The Household.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1600, 7 August 1874, Page 313

The Household.

Cure for Hooping-Cough.— lt is a common practice in France to bring children affected with the hooping-cough to a gas factory to respire the air there. Dr. Massola has shown that it is the infusoria in the atmosphere that causes the paroxysm, and by taking prepared carbolic acid jujubes the spasms in the second stage of the cough are completely allayed. Growth of Character.— Many people seem to forget that character grows ; that it is not something to put on ready made with womanhood or manhood ; but, day by day, here a little and there a little, it grows with the growth and strengthen with the strength, until, good or bad, it becomes almost a coat of mail. Look at the. man of business—prompt, reliable, clearheaded,, and energetic. When do you suppose ho developed all these admirable qualities 1 When he was a boy, wc reply. Let us see the way in -which a boy of ten gets up in the morning, plays, studies, and we will tell you just what kind of man he will make. The boy who is late at breakfast and late at school stands a poor chance to be a prompt man. The boy who neglects his duties, be they ever so small, and excuses himself by saying, “I forgot, I didn’t know,” will never be a reliable man. And the boy who finds pleasure in the suffering of weaker things will never be a noble, generous, kindly man—a gentleman.

Dangers of Wet Coal.— People who prefer wetting the winter’s store of coals to lay the dust on putting it in their cellars do not, we believe, generally know that they are laying up for themselves a store of sore throats and other evils consequent on the practice. But so it is said to be. Even the fire damp which escapes from coal mines arises from the slow decomposition of coal at temperatures a little above that of the atmosphere, but under augmented pressure. By wetting a mass of freshly-broken coal, anti putting it into a warm cellar, the mass is heated to such a degree that carburettcd and sulphuretted hydrogen arc given off for long periods of time and pervade the whole house. The liability of wet coal to mischievous results under such circumstances may be appreciated from the circumstance that there are several instances on record of spontaneous combustion of wet coal when stowed in the bunkers or holds of vessels. And from this cause, doubtless, missing coal vessels have perished.— London Medical Record.

On Dancing.— Dancing, says the Victoria Magazine, is, perhaps the oldest amusement in the world, and too natural not to outlive all opposition, yet, while we often hear it disparaged, wc scarcely ever hear it defended for its extreme reasonableness. A small book, entitled “ Dancing in a Bight Spirit,” is the only attempt of the kind I have ever met with, but the author has greatly limited himself by considering the question in one direction only, Whilst very rightly and sensibly reminding us how dancing was a religious pastime among the Jews, and how it is nowhere forbidden, but rather commended in the Bible, he leaves untouched any consideration apart from the Bible, and much may be said in favor of dancing from, an artistic point of view. As beauty of color to the eye, as sweet sounds to the cars, so is the luxury of quick easy motion to the healthy frame. All young things delight to skip and dunce. When it hears quick lively music the child must dance ; it is an irresistible, spontaneous instinct, as much as to use its young voice and shout and laugh and sing out its merriment. It is the first praise of the child to its Creator. By enjoying the life he gives it the child unwittingly, unconsciously, praises Him in its bright, swift motion, as hereafter it will do consciously, and in a maturcr form by the life it will lead to His glory. So in the childhood of mankind, men danced before God in the full joy of their hearts. It was a kind of praise to God from these children of the earth’s early days, and as much the right and natural mode for them to express praise, as it is now the right and natural mode for children to enjoy themselves. Whatever gives ug highest enjoyment is most appropriately connected with religion; and as physical enjoyment comes before mental, dancing formed a part of religious ceremonies before more recondite rituals or more abstract ideas superseded. When that time came dancing slipped out of the religious sphere. And not only that, but in process of time a grim theology, which would banish all cheerfulness from life, did its belt to condemn dancing, together with many other innocent and natural amusements, as sins. But such gloomy views of things arc too unnatural to retain the world in their bondage, so dancing is still an enjoyment to thousands; and when nature’s preeminent right of guidance is more and more recognized, dancing will assume its place among the arts which add beauty and joy to our lives, and though no longer amongst'the rites of religion, will, far (from being considered hurtful to the religious sentiment, be seen to be a furtherance thereof, in the same manner as are painting, music, and all other branches of the joyous and beautiful.