The Childs Day | Page 6

your mother has told you about washing your hands! You see,
our hands touch so many dirty things, and handle so many things that
other people's hands have touched, that we ought always to wash them
before a meal for fear some of the dirt or germs on them may get into
our mouths and cause disease.

And we really need to clean our nails as often as we wash our hands,
for that little black rim under the nail is very dangerous. Dust and
disease germs and dirt of all kinds find it a good place in which to hide.
Trim your nails with a file, not a knife; and clean them with a dull
cleaner, for a sharp-pointed one will scrape the nail and roughen it, or
push the nail away from the skin of the finger underneath.
[Illustration: USEFUL TOOLS]
Trim and clean the edges of your nails carefully and thoroughly, but
don't fuss much with the roots of them. That little fold of skin there
may strike you as untidy, but it covers the soft growing part of the nail;
and if you push it back with a nail-cleaner, it may cause the nail to
crack and roughen or become inflamed and start a "hang nail" or "run
around." If you push it back at all, do so only with the ball of your
thumb or finger.
The edges of the nails should be trimmed in a curve to match the curve
of the end of the finger. Of course you know that you should never bite
your nails, not only because it is a bad habit and will bring a good deal
of dirt into your mouth, but because you may bite, or tear down into,
the tender growing part of the nail, sometimes called the quick; and
then this part may become inflamed, and you will have a troublesome
sore on the end of your finger.
[Illustration: DO YOUR NAILS LOOK LIKE THESE?]
Just as your nails are a part of your skin,--hardened from it and rooted
in it,--so, too, are your teeth; and, like the rest of the skin, they should
be kept thoroughly clean. Every morning and evening at least they
should be carefully brushed. If you take good care of your first teeth
and have them filled when they need it, you will probably have good
permanent teeth, and you won't have to suffer with toothache.
The skin of your head, which grows such beautiful hair, and the hair
itself, should be kept clean. There are two things needed for this.
First, the hair should be brushed and combed night and morning. The

skin of your scalp is shedding tiny thin scales all day and all night, just
as the rest of your skin is doing. Fortunately, your hair is growing from
roots under the skin much in the same way as blades of grass grow
from their roots; and, as it grows, it pushes up these scales from the
surface of the scalp to where you can readily reach them with a good
bristle brush. If they are not well brushed out, the dust and smoke from
the air will mix with them, and the germs in the dust and smoke will
breed in the mixture, and you will soon have "scurf" or dandruff on
your head. So give at least fifteen or twenty strokes with the brush
before you use the comb. It isn't necessary to brush or scrape the scalp,
and a comb should be used only to part the hair or take out the tangles.
The second thing is to wash the hair and the scalp. Boys ought to wash
their hair every week; and girls, every two weeks; and girls, especially,
should be careful to dry their hair very thoroughly afterwards. You will
notice after washing your hair that it feels dry and fluffy, and
sometimes rather harsh. This is because the soap and hot water together
have washed out of the hair its natural oil, or grease, which kept it
bright and soft; and this is why it is better not to wash the hair with
soap and hot water oftener than once a week or so. But it shouldn't be
shirked when the time does come. Watch how hard your kitten works
to keep her fur coat glossy, though it must be tiresome enough to lick,
lick, lick.
Sometimes in cold weather your lips and knuckles crack and bleed.
That is because the skin on those parts is so thin and so often stretched
and bruised. If you will take a little pure olive oil or cold cream and rub
it on your lips and hands, it will make the skin softer and not so likely
to break.
[Illustration: SHOES THAT SHOW SENSE
Low heels and