphernalia seen in our dressing-rooms, we shall discover how many

frivolous trades our superfluities maintain, to say nothing of

ingenuity misplaced in making advertisements of dressing-cases and

hair-restorers conspicuously attractive.

The toilet-table is not alone to blame: the fault pervades the whole

house and overwhelms the bed-rooms.

M. Taine, in his "Notes on England," amusingly describing an English

house, says, "In my bedroom is a table of rosewood, standing on an

oilcloth mat on the carpet; upon this table is a slab of marble, on the

marble a round straw mat--all this to bear an ornamented water-bottle

covered with a tumbler. One does not simply place one's book on a

table: upon the table is a small stand for holding it. One does not

have a plain candlestick: the candle is enclosed in a glass cylinder,

and is furnished with a self-acting extinguisher. All this apparatus

hampers; it involves too much trouble for the sake of comfort."

This was only a bachelor's room; what would the French critic have

thought of the aids to reading in bed in an ordinarily well-appointed

bed-room where the master indulges in that practice?

By the Englishman's bedside is also a small table standing on a mat,

and on this table another mat supporting a patent stand which screws up

and down, and on this another mat with a candlestick with a nozzle and

a patent protector of the candle from the draught, a glass shield set

in an ormolu frame which has an elaborate screw; and by the side of the

candlestick-stand another mat, on which is a patent screw for shading

the light from the aforesaid candle. Then, besides the extinguisher,

also on a stand and a mat, and patent matches in a patent box, he is

supplied with a book-rest which will turn in every possible way, with a

patent leaf-turner and leaf-holder, and a variety of other little

conveniences. He only lacks an electric communication between the

fire-escape outside and the patent night-bolt on his door, to prevent

him being burnt in his bed, to make the thing complete.

We feel how difficult we have made life by having to put all these

indispensables to their intended use. We have multiplied these patent

gimcracks until we cannot move without being crushed by our comforts;

and the keeping of all this in order obliges us to have under us a

parlour-maid, an upper housemaid, and an under housemaid, to wait upon

these inventions. Helps, in one of his essays, says, "I have always

maintained that half the work of the world is useless, if subjected to

severe scrutiny. My idea of organization would be to diminish much of

this useless work." The same remark applies to our luggage when we

travel. We take things fancying. We may want them, forgetting that it

is easier to do without an article once, than to have the trouble of

packing it and looking after it every day; so we bury our pleasure

under a heap of care.

I must give another extract from Taine's description of his bed-room

before I proceed to my second great battle-field, where I fear a harder

contest.

After describing his dressing-table, Taine goes on to say of his

washstand: "It is furnished with one large jug, one small one, a medium

one for hot water, two porcelain basins, a dish for toothbrushes, two

soap-dishes, a water-bottle with its tumbler, a finger-glass with its

glass. Underneath is a very low table, a sponge, another basin, a large

shallow zinc bath for morning bathing. In a cupboard is a towel-horse

with four towels of different kinds, one of them thick and rough.

Napkins are under all the vessels and utensils; to provide for such a

service, when the house is occupied, it is necessary that washing

should be always going on. The servant comes four times a day into the

rooms: in the morning to draw the blinds and the curtains, open the

inner blinds, carry off the boots and clothes, and bring a large can of

hot water with a fluffy towel on which to place the feet; at midday and

at seven in the evening to bring water and the rest, in order that the

visitor may wash before luncheon and dinner; at night to shut the

window, arrange the bed, get the bath ready, renew the linen;--all this

with silence, gravity, and respect. Pardon these trifling details, but

they must be handled in order to figure to one's self the wants of an

Englishman in the direction of his luxury: what he expends in being

waited upon and comfort is enormous, and one may laughingly say that he

spends the fifth of his life in his tub."

Men will do much for glory and for vainglory, even to using cold

shower-baths in winter, and boast of breaking the ice in them; but I

never yet heard of a man who would take the trouble to empty his bath

after using it. Now I maintain that every man who has not a valet ought

to do this. Few men consider the hard work it is to a woman to carry

upstairs heavy cans of water; but that is trifling, compared with the

difficulty to a woman of turning the water out of a large flat bath

into a pail. A man would find little difficulty in doing this; his arms

are longer, his back stronger, and his dress does not come in the way.

When a man likes to have his bath regularly--and who does not?--he

should think of the labour that half a dozen or more baths entail, and

in the evening prepare his can of water for to-morrow's use, place his

own bath on his piece of oil-cloth, enjoy his tub to his heart's

content, pour away the water, put up his tub, and say nothing about it.

This disagreeable lecture over, we will go on and see how easy the

general dressing-room arrangements might be made.

