Home comforts; or, Things worth knowing in every household; being a digest of facts established by science, observation and practical experience, respecting the important art of living well and cheaply, preserving health and prolonging life

Front matter

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Preface

fHE title of this book is so comprehensive, that an explanatory preface must be superfluous. It may, , however, be stated that, inasmuch as the success or failure of men in business is often so intimately dependent upon the influences that surround them in their homes, the editor's work, entitled " Common Sense in Business," seemed incomplete without a companion volume on the Art of Living comfortably, yet economically. Moreover, so many books have been written on Domestic Economy and Hygiene — most of them containing very few grains of wheat to the bushel of chaff — that there is apparently an urgent need for a Digest of what may be called well-established facts in Housekeeping. This volume contains hundreds of such facts, each one of which, if worth anything at all to the reader, will be worth much more than the cost of the book.

The greatest part of every work of this kind, as Dr. Johnson observed even in his day, is made by transcription, and any attempt at originality, except in arrangement, is a

6 PREFACE.

fault. The editor has accomplished all that he proposed, if he has succeeded in selecting from "the crude and undigested mass of suggestions " those which are true and reliable, distinguishing between assertions and facts; and if he has done this, those on the threshold of life, who use this book aright, will have at their command an amount of practical knowledge, every day useful, which most persons in a lifetime of experience do not acquire.

Among the works partially digested, or extracted from, in this volume, are Beecher and Stowe's " Domestic Science;" Bellows' "Philosophy of Eating;" Beeton's " Englishwoman's Cookery Book ; " Prof. Blot's " Lectures on Cookery ; " Chase's " Recipes ; " Dr. Chavasse's "Advice to Wives and Mothers;" Dr. Delamere's "Wholesome Fare;" Devoe's "Market Assistant;" Dwyer's " Economic Cottage Builder ; " Eastlake's " Hints on Household Taste ; " Freedley's " Opportunities for Industry;" "The Gas Consumer's Guide;" Harland's " Common Sense in the Household ; " Dr. Hall's " Health by Good Living;" Dr. Hufeland's "Art of Prolonging Life ; " liyman's " Philosophy of Housekeeping ; " Euskin's " Lectures on Art ; " Savarin's " Physiology of Taste ; " Dr. Strange's " Restoration of Health ; " " Scientific American ; " Soyer's " Culinary Campaign ; " Mrs. Warren's " Home Management j " and numerous works on Cookery and Hygiene.

Chapter I. Elements Of Comfort

The most interesting of studies — Where corafort is worshipped as a deity — Meaning of house-thrift — The rich as well as the very poor often have no homes — Why few have comfortable homes — An English manufacturer's remark — Soyer's remarkable calculation — Ignorance of good cookery — Men as cooks — The health of cooks carefully guarded — Dr. Johnson's plan of making a cookbook — The French as cooks — McCullough's observation — A good wife a fountain of comfort — How to promote health of women — Walking in the open air recommended — Care in ventilating chambers — Importance of thorough ablution — Meagre breakfasts condemned — Importance of sleep — A surprising statement as to the drinking habits of young ladies — Value of cook-books to housekeepers — American women excel in fancy cooking — How to cultivate cheerfulness — How a Quaker mastered his temper — Causes for jealousy to be guarded against — A good wife something of a physician — A lad in the wilderness and the two fairies 33

Chapter II. On Planning, Painting, And Papering Houses

Elements of good taste — A well-planned house essential to domestic comfort — Points to be observed in erecting or selecting a house — Best site for a country house — Aspect of a house — Time should be taken in planning a house — Where the kitchen should be located — The stairs — The cellar — The windows — Sills of windows should be low — Defects in English palaces — Chimneys should be curved —

Ceilings only moderately high — "Where the sleeping apartments should be located — The best woods for finishing — A good protection against fire — Rubber-lined tubing for water-pipes — Defects in water-closets — An abundance of room-closets recommended — Importance of trapping drain-pipes — Dwyer's plan for heating and cooling rooms — Suggestions on painting and papering rooms — An artist's idea for decorating mansions — Selection of paper governed by the light and size of rooms — Suggestion on buying ivaU-paper — How to make a small room look large — How to clean paper-hangings — A recipe for a permanent whitewash 44

