scissors rather than with a match or other instrument. In extinguishing
a lamp one should first turn down the wick and blow across the chimney,
never down the chimney.

Owing to the fact that the wick is constantly bringing up oil by
capillary attraction, whether it is lighted or unlighted, lamps in which
the wicks have not been cared are kept continually greasy. In fact,
a lamp that is greasy or that gives out a bad odor is one that has not
been properly cared. With due attention, lamps are as clean and handy
a means of illumination as any other form.

Candles, that are now used chiefly for decorative purposes, may still be
practically employed for carrying light about the house. The danger from
a falling candle carried by a child up to bed is not nearly so great as
that which may result from either spilt oil from a broken lamp or the
cutting glass of its chimney.

To those who live in an old house, all the foregoing advice should prove
a source of helpfulness in making the best of the old home, rather than
of dissatisfaction with its seeming shortcomings. There are many simple,
inexpensive ways of making it conform to the model house. Expense need
only be incurred in sanitary improvement, such as the better drainage of
the cellar, enabling it to be utilized for purposes which now crowd the
"work-rooms" of the home, and the alterations of the windows to permit
better lighting and ventilation. Very often a room can be made to
exchange purposes by a simple transference of furniture, thus saving the
housekeeper steps. A woodhouse can be converted into a summer kitchen,
and the old one, during this season, used as a dining-room, though it
may be found even pleasanter to eat out of doors under an arbor or on
a wide piazza. A porch may be partitioned off into a laundry, and the