If, instead of our ordinary washstands with their jugs and basins, we

had fixed basins with plugs in them and taps above, much of the

water-bearing difficulty would be obviated. These washstands should be

placed back to back, as it were, in every two rooms, having only the

partition-wall between them, so that the same pipe would supply two

taps.

I have three sorts of basins in use in my house: one kind has the

ordinary tap and plug, another kind has handles for supply and waste,

the water being sucked away on turning the waste handle. This is safe

for careless people who let rings or any other articles drop in the

basin, and nothing but water can go down to choke the pipe. But the

basin I find easiest and most pleasant to use, tilts out the water by

lifting a handle, or rather finger-niche, in front of the basin; and

when this is let fall it strikes on an india-rubber pad beneath the

tap, so that the basin cannot be cracked. All these different basins

are fitted into marble washstands with dishes for soap and tooth-brushes

hollowed in the marble, with holes for drainage connected with the

waste-pipe below. These conveniences, with a housemaid's-closet with

sink and tap on the same floor, save all carrying up and down of pails

and cans of water, and, in fact, the heaviest part of a housemaid's

work.

Where the hall is warmed by hot-water pipes, water from the same source

will supply the bedrooms. It will be warm if the first quart is allowed

to flow away. Or the pipes may be connected with the kitchen boiler,

which, in the case of our kitchen on the ground floor, will not be so

expensive as where the pipes have to communicate with the basement.

Supplying the taps is perfectly easy when only cold water is required,

and children and delicate persons may be indulged with jugs of warm

water, which, however, every boy using should fetch for himself. We

should thus be able to dispense with ewers and toilet-cans, which would

at once pay for the fitting of the pipe and tap to each room.

It is better and nicer to use filtered water for the toilet-decanter,

and not water drawn directly from the cistern, unless it has been

tested and found pure. In such a case, which is rare, no decanter will

be needed, unless we like to have a Venetian glass one for the sake of

its beauty.

Let all persons, in dressing, replace the things they have used, and

spread their towels on the horse to dry; then the rooms will be set in

order for the day, only needing the daily dusting, which will be done

after the beds are made. Boys and girls who go to school should make

their beds before they go, so they must open them to air immediately

they get up.

"These seem little things: and so they are unless you neglect them"

(_Sir A. Helps_).

Everybody should have his or her own wardrobe, and keep it in order.

Men and boys and little children will have everything neatly made and

mended for them, and laid in its proper place; so all they have to do

is to leave the drawers as tidy as they found them, taking heed not to

lose their gloves and neckties; the larger things take care of

themselves. The secret of keeping one's clothes tidy is not to have too

many.

Of course, where there are no servants to provide for, the house has

fewer rooms than a family of the same size requires in our present

experience, and the uglier part of the house is abolished, or where not

abolished, is converted from servants' bed-rooms and attics--unpleasant,

dusty, and ill furnished; redolent of tallow candle, shoes, brushes,

and stale perfumery; with closed windows and the floor strewn with old

letters, hair-pins, half-empty matchboxes, and dogs-eared penny

novels--into a bower-like study or morning-room, where a young lady may

entertain herself and her own especial visitors. I have even known an

attic in Baker Street so converted by the invention and taste of a

young lady, as to live in one's recollection as as pretty a summer room

as any country rectory could boast, by being papered with bright

flowery paper all over its sloping roof, and its window made cheerful

with climbing plants and flowers; tasteful draperies, a work-table and

work-basket in embroidered green satin, book-shelves carved by friends,

a piano just good enough for practising upon, and water-colour drawings

on the walls.

I have known another room, cheaply fitted up in a French style by a

French lady, as a dressing-room, with looking-glass wardrobe and

painted furniture. A small bed in an alcove, in case the room might be

wanted as a spare room, and lace curtains drawn over the alcove. The

head of the bed and all its plain wood-work covered in quilted white

cotton in large diamonds, and cross-barred with narrow blue satin

ribbon, and large blue bows here and there. The walls papered with a

paper resembling quilted muslin. The effect was soft, clean, and

extremely pretty.

A few words on the topic of sick-rooms before quitting this part of the

subject.

In cases of severe illness it is advisable to engage a professed nurse.

She is a great help to the physician, and a support to the family, who

too often, in their love for the sufferer, overtax their strength, and

break down at the moment this is most required. No person can long

sustain night and day nursing, particularly if to bodily fatigue

anxiety and distress of mind be added; nor can they keep up that

appearance of cheerfulness which is such a support to a sick person. It

is a great mistake to attempt to do this in any case, but more

especially if it is likely to be a prolonged illness. A sister of mercy

is often found a most valuable member of the household under such

circumstances. People often talk of not having had their clothes off

for a fortnight. One's first thought on hearing this said is, how glad

you will be to take a bath! And one's second thought, what good did it

do the patient?

The sick-room should be kept as much as possible in its usual order.