Chapter III. The Art Of House-furnishing

Modern furniture condemned by art critics — The fashionable woods a century <igo — Uses of different woods — What to avoid in buying furniture — A salesman's opinion of beauty not to be regarded — Tendency in upholstery to run into curves — Chairs and sofas so curved as to be uncomfortable — Tables and sofas should be strong and comely rather than light and elegant — Usefulness the first qualification — Size should be adapted to the dimensions of the apartment — Comfortable and elegant parlor chairs difficult to find — Selecting dining-room chairs — Cane seats unsuitable for bedroom chairs — Drawers in bureaus should not be too deep — Bedsteads — Novel articles in combination furniture — Pictures a7id picture-frames — Oil pictures should not be hung with water colors and engravings — Picture cords should correspond with the wall-paper — Framed pictures should not be suspended from one nail — How to select marble-top furniture — How to extract stains from marble — ■ Recipe for marble cement — How to take bruises out of furniture — How to clean mirrors — How to clean and tighten cane-seat chairs — How to take oil or grease from cloth — To remove stains from tables — How to cement broken china — Carpets — First point to be regarded in buying a carpet — The cheapest floor-covering that can be made — The most desirable quality in a carpet — What colors to avoid — Large patterns to be avoided — The best carpet for an ordinary drawing-room — For bedrooms — Most economical way to lay down carpets — What to do when a carpet begins to wear — Hoxv to sweep carpets — How to preserve brooms — How to destroy moths in carpets — How to clean and brighten Brussels carpets — Selecting oil-cloths — How to clean oil-cloths — Moths in furniture — Only efTectual preventive known 55

Chapter IV. Household Conveniences Not In General Use

Housekeeping art — Novel mode of shelling beans — Importance of kitchen conveniences — Why there should be an abundance of kitchen cloths — Conveniences in a cook's galley — Articles to be found in a well-kept kitchen — What kind of tinware should be bought — Novel articles — The stock-pot a standard fixture in French kitchens — Whitewood boards preferable to tables — The Dutch oven higlily commended — The French bain-marie a very useful utensil for stewing — Faults of modern frying-pan — Scales and weights should be in every kitchen — Pasty-pans useful articles — Revolving gridiron — A novel egg-boiler — A bronze egg-steamer — Different kinds of egg-beaters — Best kind of coffee-pot — French turn-spit preferable for roasting meat — Warren's cooker commended — Apple and peach parers save labor — Ingenious invention for slicing potatoes — A new machine for shelling peas — A tendon separator a boon for bad carvers — How to choose refrigerators — Table gas-stoves useful — Rotary knife-cleaners save time — A griddlegreaser of recent invention — The best clothes-line protector — How to remove rust from knives, forks, etc. — How to prevent rust on iron or steel articles — Novel mode of sharpening edged tools — How to prevent lamps from smoking 69

Chapter V. The Art Of Marketing Housekeeping Hints

Dr. Kitchiner's rule for marketing — How to choose beef — What parts furnish the choicest beef — Sirloins — Why so called — Porter-house steaks — Where the tenderloin is taken from — How the rump is divided — Beef-^-la-mode — What the chuck contains — What the brisket-piece is used for — Which are the best beef's tongues — How to distinguish good beef's liver — How to cook a beef's heart — Points in good veal — How the hind-quarter is divided — Veal cutlets — Most economical piece of veal to buy — Calves' sweet-bread a delicacy — How to tell when a calf's head is fresh — How to buy calves' feet — How to select mutton and lamb — Appearance of poor mutton — What the two loins are called — Points of good lamb — Usual weight of a quarter of lamb — How to distinguish good pork — Measly pork — How to select good hams and bacon — What are the best sausages— How lard is adulterated — How to keep meat from spoiling — How to tell when chickens are fresh — How to tell a younf/ turkey — Ducks and geese — How old pheasants may be known — Old partridges, wild fowl, hares and rabbits — How to choose venison — What vegeiablef are appropriate to different meats — How to select potatoes, turnips, tomatoes, cauliflowers, celery, egg-plant — How to distinguish bad from good mushrooms — Where potatoes should be kept — How cabbages and celery are best preserved — liow to keep apples — How to keep oranges, lemons and cranberries all winter— How to test seeds — How to distinguish /resA^sA. — How to judge whether oysters and clams are fresli — A hint to oyster-eaters — How to buy lobsters, crabs and terrapin — How the Chinese catch fish — Best mode of buying Jlour — Indian meal to be bought in small quantities — Rye and buckwheat should be kept in covered kegs — Sugars should not be bought by the barrel — Coffee and tea may be bought in considerable quantities — Difficult to get good indigo — Saleratus should be kept in glass bottles — Salt should be kept in the dry — Where to keep oils and molasses — How to keep spices — How to test nutmegs — W^hich Ls the best cheese — How to preserve eggs — How to test coal-oil 80

