OCR Text |
Show Little Duties. There are certain duties which we owe both to ourselves and others. Little habits of cleanliness pay for the trouble of cultivating them; for health depends upon them. If one is accustomed to complete change in the day and night garments, and neatly folds and lays them in a wardrobe, closing doors and windows to exclude dust and flies, or, as is often done, put the night attire under the pillow of the owner, what has been done to prevent injury to the health? Nothing. Is it any great trouble on retiring to hang the garments, as they are put off, one by one, where they will be thoroughly dried and aired? It will not take five minutes extra time. Leave the party, the ball or social converse by the fireside five minutes earlier, if too tired to attend to this duty properly. And in the morning don't be late to breakfast - that's bad; but even in that departure from good breeding is less reprehensible than to throw the nightclothes in a heap, leave the bed unaired and the windows unopened. Rise five minutes earlier, if need be; hang up the nightclothes where they will have the full benefit of the pure fresh morning air; raise the windows; throw off the bed-clothes, hanging them loosely over chairs; put the pillows in full range of the windows, and pull the mattress over the footboard, and go to breakfast with a clear conscience. Everything is kept in order by the performance of small duties. |