Pillowcase

“ The bed-clothes of the affected persons, as well as the pillowcases, should be frequently renewed, the latter every day, since they collect and disseminate the discharges falling on them from the patient. ”

“ For the girl who has a window seat in a room and wants to keep her room dainty and bright there is [375] nothing as pretty as the lingerie pillow. It may be made of heavy white linen or lawn as you desire and can be oblong, round or square. The cushion is covered in any colour that you prefer and the white top embroidered with large eyelets, Roman cut work, Hardanger or drawn work so that the colour will appear through the openings. Some of the handsomest imported pillows have motifs of real Filet, Irish Crochet or Cluny lace. These motifs are very expensive and not really necessary. ”

“ She pulled the slender gold chain of her night lamp; instantly the large white pillows were bathed in a warm pink glow—she studied the effect very carefully, then added a lingerie pillow to the two more formal ones, kicked off her slippers and hopped into bed. One more glance at the pillows, then she arranged the ribbons of her negligee to fall “carelessly” outside the coverlet, threw one arm gracefully above her head, half-closed her eyes, and sank languidly back against her pillows. ”

“ The dress of women in labor should be light and simple, both to keep themselves from being overheated, and to prevent anything from being in the way of what assistance is necessary. In addition to the means recommended, I direct a sheet to be placed around the waist of the woman, to prevent the blood, excrements or waters from coming in contact with the linen or clothes, and, as much as possible, the bed; her linen may be tucked or pushed up so far that there will be no necessity of a removal after delivery. ”

“ The principal point to be attended to at this period, with regard to dress, is to leave the clothing so loose that the infant may have the fullest use of all its joints, and room for the development of its organs. The head should be covered only with a very thin cap, or better still, not covered at all, and the pillow on which it rests should not be so soft as to allow the head to sink in it, and thus promote perspiration. ”

“ Shutting the door with his elbow, as he flew through it, pushing me before him, he cast off, more rapidly by far than I can relate it, his green blanket garment, then his coat, then an outer waistcoat, which last he flung on the table before me along with the bowie-knife saying, “Strayinger!—no words—oblige me by unripping that parcel as fast as you can;” pointing to a flat package of something, like a diminutive pillow, about eight inches by five, enclosed in a bandana silk handkerchief, which was neatly sown by a hundred small stitches to the inside of the waistcoat behind. ”

“ In the system of under-clothing which I advocate, and which is illustrated by the above figure, combinations should be worn next to the skin; or, if the objection to these, which I spoke of on p. 131, is raised, a vest of woven wool, coming well down over the hips, may be worn next the skin, and drawers, either of the same material or of flannel, can be buttoned on to the bodice. The thickness of the material of which this and all the other garments are made can, of course, be varied to suit the temperature of the air. ”

“ Just as it is desirable, in the interests of health, that wool should be used exclusively for clothing during the day, so it is that the surroundings of the body during the night should be of wool, and the bed or mattrass, being, as it is generally supposed to be, stuffed with hair, wool, or feathers, should be cased in woollen material. ”

“ Meanwhile others have been busy making the new garments in which the body is to be dressed. Every part of the garments and the fittings of the casket must be new, the mattress, blanket, pillow, overcoat, coat, waistcoat, trousers, socks, wristlets, leggings, head-band and all. ”

“ For myself, I shall take an extra suit of underwear and another flannel shirt, a pair of stockings, a rubber cape of lightest weight that falls below the knees, slippers, a shaving-kit and brushes. I shall wash my linen at night and hang it from my window, where it shall wave like an admiral's flag to show that I sleep upon the premises. ”

“ Clothing should be warm, but not heavy; it should allow free transpiration, so that the breathing action of the skin may not be impaired, and it should be absorbent of moisture. All these conditions are fulfilled by wool; but the exactly opposite characteristics are possessed by those cotton and linen materials of which infants' clothing is, on the present system, chiefly constructed. Further, clothing must not hinder any of the natural or acquired movements of the body. ”

