Cleanliness

“ One may be clean superficially, that is one may scrub enough and yet vitally be very far from clean. We know, although it is of the greatest assistance to keep the skin free and vigorous so that it is able to do its part of the house-cleaning work for our systems, that vital cleanliness, clean, strong, internal organs performing their work with the vigor of well-constructed engines, uninjured [150] by foolish clothing, unharmed by impure food, keen for opportunity to grow and be vigorous—we know, I say that that cleanliness is more important than skin cleanliness. ”

“ From this it appears that persons attentive to the cleanliness of their bodies and habitations are, in general, more healthy, and less subject to disease, than those who live in filth and nastiness; and it is further remarked, that cleanliness carries with it, throughout all the branches of domestic administration, habits of order and arrangement, which are the chief means and first elements of happiness. ”

“ Cleanliness, as well in dress as in residence, obviates the pernicious effects of the humidity, baneful odors, and contagious exhalations, proceeding from all things abandoned to putrefaction. Cleanliness, maintains free transpiration; it renews the air, refreshes the blood, and disposes even the mind to cheerfulness. ”

“ Having taken my resolution to make the COMFORT of the poor people, who were to be provided for, the primary object of my attention, I considered what circumstance in life, after the necessaries, food and raiment, contributes most to comfort, and I found it to be CLEANLINESS. And so very extensive is the influence of cleanliness, that it reaches even to the brute creation. ”

“ At any rate, the man or woman who demands cleanliness without and within, this cleanliness meaning pure air, pure water, pure food, must of necessity have a stronger body and therefore a clearer mind (both being nearer what God meant for body and mind) than the one who has cared little for law, and so lived oblivious to the consequences of breaking it. ”

“ Cleanliness! Who does not know human beings, especially women, who make a great virtue of cleanliness? Who does not know the various phrases of this cleanliness, which have no limit whatever when it is procured by the labour of others? Who among self-made men has not experienced in his own person the pains with which he carefully accustomed himself to this cleanliness, which illustrates the saying, “White hands are fond of another's labour”?
To-day cleanliness consists in changing one's shirt daily ”

“ One of the mottoes on our walls was “Cleanliness is next to Godliness,” and under it printed in large type was the remark of Sir 379B. W. Richardson: “Cleanliness covers the whole field of sanitary labor. Cleanliness, that is purity of air; cleanliness, that is purity of water; cleanliness in and around the house; cleanliness of person; cleanliness of dress; cleanliness of food and feeding; cleanliness in work; cleanliness in the habits of the individual man and woman; cleanliness of life and conversation, purity of life, temperance, all these are in man’s power.” ”

“ They spend their time in washing their hands, but with the most transient gain of cleanliness. No one knows how filthy London is till he begins to notice how much longer window-curtains, household draperies, and personal linen keep clean in the country. I should not like to be called an old maid, but I confess to an old-maidish care for cleanliness. ”

“ We should therefore always insist upon the degree of cleanliness which we understand to promote the greatest possible prevention and dilution of filth, as our hygienic aim; and we shall furthermore do well, if we remove not only from our houses, but from the neighborhood, and keep removed, all that seems to us to be dirt, and offends our innate æsthetic feelings. ”

“ XI. CLEANLINESS. Both the health and comfort of a family depend, to a great extent, on cleanliness of the person and the family surroundings. True cleanliness of person involves the scientific treatment of the skin. This is the most complicated organ of the body, and one through which the health is affected more than through any other; and no persons can or will he be so likely to take proper care of it as those by whom its construction and functions are understood. ”

“ Cleanliness is also of much importance—a bath taken each morning in moderately cold water being conducive to health, not only as regards consumption but other diseases as well. It is of course necessary that dwelling houses should be kept thoroughly clean. ”

“ I feel the uselessness, of impressing upon the people the advantages of cleanliness, when such drawbacks as I have mentioned come to the assistance of their naturally dirty habits.”
“In this eight-roomed house forty people, men, women and children, live. ”

“ We are sorry to say, that the importance of general cleanliness does not seem to be sufficiently understood by the magistrates of most great towns in Britain; though health, pleasure, and delicacy, all conspire to recommend an attention to it. Nothing 102can be more agreeable to the senses, more to the honour of the inhabitants, or more conducive to their health, than a clean town; nor can any thing impress a stranger with a more disrespectful idea of any people than its opposite. ”

“ Q. Of what use is cleanliness to man?
A. It preserves his health and virtue; it clears his understanding, and encourages him to activity; it procures him the esteem of others; and none but clean people can be really cheerful and happy. ”

“ Farmers and miners, perhaps more than any other class of laborers, who are continually in contact with the earth, need the elevating influence, physical and spiritual, of a daily bath.
From a moral and hygienic standpoint the matter of cleanliness, which is next to godliness, is of great importance, and it is fine evidence of intellectual progress and spiritual growth when men use more water and soap at the end of the day’s work. ”

“ A thorough cleanliness in your person is as necessary for your own health, as it is not to be offensive to other people. Washing yourself, and rubbing your body and limbs frequently with a fleshbrush, will conduce as much to health as to cleanliness. A particular attention to the cleanliness of your mouth, teeth, hands, and nails, is but common decency, in order not to offend people’s eyes and noses.
I send you here inclosed a letter of recommendation to the Duke of Nivernois, the French Ambassador at Rome; who is, in my opinion, one of the prettiest men I ever knew in my life. ”

“ But while we have improved the hygienic condition of our cities and dwellings; while we as a rule clothe our bodies according to the principles of sanitary science and common sense; and while cleanliness of person has become the rule, and filthiness the exception, we have made little or no progress in the hygienic management of those organs which place us in relation with the world, and a healthy condition of which is so essential to our happiness. ”