The paraphernalia of illness distresses the sick person, causing

nervousness. Do not let physic bottles be visible in all directions, or

the patient will never feel well, and those in attendance will fancy

they have caught the infection, simply because they are nauseated with

the smell of the medicines, and the disagreeable sight of their dregs

left about in spoons and glasses. The medicines that have to be given

at stated hours should be neatly placed in readiness on a small tray,

near the clock if possible, so that they may be remembered and the

hours observed. Keep perfect cleanliness and neatness in the room, and

avoid clatter. Wear thin shoes, and do not let your dress rustle. A

woman's hand should at every touch improve or replace something, so

that there may never be a great bustle of setting to rights. We have

already spoken at length of ventilation: in sickness it must be

particularly attended to, as fresh air is the most beneficial of all

medicines.

At the time of the great cattle-plague, fumigation with chlorine gas

was advocated, and beneficially employed, by Professor Stone, of Owen's

College, Manchester. It is simple for domestic use.

One teaspoonful of powdered chlorate of potash should be loosely

stirred together with three table-spoonfuls of dry sand in an empty dry

pickle bottle; add to this nearly an ounce of muriatic acid; stand the

bottle on some warm embers in an old Australian-meat tin, or other

receptacle of this kind, and place it (with the embers in it) on a

shelf, or somewhere high up in the room, taking care not to scorch the

wood-work. The heavy chlorine gas will descend and so fill all parts of

the room, and in about three hours disinfection will be complete.

It would be a good thing if district-visitors, and other charitable

persons, would instruct the clergy and their poor people in such

effectual means of stamping out infection.

In all hospitals "Condy's solution" is placed with the water and towels

for the use of the visiting medical men. It is highly advisable to keep

this in every house for cleansing and disinfecting purposes, and for

the removal of unpleasant smells. It is useful in cleansing bird-cages

and gun-barrels, in preparing poultry or game, and in many other ways.

The solution may be made at home. The British Pharmacopoeia allows

four grains of the permanganate of potash (the basis of the solution)

to the fluid ounce. It is chiefly for external use. The permanganate of

potash is sold in crystals of two kinds: the most expensive is the

purple, which is used in what is called the ozonized water, a very weak

solution of permanganate, sold by chemists for toilet use. The cheaper

and more general disinfectant is a greenish coarse powder, sold by any

honest chemist at under five shillings a pound. It may be bought of the

General Apothecaries' Company, 49, Berner's Street, London, for from

three shillings a pound to three-and-sixpence, as it varies with the

market; and this does as well as Condy's patent, and is 500 per cent.

cheaper, as fourteen gallons of disinfectant may be prepared from a

pound of the powdered crystals, and these again will be extensively

diluted for use. The purple crystals may be bought by the ounce.

Be cautious in using this fluid, or the Condy, whichever you may happen

to prefer, as it turns almost everything brown that it touches. Very

deep stains will never come out; slight stains wash and wear out after

a time, but china and all white ware, and sponges and brushes, have

their appearance greatly injured by it. Bed-room floors may be washed

with it; they will be thoroughly purified, and the colour will be as if

they were stained dark oak previous to being varnished. Stains will

wear off the hands in a few days, and a weak solution will not

discolour them. The purple fluid is a test of water--if it turns brown

the water is impure. It decolorizes on contact with animal matter.

It is a useful plan to keep a filter on every floor of a house; the

expense is not very great, while the increased safety is incalculable.

Spencer's patent, or magnetic-carbide, filter is one of the best. He

imitated nature's process when constructing it, having observed that

the purest water filtered through oxide of iron in the earth's strata.

Two articles of furniture will be found of great use in a sick-room.

One is a chair back with bars of broad webbing, made to lift up and

down like the music-desk of a grand piano. This is a most comfortable

support to an invalid when sitting up to take food or medicine. When

closed flat it will slip easily under the pillow, and it can be raised

gently and gradually to the angle required. The other thing is an

arm-chair, stood and fastened on a board with four French castors. This

is a great assistance in cases of lameness or extreme weakness, as it

is easy for the invalid to sit on it and be wheeled to any part of the

room; and it costs less than a wheeled chair.

None of the learned professions have advanced during the last thirty

years so much as the medical. Medicine has become a new science since

it has taken hold of the sanitary improvement of our towns and

dwellings. The profession, with a disinterestedness and devotion to

science worthy of liberal minds, combines to make the prevention of

disease its aim, even beyond its cure. It forms a noble co-operative

society.

At the last meeting of the British Medical Association at Sheffield, it

was most truly said that independent medical officers of health would

before long change the character of disease throughout the nation, and

save future generations much misery. It is to be hoped that the

country, which will reap the benefit of their endeavours, will

strengthen the hands of those whose efforts are directed to raising the

standard of national health.