“ All kinds of underwear, whether of wool or other material, should be loose about the body. It is a great mistake to have it too tight. There should always be a considerable layer of air between the clothing and the skin. This layer is warmed by the blood at the surface of the body, and as air is a bad conductor of heat, even in the case of underwear not so thick as wool, if such clothing is worn somewhat loosely about the body and is porous, we shall not feel cold. ”

“ For the maintenance of the existing fashions of female head dressing, this kind of pillow is essential to women at least, as their hair, which is only dressed at intervals of days, and which is kept in its shape by the abundant use of bandoline, would be crushed and disfigured if lain upon for a moment. ”

“ The pillow-bere has always been an object of luxury, a custom not yet extinct in France, where the "taies d'oreiller, brodées aux armes," and trimmed with a rich point, form an important feature in a modern trousseau. ”

“ The women and men always wear a night-dress when in bed, generally consisting of a wrapping gown and a quilted jacket; for the coverlet, being wadded with cotton, and about one inch thick, does not, from its stiffness, keep in the warmth sufficiently—the sheet, moreover, is sewed to it ”

“ Originally, in the time of our savage ancestors, clothing was worn chiefly as protection from cold at night, so that all the earlier forms of clothing were of a more or less blanket-or cloak-like form, and wrapped, or swathed, the whole body without fitting closely to the limbs. It is interesting to remember this fact, because even our most highly civilized forms of clothing still show this same tendency. The skirt, for instance, is simply a survival of the lower end of the blanket, which has never been cut down to fit the limbs. ”

“ Her pillows may be flat and hot, her hair uncomfortable, her under sheet wrinkled or untucked from the bottom; all these and a dozen more little things can be arranged so easily, and they conduce so much to the sick one's comfort when done, that you must ever have them in your mind. ”

“ Dear Sir:—I have great pleasure in expressing my entire approval of your underwear. It affords a better protection to the body in our variable climate than any kind of flannel in use. Nothing but wool is fit to maintain the capillary circulation of the skin, preserve warmth and promote insensible perspiration, without which good health impossible. I find your garments invaluable in the treatment of lung complaints, and recommend them to all my patients. ”

“ Both pillows and mattress should be taken to pieces once a year, and their contents well ventilated by exposure to the air. When a child is ricketty, weak in the neck, inclined to stoop, or at all crooked, a pillow is best dispensed with. Cotton sheets have two advantages over linen ones—they are more absorbent, and feel less cold. In cases of sickness the comfortable construction of the patient’s bed, as well as the adoption of such means as shall ensure as much as possible its efficient ventilation, are matters of primary import. ”

“ When the baby uses the pillow, let him sleep on the white side; at other times turn up the colored side and the pink or blue will show very prettily through the linen. If you let the child sleep on the colored side he may, most likely will, vomit some sour milk on it, sooner or later, and the beauty of your pillow will be gone. ”

“ The clothing should be loose, comfortable, light and porous. Restrictive clothing is necessarily damaging, for the trunk of the body is continually changing in form and size. Wear porous, cotton or linen underclothing next to the skin. ”

“ If the dress is such as causes no constriction of the abdomen, the chest, or the neck, such as gives free motion to the limbs, and is of such material that it makes the body neither too hot nor too cold, it is all that is required. Generally too much clothing is worn at the time of labor. It is safer to be on the side of too great coolness than of the opposite extreme.
283The Bed.—This has been called by different names; the lying-in bed, bed of labor, bed of pain, bed of misery, little bed, etc.
Some women will not make use of any sort of couch whatever. ”

“ Now that you have your sewing apron and a work box, you will love to be sewing every chance you get. Suppose we plan a set of bed things for Sally Ann. [50] First let us make a mattress. The mattress on your bed is covered, probably, with ticking, but this is too harsh for your fingers to sew, so let us select percale or zephyr, and half-inch tape for the binding; the filling can be cotton, hair, or feathers. If it is impossible to get any of these three, newspapers chipped up very fine will make an excellent padding. Many people use newspaper chippings to fill pillows for summer use. ”