“ Personal cleanliness is irksome enough with every convenience for washing and bathing. When there is no convenience except a wash basin and a quart or two of hot water, habitual cleanliness is practically impossible. ”

“ The cottage where the heroine of the 'nice' book lives is always spotlessly clean. A foreigner who adopts the bath-habit, is said to be just like an Englishman. It is the highest praise he can earn, and will go further in English society than the best introductions.
CLEANLINESS
Cleanliness is our greatest class-symbol. In living with people who have been brought up to different ways of life, a consideration of cleanliness is forced upon one; for nothing else rouses so instantaneously and violently the latent snobbery that one would fain be rid of. ”

“ In the matter of frequent bathing to maintain personal cleanliness; the popularity, with both old and young, of our fine hot and cold, plunge, swimming and shower baths, free to all, which are kept open in connection with the laundry; proves conclusively, that the habit of cleanliness, like all other habits, is the result of environment ”

“ Frequent washings with cold water, with the occasional use of warm water and soap, are absolutely necessary to cleanliness.
4. Change of Linen.
A frequent change of linen is another essential of cleanliness. It avails little to wash the body if we inclose it the next minute in soiled garments. It is not in the power of every one to wear fine and elegant clothes, but we can all, under ordinary circumstances, afford clean shirts, drawers, and stockings. Never sleep in any garment worn during the day; and your night-dress should be well aired every morning. ”

“ CARE OF THE PERSON
It is happily the case that in America the importance of personal cleanliness is more thoroughly understood, and is more generally practiced than any of the other important hygienic procedures. ”

“ I use the word nursing for want of a better. It has been limited to signify little more than the administration of medicines and the application of poultices. It ought to signify the proper use of fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and the proper selection and administration of diet—all at the least expense of vital power to the patient. ”

“ Doctors differ like the rest of us, but there is a broad general ground of agreement upon which we can all go, namely, that cleanliness, in its widest sense, including pure air, food, and water; plain, easily-digested, nourishing food; with rest and exercise in proper proportion, are the main essentials for right living, and so furnish the key to the problem. ”

“ Nature is stored habit, and she feels outraged when her proprieties are disregarded. Let us pray, therefore, that the habit of cleanliness may become contagious!
Now, the parallel between external and internal cleanliness is quite obvious. Those whose bowels move but once in two or three days do not realize how foul they are. Others have a scant evacuation once in twenty-four hours, and they imagine that they are as clean as those that take an external bath once a week think themselves to be. ”

“ Females, [Pg 410] of course, would be in attendance to wait on those that frequent the bath rooms. Quite a number are employed at water-cure establishments, which are open for patients at all seasons of the year. Not only does cleanliness promote comfort, but it is conducive to health. Many of the diseases of the poor arise from a want of cleanliness. ”

“ While cleanliness is regarded as one of the cardinal virtues, it has an even higher standing as the first requisite to health. On the sultriest of summer days the foreign visitor may find himself in the most densely packed crowd imaginable. ”

“ One of the things which interested him most was the subject of cleanliness. People living in the manner to which they were accustomed, made the sanitary part of the domestic arrangement an exceedingly difficult problem. ”

“ The inculcation of habits of personal cleanliness cannot be too forcibly emphasized. The fact, however, cannot be overlooked, that in order to introduce habits of cleanliness amongst the poorer classes, a plentiful supply of water, combined with cheap baths, are requisite. ”

“ Again, it keeps the body in a state of perfect cleanliness, which is so essential to robust health; but these are not its only virtues—it promotes purity of mind and morals. The man who is accustomed to be physically clean shrinks instinctively from all contact with uncleanliness. ”

“ There is no question that cleanliness and fresh air may be considered as minor aids to goodness, and a dangerous outbreak of insubordination may sometimes be averted by hastily suggesting to the little rebel a run in the garden, prefaced by a thorough application of cool water to the flushed face and little clenched hands; while self-respect may often be restored by the donning of a clean apron.
Beauty of surroundings is another incentive to harmony of action. ”

“ I might observe further, that as cleanliness renders us agreeable to others, so it makes it easy to ourselves; that it is an excellent preservative of health; and that several vices, destructive both to mind and body, are inconsistent with the habit of it. ”

“ A gradual improvement is, however, taking place in these matters, and the cleanliness as regards the body and their houses, which is such a pleasing feature of the people, will no doubt extend in other directions also. ”

“ If dirty people cannot be removed as a common nuisance, they ought at least to be avoided as infectious. All who regard their health, should keep at a distance, even from their habitations.
2122. In places where great numbers of people are collected, cleanliness becomes of the utmost importance. ”

“ The importance of cleanliness, in person and dress, can never be fully realized, by persons who are ignorant of the construction of the skin, and of the influence which its treatment has on the health of the body. ”

“ Dirt and impurity have till now been somewhat indefinite conceptions. We use the terms whenever our innate or cultivated sense of cleanliness is unpleasantly affected; they are generally called out by impressions on our sense of smell, taste, or sight. What we call cleanliness plays an important part in daily life, in a similar manner to that which conscience, the sense of right and wrong, partly innate, partly inculcated, plays in our moral life. ”

“ The thoughtless and comfortable have a way of saying: "The poor might at least be clean." But cleanliness is a LUXURY; it demands leisure and peace of mind, as well as bathtub, soap, hot water and good plumbing. The very poor cannot be clean. ”

“ Cleanliness of the person, of the bedding, and of the house in which the patient resides, the prompt removal of all refuse animal or vegetable matter, whether within or around the premises, and allowing the infant to remain a considerable part of the day in shaded localities where the air is pure, as in the parks or suburbs of the city, are important measures. ”