Chapter VI. On Fuels And Fires, Saving Gas, Etc

Great waste of fuel — Principal substances used as fuel — What is charcoal, coke, peat — Different kinds of woods — Which is the best — Advantages of black birch, white oak, maple — How pine and chestnut may be made useful — Best trees make best fuel — What kind of ivood most profitable to buy — When wood is cheapest — Coal as a fuel — How to judge hard coed — How coal-dealers judge coal — How to kindle a coal fire — How to remove clinkers from stove grates — How to use coal economically — Experience of an old housekeeper — Good coal thrown out as cinders — How to measure coal — Gas as a fuel — Improvements in gas-stoves — How to regulate and save gas — Different kinds of burners— Importance of good burners — A good regulator economizes gas — Novel method of enriching gas — The best way to regulate flow of gas— How to extinguish fires and prevent conflagrations — Fire-proof buildings a failure — Every building sliould be provided with fire apparatus — A reorganization of the fire department recommended — Hoiv to preserve life when clothing is on fire — What persons should do at night when they discover smoke in the room — How to use kerosene oU safely — Tricks of sellers of patent oils — How to save a person on fire — Best remedy for burns 105

Chapter VII. About Eating And Articles Of Food

Animals directed by instinct to the right food — Food of the Esquimaux — Classes into which food may be divided — What kinds of food produce heat, muscle, brains — Mistakes made in eating — Infinite variety of articles adapted for food — Wheat contains all the elements of the human system — Mye valuable to persons predisposed to constipation — Qualities of Indian corn as food — Oatmeal promotes muscular and mental activity — What rice should be eaten with — What vegetables are the most nutritious — Peas more easily digested than beans — Value of potatoes, carrots, turnips, etc. — Meats as food — Pork suited for cold weather and veal for warm — Value of beefsteak — Fish said to contain food for the brain — Chickens and poultry as food — What parts are the best — Best meat in birds — What oysters are good for — Food makes the man — One of the most important discoveries ever made — What kind of breakfast for students to eat — For laborers — What every one can test for himself — What to eat before going out in the cold — What to eat in summer — All kinds of food wholesome under certain circumstances — Dr. Bellows' remarkable statement that rattlesnakes may be eaten — W^hat kinds of foods are the most digestible — How and when to eat — What suppers are the best — Dangers of nightmare — How Cornarro prolonged his life 121

Chapter VIII. Cheap Living And Economical Food

To teach art of living the greatest charity to the poor— Why American cookery is extravagant — How thousands of Frenchmen live — What may be done with ten cents a day in New York — Thoreau's experiment — Cost of keeping prisoners — What is actually needed to sustain life — Soyer's cheap soups — Value of grits or crushed wheat — Where the nutriment in wheat is — Food thrown to pigs exactly suited for children — Nutritious qualities of beans and peas — Cheapest of all food — How to cook pork and beans — Baked beans — Indian corn nutritious and cheap — Mistakes in grinding and boiling it — How to make corn bread — How to make Indian pudding — How to cook hominy — How they cook rice in Italy — How to make rice pudding without eggs — Utility of lentils — Kecipe for farmer's rice — Oatmeal said to contain the most material for hard work of any known grain — Recipe for oatmeal porridge — What are the most economical meals — Wliat is tlie best corned-beef — A cheap and excellent bee/stew — A good and economical breakfast dish — How to fry rashers of bacon and poach eggs — Eoasted ox-heart stuffed, a savory and economical dish — A genuine pepper-pot — English celebrated for cold-meat cookery — What can be done witli cold roast beef — Cold mutton — Cold veal — Cold poultry — Mixed coffees the best — Wheat and coffee afford an agreeable mixture — Peas used largely to adulterate coffee — Excellence of sturgeon, veal-cutlets, and vegetable beefsteaks 131