“ At times there came the temptation to show our sisters across the seas a more comely way of dressing themselves, especially in these days of silhouettes, to say nothing of a simpler way to dress their pillows. Their pillow-cases were far too complicated for the practical American mind. ”

“ The old, the delicate, and the very young may use a light woolen night-dress outside that of linen or cotton. If comfort demands the use of wool next to the skin, it should be light in weight, finely woven, and with a smooth surface. ”

“ In France, women with blue faces and too often with the pulling lips of babes at dry breasts, learned the bitter tasks of sewing closed the coat sleeves and of cutting off and hemming the trousers leg at the knee. ”

“ The costume of most is limited to shirt and trousers, the material for which their own hands or those of their women-folk have sheared, spun, woven and dyed. Some of the better dressed wear trousers of blue and white striped stuff, of the kind now-a-days exclusively used for bed-ticking. ”

“ One of the great steps in personal cleanliness and therefore in culture made by our forefathers, was the adoption of a linen tunic next the skin, the “short” garment, or shirt. Again, a piece of cloth wrapped round the body and held up by a girdle forms the skirt or kilt, and the way in which Eastern women fasten their skirts together between the feet for convenience of walking, shows how trousers were invented. ”

“ Hitherto we have only spoken of the corset, and have avoided any allusion to the other articles of dress, which in many cases are equally faulty in their construction. Many ladies will say, and say truly, that they never lace tightly, but who at the same time, make the dress so tight as to completely crush in the stays, and, in pressing the unyield­ing bodice of the dress upon the folded underclothing, produce more evil than a tight corset would. ”

“ There's feminine charm in the frilled lingerie waist Color in such a waist does not follow the same rule as in the costume blouse. In a tailored blouse, no color quite comes up to a crisp, freshly laundered white waist. Cream, ecru, flesh color, light yellow and a delicate green are also worn in tailored waists. Sometimes, in silk a tailored waist is made to match the color of the suit. ”

“ The pillow on which they sleep should not be so soft that the part of the head in contact with it sinks into it and becomes overheated and perspires freely, while the rest of the head is comparatively cold. ”

“ Styles change in underwear just as they do in dresses and the silhouette of the outer garment must decide what the lines of the under one shall be. For the present styles soft yielding materials are absolutely necessary for underwear and few flounces should be used about the bottom of the skirt if the clinging effect around the ankles and knees is desired in the dress. ”

“ The trunk, especially the abdomen and pelvis, is covered with numerous layers of clothing, an extra amount being caused by the overlapping of the upper and lower garments. Very frequently, the amount of clothing upon these, the most vital parts, is excessive. At the same time, the limbs are sometimes almost in a state of nudity. A single cotton garment, or at most one of thin flannel, is the only protection afforded to the limbs beneath the skirts, which often serve no better purpose than to collect cold air and retain it in contact with the limbs. ”

“ We must, therefore, do away with the ordinary cotton or linen shirt, which only covers the middle part of the body, and substitute for it a garment with long sleeves, fitting closely round the throat and reaching to the feet, or a little below them. ”

“ Fold the articles of dress removed so as to make a firm pillow, which is to be placed under the shoulders, so that the upper part of the body is slightly raised and the head slightly thrown back. Cleanse the mouth and nostrils, open the mouth and pull forward the tongue. If natural efforts to breathe are made, try to stimulate them by brisk rubbing of the sides of the chest and of the face. ”

“ When the lace is thoroughly rinsed it should be pressed between the palms of the hands to get rid of superfluous water and then picked out with the greatest care and infinite patience and laid out upon a clean white cloth fastened to a pillow. Tiny pins with very sharp points can be used to stretch it into place on the pillow and every part of the design must be worked into shape with the fingers. ”