Housekeeper.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 451, 8 December 1904, Page 7

Housekeeper.

TIGHT UNDER GARMENTS. MANY mothers and nurses who are careful to supply the growing children with garments of sufficient size for day wear, are careless as to the fit of the night clothes. This is a serious error. Considering the attitudes which children assume during .sleep, it should be clear to all that anything which cramps the chest and limbs is detrimental to free breathing and growth. A tight collar-band is especially harmful, and in fact dangerous. It should be remembered also that there is greater warmth from loose than from tight clothing. LOTION FOR THE ..';.- To four parts of glycerine add one part of tartaric acid, dissolved in the smallest possible quantity of hot water. Mix we'll, apply a few drops to the hands, and rub in thoroughly. If hands are badly chapptid use more of the lotion, rubbing in thoroughly. Wash, in clean, luke-warm water, dry well, and apply a little more. Applied immediately after peeling fruit or vegetables, it will remove stains at once. When hands are badly stained, treat as if badly chapped. This lotion will remove ink. stains from goods, if spots are immediately put to soak in a little of the liquid, and afterwards washed in clear, lukewarm water. The process must be repeated several times, RAPID FALL OF THE HAIR. Although there are certain general rules which may be followed in the treatment of the falling of the hair, nearly every case has individual peculiarities, which require special study and prescription accordingly. It is a great mistake to have a lotion which has been recommended in the correspondence columns to someone else, made up haphazard, and then to expect a rapid cure. Ten chances to one the prescription may be unsuitable. The fall of the hair may be due in one case to a want of sufficient secretion of natural oil in the glands. An emollient lotion is generally required to supply this lack of nourishment. In another caso. the fall is caused by oversecretion of fatty matter, and in such an instance the method adopted for cure would be entirety different. After an illness, the hair nearly always falls m large quantities, and internal treatment is then more important than external applications. The hair frequently falls during the spring and autumn seasons, and when the scalp is otherwise healthy, the daily application of a simple stimulative wash will generally effect a remedy. One of the best known hair tonics is that recommended by Sir Eramus Wilson : Oi' of rosemary, half drachm ; oil of lavender, half drachm; tincture of cantharides,. six drachms ; eau de Cologne, six ounces. It should be rubbed well into the roots of the hair with a small sponge. Another tonic, perhaps equally efficacious, and especially suitable for hair which has lost its tone and vigour, is composed as follows : Sulphate of quinine, eight grains ; tincture of cantharides, one and a half drachms : tincture of rhatany, two and a half drachms; spirit of lavender, one ounce; glycerine, one ounce; rectified spirit of wine, eight ounces. CHARACTER TRAINING. To cure a fault in one's character requires long years of patient endeavour, for it is no easy thing to uproot such cankers as jealousy, selfishness, etc., that have possibly been allowed to prevail unchecked for years and years. The selfish child is a reproach to its parents, for, more often than not, it is soma fault in the bringing up that has encouraged—unintentionally, be it understood —the undesirable quality. An only child is very apt to be spoiled, for affection easily runs to weakness, and the little life is so precious that commonsense and wisdom in the bringing up are often sacrif ced to the desire to give momentary happiness. But then as the child grows older its faults are realised, and he or she, as the case may be, is held responsible, for selfishness or other faults of character that, maybe, have be fostered in early youth, until they have obtained too strong a hold upon the individual to be easily, checked. In training to cure selfishness and become more thoughtful for others, it is a simple and ffood plan, whether applied to children or grown ups, to do some little thing every day will be helpful to somebody else. It may be a penny to a beggar, a sympathetic letter to a friend, a visit to a children's hospital, some crumbs of bread to the birds, the driving away of sad thoughts and bringing back the smile of peace or cheer to the mind-sufferer^—any little acts such as these that will give happiness to others, are an excellent treatment, to begin with for the cure of selfishness and encouragement of tenderness of character. There are so many people who know they are selfish and complain of their usalessness in the world and settle down to the facts without attempting to alter them. ' What can I do to help others without the aid of money?' So many of them say, whose hearts are really kind and touched by th struggles around, but who do not proper appreciate the value of a sympathetic word or act. No one with intelligence need be useless. There is always some good work to be done among the needy, apart from money giving. A helping hand here and there, in the home or outside it, the right word spoken at the right moment —how much they mean i The first little lesson of the thoughtless or selfish child—for selfishness is often mero thoughtlessness—might be simply to take daily charge of the dog's trough in the hall, to water the flowers, or' perform, with regularity, some simplo little duty of the kind.