Chapter IX. Valuable Secrets Known To Good Cooks

Bad cooking is waste — The regret of Mrs, Warren's friend — Value of family kitchen maxims — What comprise the essential operations in cookery — How to bake meats — Should meat to be boiled be put in cold or hot water — How to boil cabbages — What is the most important thing in broiling — Sliould a beefsteak be turned once only or often — Soyer's opinion — What the French understand by frying — How to test the heat of fat in frying — What careful cooks do with their frying-fat — How to roast meat — Slow roasting the best — How veal, fowls and rabbits should be roasted — Use of covering with bacon fat — What fire is best for stewing — The proper rule for seasoning — Wash greens in warm water — What a cook should be — Cleanliness in kitchen utensils a cardinal requisite — A good cook regards appearances — How punctuality in meals can be assured— How to avoid waste — Cooking-aprons with bibs desirable — How to treat frying-pans— Few cooks can make good biscuits — How to neutralize acid in fruit pies — How to make good family bread — Marion Harland's directions— Miss Leslie's recommendation — How to make stale bread or cake fresh — Convenient uses of bread dough— Soyer's recipe for good buttered toast — How to fry ham and eggs — Blot's beef-broth and soup — How to boil eggs — How to boil potatoes — The Irish method — What may be done with cold potatoes — How to boil sweet potatoes — How to boil turnips — To make cabbage digestible — To cook onions without smell — To make maccaroni cheese — Lyman's method of cooking mackerel — Wliat good cooks do with cold veal — To boil bacon — Novel mode of making coffee — Cabbage made digestible to all — Should coffee be ground or beaten — Professor Blot's method of making tea — Soyer's plan — Hints about chocolate — How to prepare salads — Bill of fare for the sick — Food for young children — Food suited to delicate persons — Standard breakfast dishes — Sunday dinners that save cooking — Dr. Lamlort's bill of fare of brain-making food 150

Chapter X

DAINTY DISHES FOR DAINTY PALATES. 1. Domestic Cookery.

In what the art of cookery consists — Higli-class cookery — How to roast beef English style — Proper fire for roasting beef — Length of time required — How to roast canvas-back ducks — How to extract their fishy flavor — Lady St. Clair on roasting game, ducks, partridges, woodcock, etc. — How to barbecue rabbits and squirrels — To broil pigeons or squabs — Roasted guinea-fowls richer than cliickens — Harland's recipe for baking salmon-trout — How to cook brook-trout — Broiled reed birds a dainty dish — Charles Lamb on roast pig and apple-sauce — How to make mutton eat like venison — Best mode of broiling oysters on the sliell — Finest way of cooking oysters for company — How to dress chicken as terrapin — Soyer's French pot au feu — Eggs and cheese a favorite dish — Professor Blot's recipe for French omelets — Good cheap omelet — How to make a Swiss rarebit — A genuine Welsh rarebit — Good sauce for every kind of fish — The Harlem river boatmen's recipe for clam chowder — Tom Riley's clam bakes — Soyer's wholesome summer salad — French method of dressing salad — Parkinson's recipe for strawberries with orange juice — A delicious custard — Very fine cold cup custard — The queen of puddings — A pleasant fruit dessert — A delicious apple sauce — A nice breakfast dish — Dainty dish for farmers — Green-corn fritters and pudding — Buckwheat short-cakes — The nicest pie ever eaten — A rare strawberry short-cake — National French cake — An exquisite marmalade — Saratoga fried potatoes — Philadelphia fried potatoes — An exquisite mince pie —

How to make superior ice cream 179

Chapter XI. Dainty Dishes For Dainty Palates

High-class cookery — Large salaries paid to head-cooks — Expense of banquets in fashionable restaurants — Cost of flowers — Admirable arrangement of kitchens — Dinners that are marvels of culinary skill — Costly bills of i'are — A Nevada senator's bill of fare engraved on silver — Recipes of dainty dishes invented in Dehuunico's restaurant and furnished by the chief cook — A menu "or twelve persons — How to make Creme d'asperge — How to cook orook-trout — Duchesse potatoes — Fillet de boeuf, salvandy — Fillets of chickens h, I'aquitaine — Force meat — Salpicon — English snipe — Ananas a la Bayration — How to make Sorbet au kirch — Parfait au caie and numerous French and other dishes belonging to high-class cookery 206

