It would be easy to show, too, did space permit, what ample scope there is for the application of sanitary science in the storeroom, as well as the true hygienic inwardness of frequent coats of limewash in larder and scullery, not to mention the worth of impervious coverings to their wall surfaces and shelves. This suggests the inquiry: How many women to-day are versed in the external tests, simple as some of them are, which can be applied to tins containing foodstuffs, with the object of gauging the quality of their contents; or who among our ordinary housewives understands the reasons for the employment of reliable, domestic methods of preserving the contents of the larder, such as sterilisation by the use of heat, or why fat, sugar, salt, or vinegar are preferable to the seductive yet questionable chemicals, so attractive to the producer and purveyor of provisions?
A better understanding of the relation of sanitary science to daily life would also facilitate some of the painful steps which must inevitably be taken, in order to bridge the gulf set between the feudal methods of the past and the modern problems of domestic service. That the isolation from her kind of a “general” servant predisposes to anæmia is stated as a fact on good authority, but it is certainly not generally known. That absence of opportunity for recreation or social intercourse has led and may lead again to deception, if not 290 to worse, is recognised unwillingly, if at all. That human nature is physiologically similar, however diverse its external appearance and standards, is very hard to realise or to act upon; so the fact that suitable provision for bathing and wholesome sleep by dependents is not always made, is apt to be ignored on economic grounds; and the resultant complications are assigned to any but their real cause.
The solution of another of the acute problems of the day depends upon the women also of this country. I refer to the character of the influence, an influence of the most intimate, to which young children are subjected during infancy. In addition to vulgarities of conduct or enunciation, actual moral harm may be suffered from want of care in the choice of a child’s attendant. Bad habits, impossible to eradicate, are to be traced to this source only. Their hygienic import calls for no further stress. Their prevention rests entirely with the child’s parents.
Another illustration of the need for a better acquaintance with hygiene is found in the general custom of entrusting the preparation and care of the daily diet to empirically prepared, ill-informed, young women. Ascertained facts in connection with, for instance, “typhoid carriers”[126] should have surely created almost a panic in the households of England; but it is rare to learn that even one mistress has inquired into the personal 291 habits of her cook, or that she has concerned herself personally in the cultivation of most careful attention to necessary hand-washing by her household. A mere tyro in sanitary science would take warning and be on her guard against this and other disgusting and preventable sources of domestic infection.
Finally, the protective function of the home must not be allowed to obscure the educational and social. It is the right of all children to be trained in habits of social, as well as of family, sanitary service. Very early the love of ceaseless doing, by which these little people are distinguished, can be taken hold of as an agent in this department of education. Habits of neatness and order, of kindness and ready help, of self-sacrifice and self-control, become lifelong in their persistence and develop a physical as well as moral conscience which makes for public health. But, without appropriate stimulus this interest in others, this sense of civic obligation, remains in abeyance. Therefore girls should be encouraged in the educational practice of the domestic arts about the age of thirteen or fourteen; though instruction in the care of children may be postponed for a year or two. Always it should precede marriage and be adapted to the prospective social sphere of the pupils. It would be advantageous to foster the interest of boys in social sanitation by the introduction of some equivalent training into their curriculum.
Enough has been said to show that knowledge 292 of household administration must soon become an indispensable qualification for any woman who undertakes the charge of human lives, whether it be as wife or guardian, as official or philanthropist, as physician or educator, as head of an institution (such as orphanage, asylum, hospital or prison), or as almoner of public funds. To be practical and influential this comprehensive subject must be systematically acquired and securely based; it must be accorded the support of men, and it must receive the recognition due to its imperial importance. Thus sustained and fortified, acquaintance with all that is comprehended in the domestic administration for good of human lives will lead our women to redeem their many shortcomings in the past, and will stimulate them to assume with courageous confidence their weighty responsibilities in the present and future.
Whether prepared or not for their discharge, these responsibilities cannot be evaded. Upon their capable fulfilment depend human health and happiness. “Health and good estate of body are above all gold,” said Ecclesiasticus, “and a strong body above infinite wealth.” Seen in its true light this great, beautiful, responsible work becomes the highest form of consecrated service to the Source of all Life and to the Giver of all those good things which humanity is intended richly to enjoy.
FOOTNOTES:
“Darwinism and Human Life,” by J. Arthur Thomson, M.A., &c. (Andrew Melrose.)