The Air At Home

I really enjoy learning new things from old books.

I tend to think that old-fashioned ways of doing things are still the best ways.

Our mothers and grandmothers knew what they were doing, and we would be wise to take to heart their methods in homemaking.

I was reminded of this last night when I was making homemade soup for dinner.

The children were playing together nicely, and the soup had about fifteen minutes left of simmering, so I grabbed this old book and sat down...

I almost never watch T.V. or movies during my free-time. I'd much rather read a book or listen to music while doing a relaxing activity.

The content of most modern T.V shows and movies is designed to give people an escape. Most of it isn't meant to inspire or to build your mind in useful ways. But I have discovered that a lot of old books are!

I almost always come away from reading an old book feeling inspired! 

I only had a few minutes to read while the soup was simmering, and what I read made me think that I should share it with you!

It came from this book titled, Yourself And Your House Wonderful, from the year 1925.

It's a lovely book, as you can see. With soft pictures and beautiful content.

This is an example of what the pictures are like:

Lovely, right?

I can easily get drawn into looking at something like this for a long time.

I notice the clock and the candle in the background... I notice what everybody is wearing... I think to myself, What a sweet little baby in a soft white blanket... The big sister sure appears to adore her baby sibling... She reminds me of my Nola... And other such thoughts.

But as I was flipping through the pages, my eyes quickly saw something interesting. It was a chapter titled, How Bad Air Kills.

I want to share it with you.

(Yourself And Your House Wonderful, By H. A. Guerber. Chapter VI.) 

This is a portion of the chapter:

You would rightly think it horrid if anyone tried to drink dirty water or to eat swill, but it is just as nasty to breathe bad air, even though you cannot see how bad it looks.

Now there are many people in this world who are very clean and particular about everything, except about the air they breathe. Some of these people are afraid to open the windows and change the air because they say they catch cold so easily. But if they opened the windows often enough, and breathed nothing but fresh air, they would soon grow so much stronger that they would cease to catch cold so easily. They get sick simply because the little blood-boats cannot get enough air to carry to all the different parts of the body so as to keep them in first-class order.

People who breathe the same air over and over again are besides running the risk of catching some dreadful disease. For with the air, the lungs blow out tiny seeds or germs of sickness. These are far too small to be seen, and if there were plenty of fresh air in the room, they would be caught up by the wind, and carried high up in the air, where the hot sun would soon kill them.

If these germs cannot get out of the room, they are apt to be drawn into the lungs of any person who is not very well. There they are sure to grow, and to make that person very ill.

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I found all of this to be quite fascinating!

As homemakers, our job is to keep those who are in our care as happy and healthy as we can!

One way we can do that is by making sure the air in our homes isn't stagnant, but that it is instead being changed over daily.

As I continued to peruse through the Air chapter, I was also encouraged as I read about the importance of sleeping with fresh air. I have long slept with my bedroom window open, even in cold weather months, because I've had a hunch through the years that it was healthier.

I always put my children to bed with their bedroom windows open, too. Since they go to bed a few hours before I do, I make sure to remember to close the windows when I go to bed. That way the room will be healthier from the change of air, but not chilly through the night. 

"If the room in which the children sleep is always well aired, they will be rosy and happy and much easier to manage."

Taking the time to read this chapter helped confirm for me what I have long believed.

I am passing it on to you because this blog is meant to encourage homemakers. I hope you get the sense that I do not write from the standpoint of being an expert in homemaking, but that I just write about the things that interest me and help me in my homemaking. And I hope that it is of some help to you!

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Let's also remember to give our children plenty of fresh air and sunshine by taking them outside. 

I have written about this in the past, but it's good to be reminded from time to time.

My housework tempts me to stay indoors, so it is a deliberate choice for me to take a break and head outside with the children.

I am always glad when I do!

"Very few children, even among the rich, get air enough, and still air is free to everybody, and does not cost a cent. The poorest person who ever lived can have all the air there is, if only willing to take the trouble to get it."

By the time my kitchen timer was reminding me to get up and stir my soup, I had absorbed enough in my reading to be inspired and informed, with a feeling that my short free-time was spent wisely.

I found a paper heart, made by my daughter, and slipped it between the pages to hold my place for next time...

And you, dear reader, are in my heart till next time, too...

xo,

~ Courtney ~