Chapter XII. Practical Suggestions On Clothing

Chesterfield's opinion on dress — Siiakspeare's ideas on proper apparel — Buying cloth — What should be kept in view — Advantages of a frock coat — What may be made from old clothes — How to CLOTHE children — What should be worn next the skin in childliood — Clothing should be free and loose — An expensive custom in men's clothing — Advantages of laying woollen garments away a while — What suits a gentleman should have — Best goods for business suits — What should be avoided in striped trousers- Plow to cleanse broadcloths — How to treat a wet hat, or coat, or boots — How io render cloth water-proof — How to obtain easy boots or shoes — How to preserve boots and shoes — A cure for squeaking shoes — Women's clothing — Tbe first rule in buying dress goods — Advantages of chintzes and calicoes — How to choose calicoes — How to select silks — Tlie best way to test their quality — Utility of black alpaca — What style of women look well in plaids — In stripes — In flounces — In shawls — Bonnets— Selecting colors that harmonize with the complexion — What colors become blondes — Brunettes — Hints to wearers of kid gloves — How to wash chintzes and summer dresses, including buff-linen, pique, cambric — How to judge LINEN — Healthfulness of flannels — When to take off and put on flannels — Proper method of washing flannels — Washing clothes made easy — Advantages of refined borax — How to preserve the lustre of silks — How to protect woollens, furs, etc., from moths — The test of good furs 216

Chapter XIII. The Secrets Of The Toilet

Cleanliness a test of civilization — The two great enemies of beauty of form — How to reduce corpulence — Excessive corpulence is a disease — Stock-raisers know how to fatten or reduce flesh in animals — Banting's experiments in reducing corpulency — What he was allowed to eat and what was forbidden — The efiect in a year — How ladies may reduce excessive development of the breast — Sir James Clark's advice for increasing its development — How to cure leanness — What to eat and drink — Beauty of complexion — Importance of keeping the pores of the skin open — Cosmetics that are not injurious — What to do to prevent sunburn — How to cure freckles — Recipe for removing tan and sunburn — How to remove birth marks and moles — To prevent wrinkles — Eecipe for curing tetter — A novel cure for ringworm — The hair — Favorite colors — Kules for securing a beautiful head of hair — How baldness may be cured — A wash for dandruff" — How to darken the hair — How to secure beautiful eye-lashes — Hands and nails — Wearing kid gloves improves the appearance of the hands — What water should be used for washing and why — How to treat the nails — Cures for chapped hands — Best ointment for the hands — How to remove warts — Caee op THE EYES — When to use spectacles — Best remedies for inflamed eyes — How to remove cinders from the eye — Squinting may be cured — White veils injurious — How to preserve the teeth — What to do to avoid having decayed teeth — A safe tooth-powder — Infallible cures for tootliache and faceache — Bad breath — Causes of offensive breaths — Best remedy for bad breath — How the taint of onions may be removed — Care of the feet — How to keep feet in good condition — Remedy for tender feet — Treatment of chilblains — Astley Cooper's remedy — To relieve feet itching from frost bites — How to prevent frosted feet — A remedy for cold feet — Cures for ingrowing nails — Proper ways of cutting nails — Causes of fetid feet — Cures for odorous feet — Corns and bunions — Origin of, and how they may be speedily cured — Corns cured in ten minutes — A capital ointment for bunions — How to reinove body vermin — Peculiarities of these insects — Simple remedies for their speedy destniction — How to drive away roaches — How to banish flies from a room and from horses, etc. — Bedbug exterminators — How to destroy rats — Humphrey Davy's infallible rat poison — How to drive them away alive — What ants do not like — How to banisli_/Zea from houses and from animals — How to get relief from musgiiiloes — What a smart editor does — Kemedies for bites of insects 240

