Meg sez, "I just found a copy of one of my favorite used-book finds ever,

1912's Hygiene for the Worker, on the Internet Archive. It's wonderful in

so many ways. The illustrations are simultaneously delightful and

creepy, the language is charmingly outdated, and the lessons in the

book attempt to create a race of scrubbed-clean, milk-drinking super

employees who spend their vacations at home 'laying up a greater

store of health and energy than the young people who come back tired

and weary from having too good a time at the mountains and other

regular summer resorts.'"

Hair. Most boys and girls, ordinarily, do not value or

pay sufficient attention to the little things that go to make

up a good appearance.

Take the hair, for instance. If you want to make a

good impression, don't apply for a position with your scalp

and hair so unclean as to be offensive.

It has now become the rule, in certain large offices, to

draw the line against the girls and young women whose

hair is fantastically arranged in the extreme of style. Elaborate head dressings suggest to the employer a certain

vanity, self-consciousness, and frivolity that render a girl

unable to put her mind seriously upon her work.

Clothing. Here also should be mentioned the impro-

priety of wearing, during business, clothing that seems

suitable only for evening or home use. The type of waist

known as the lingerie is one that the business girl should

not wear in the office. It is neither sensible nor dignified.

Nor is it an economy, for on account of its sheerness it

requires greater care and expense in laundering ; hence, it

is seldom washed as frequently as it should be. There is

nothing more distasteful to the average business man than

unclean finery.

Boys and girls both are inclined to run to extremes of style

in their dress, usually preferring garments that are of the most

up-to-date cut and shape to those of more modest appear-

ance, which are generally found to be made better and

of more enduring materials. This is equally true of hats

and shoes. An employer will probably notice whether you

are wearing elaborately cut and high-heeled shoes, run

down, unbrushed, and with broken laces, or whether your

feet are shod in sensible, well-fitting shoes, kept clean

and neat.

