First, then, on rising in the morning, see that a full current of air can
pass through every sleeping-room; remove all clothes from the beds, and
allow them to air at least an hour. Only in this way can we be sure that
the impurities, thrown off from even the cleanest body by the pores during
the night, are carried off. A neat housekeeper is often tempted to make
beds, or have them made, almost at once; but no practice can be more
unwholesome.
While beds and bedrooms are airing, breakfast is to be made ready, the
table set, and kitchen and dining-room put in order. The kitchen-fire must
first be built. If a gas or oil stove can be used, the operations are all
simpler. If not, it is always best to have dumped the grate the night
before if coal is used, and to have laid the fire ready for lighting. In
the morning brush off all ashes, and wipe or blacken the stove. Strong,
thick gloves, and a neat box for brushes, blacking, &c., will make this a
much less disagreeable operation than it sounds. Rinse out the tea-kettle,
fill it with fresh water, and put over to boil. Then remove the ashes,
and, if coal is used, sift them, as cinders can be burned a large part of
the time where only a moderate fire is desired.
The table can be set, and the dining or sitting room swept, or merely
brushed up and dusted, in the intervals of getting breakfast.
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