The Child In Summer.

There is nothing better for children than plenty of sunlight, but care should be taken to prevent them from being a wilted group at the end of the summer.

Sunlight is a valuable skin food, as there are elements of iron, phosphorus and iodine absorbed by the blood when the skin is exposed to the light, but it is not in the least useful to over-do the value of exposure in the hope of hardening the children. Sunbathing should be treated with the utmost discretion, for apart from the fact that, beyond a certain point, heat is enervating and depressing, in the interests of the eyes alone, the children should be provided with large hats and made to realise they are of real value and must be worn and not flung impatiently aside.

We have come to the stage now when we realise that sunlight must be used with care. Beyond a certain point it might be harmful. The early morning hours are therefore the best for sun-bathing, as at that time we have the maximum of light with the minimum of heat.

It is also important to look over the daily diet. Modify the soft cereals, and substitute crisp cereals, fruit, etc., which will be a welcome change from the food applicable to the colder months. Plenty of liquids, too, is beneficial—cold water, milk, fruit drinks. Barley water, sweetened with honey, to which lemon juice may be added, is also a favourite drink, page 75 to those who have become accustomed to it.

The “Scrap Book.”

To keep cakes fresh for some time, put a piece of bread in your cake tin. The bread must be removed at intervals and fresh substituted.

Some cooks use stale breadcrumbs for thickening stews, etc., instead of flour and water. It makes a nice change. A wooden spoon is best for rubbing ingredients through a sieve.

Ammonia will remove grease stains from white goods.

An old-fashioned cure for sleeplessness.—Put the feet in warm water and add a little more hot water every few minutes for half an hour. Take a towel (folded about four inches wide and a foot long) and wring out of cold water, and apply to top of spine, changing when warm.

Rattling doors can be stopped by glueing a piece of cork in the door frame or on the door near the handle. Paint the cork in the same colour as the surrounding woodwork and it will not be noticed.

To keep potatoes white, add a few drops of lemon juice to the water when boiling.

Always have a bottle of hydrogen peroxide in your medicine chest, as it is useful for gargling, applying to cuts, and abrasions, etc.

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