Chapter XIV. The Family Medicine Chest

Sickness one ot the great burdens of society — The best room for a sick-room — Advantage of sun-light — Well-aired bedding essential — Best night-light — How to purify the air in a sick-room — Dr. Smytlie's recipe for preventing infection — Colds and coughs — Treatment recommended by the regulars — What Dio Lewis recommends — How to avoid taking cold — Sir Astley Cooper's preventive — The best and cheapest cough-syrup ever made — Dr. Chevasse's advice not to stop a cough in children — Asthma — A cheap palliative — Dr. Finley's prescription — What has cured asthma and ■what is considered a specific — Ague — Dr. Chase's prescription — A novel cure for ague — How to prevent fever and ague — Experience of the French Creole planters — How to prevent bleeding from the nose — How to arrest bleeding from the lungs — A cheap blood-purifier — A remedy for bruises and black eyes — Remedy for pinched fingers — Cure for chilblains and frosted feet — Proper treatment for diarrhoea — Hints for travellers — Dr. Locock's remedy for dysentery — Warm bath recommended — Raw minced beef found effective — ■ Dyspepsia or indigestion — What is the first essential element in the cure — Secret of the New York doctor who charged five htmdred dollars for each case — Voltaire's remedy — HowMrs.Swisshelm cured her dyspepsia — A remedy for the indigestion resulting from overeating — Earache and deafness — Best treatment for removing concreted wax — Several remedies for erysipelas — What to do when a person faints — How to cure a felon in six hours — Recipe for felon ointment that lias been sold for ten dollars — Remedies for headache — How to cure heartburn or waterbrash — Remedies for hysterical fits and nervousness — Preliminary treatment of pleurisy — Relief for liver complaint — The most successful treatment for piles — Dr. Hariman's sure cure for blind or bleeding piles — Remedies for sore throat — The best gargle — Smoking muUen leaves recommended — Smal'l-pox or variola — A Californian's remarkable statement — Dr. Getchell's opinion that sraall-pox may be utterly exterminated — How to prevent 'pitting in small-pox — What a person should do who has been bitten by an animal supposed to have been rabid — A cure for scrofula — Sprains — A French remedy for sea-sickness — Simple remedy for curing ringworm and barbell's itch — How to prevent curvature of the spine — Uses of cold water in disease — Value of alcohol as a medicine — Opinions of Surgeon-General Hammond and Mrs. Swisshelm — Why ammonia should be kept in the house — What may be done with chlorate of potash , 266

Chapter XV. Childeen And Their Diseases

Macaulay's remark — Healthy children a monument of their parents' thrift — Proper food for infants — Dr. C!ombe's observation — Dr. Clarke on animal food — When should an infant be spoon-fed — Advice to sucklitig mothers — The proper period for weaning a child — Good pap for infants — A good breakfast dish for infants of twelve months old — Good porridge — What to do when a baby cries — Character of the cry indicative of the nature of the trouble — Cry of earache — Bowel-ache — Bronchitis — Croupy cry — When tears are a favorable indication in illness — Proper treatment of infants — Treatment during teething — Importance of fenders around a stove in nursery — Cause of weak ankles and curved legs — Proper clothing for infants— Infantile diseases — Remedy for red gum — For vomiting — How thread-worms may be removed — The best vermifuges — Value of onions — Diseases of the mouth — Treatment of convulsions or fits — What to do in remittent fever — Croup — Promptness in treatment essential — An English doctor's recommendation — What to do for child-crowing or spurious croup — Measles — Little medicine required — The nurse more important than the doctor — Mumps — Treatment for — How they may be removed in four or five days — Palliatives for whooping-cough — Dr. Dailey's prescription — A remedy for soreness in the chest — Dr. Delamere's quick cure for whooping-cough — When a change of air is beneficial — W^hat to do in clu)lera-morbus or summer complaint — How to treat diarrhoea in children — A specific for all bowel complaints — Dr. Newell's treatment of diphtheria — How two hundred and ninety-three cases were treated without losing a single patient — Instant relief for

EARACHE — How to treat burns, scalds, etc. — Kecipe to cure itching feet from frost-bites — Cheap cure for tlie itch — Dr. Chase's ointment for the seven years' itch — Dr. Bird's prescription — Cure for tetter — A remedy for hiccouc/h — Scarlet fever — How to distinguish scarlatina from other eruptive diseases — Dr. Chevasse's treatment of scarlet fever — Best external application for the throat — What he regards as a specific for scai-let fever — Food to be eaten in scarlet fever — Gartland's scarle* fever disinfectant 305

Chapter XVI. Sleep And Its Appliances

Napoleon's remark on sleep and death — Shakspeare's beautiful tribute to sleep — What is the proper length of time to sleep — For children — -For adults — For women and students — What kind of BED is best — Dr. Strange's opinion — What is the best mattress, and which the cheapest and most economical — Domestic mattresses — Best springs to put under mattresses — Best covering for beds — Blankets — Treatment of — How to wash blankets — Cotton sheets preferable to linen — Best pillow-slips — How to sweeten sheets — Hair pillows better than feathers — How to ventilate sleeping apartments — A doctor's objection to the present method — How long should bed-room windows remain open — Fires in bed-rooms — What can be done to produce sleep — Which side is best to sleep on — Sleeping on the back — Should food betaken just before going to bed — What Dr. Strange recommends — Digestion goes on during sleep — A nap after dinner recommended — Coffee and tea for supper considered — What narcotics are unobjectionable — Onions soporific — Franklin's art of procuring sleep — Two beds are recommended for invalids — When all rules for procuring sleep will fail 333