The Somerset herald and farmers' and mechanics' register. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 183?-1852, 1847-08-03
v oil. 5.--No. SO

OF the foundations has leit on the water,
and it roars and spIashes in the inner
dungeon like demon roaring for his
victim. Our subject, thinking his time
has come, takes his bandages in hand,
casts glance at the watch to time him
self, presses his wife daguerreoiype 10 his
lips, and opens the door, but it is not yet
his turn-anolher man is stalking it, and
our live subject is aghast at the sight ofa
bony Apollo sprawling on his hands and
knees on the floor, who, with teeth firm
ly set, is receiving the spout on the small
Of the back.
The effect of the stream pouring into
the room is to make the air as cold as
winter and though it was July outside.
by the time you are undressed and stand
iii expectant dread on the threshold it has
become January. The room is high ard
dark; the steps by which you descend in
to are hacked with the axe, telling of ice
chopped away in mid-winter. The
Stream has come fresh from the cold bow
els Of mother earth and sees no daylight
till itlights on the subjects shoulders
The sigh. before hIm takes away ali our
friend sresoluGons, and nothing but the
thought that he has come thousand miles
expressly to be subjected to the mercies
Of this water. Moloch, and he thought
!hat.if any thing short of the ultimate
trumpet can arouse his torpid liver to
healthy action this thing must DO it, the
fear of ridicule and the hope Of cris
keeps up his nerves. Now the bony
Apollo dashes out and our friend is left
alone in that dismal den, alone with that
dOuche and his own conscience. He
filings down his bandages, clasps his
hands, and raising them, as in supplica-
ton, over his head, steps beneath the
spout, which he receives first on his
! hands thus clasped this is TO break the
stream into a kind of shower bath,
whIch wets him all over at the outset.-
lie then receives il successfully on all
parts of the body, but the head, chest,
stomach, abdomen, and calves Of the legs;
all other parts now feel the full force Of
this ''heavy Wet in way that calls for
some little effort TO keep the breath Of
/ life in the lungs.
Whatever. calculations in hydrostaiics
he may have made, he now realizes for
the first time the dult force of the theory.
Talk of a thousand of brick Il is no
sort Of a simile for the way in which this
water comes down upon him. Most re-
1entless douche Perseveting torrent
Magnificent waterpower to set the wheels
of life in motion Who can feel il and
doubt the potency of water TO cure or
( kill, and not look with contempt on the
impotence of phials and pll-boxes! Down,
right down it comes, bearing its victim to
the floor, cudgelIing the shoulders, thun-
( dering down the back, knocking down
against the short ribs, grinding along the
spine as if a big rasp was filing away the
points of the back bone, bastinadoing the
feet, feruling the hands, and making all
parts tinge as if pldding-stick Of extra
power were renewing the coporal punish
ment of his schoolboy days. The whole
surface is soon excited 10 vigorous action,
every organ is aroused, and all the fluids
| of the system are set coursiDg like mad
through the capillarles into even the ut
termost corner of the little toe. The
morbid humors, beaten up in all their
lurking places, rush hifher and yon to
escape through the pores, or burst forth
like lava in volcanic bols.
After dressing, there is walk to be
taken, usually the longest of the day, to
expend the surplus strength derived from
this tonic of all tonics. In cold weather
you are impelled to PIT your legs to the
very best speed. In summer, and espe-
cially in such weather as we have now,
the sensation as you 90 out into the oven
/ like atmosphere is really droll. The sun
6asks down upon you as ifit mistook
you for loaf of dough, and the hot
steam from the earth rises up on every
side. As you pass by the fields the now
er lazlly whets his scvthe to excuse his
( conscience from moving; the cows lazily
chew their cuds IN the shade, and the wild
flowers drowsily droop their heads and
close their eyes; all things tell Of heat
and extreme lassitude, yet you yourself
are fresh, cool, without perspiratlon, and
| vigorous. The glistening atmosphere is
only luxurious hot air-bath, and you
stride along on the "fo1r mile circuit"
snufling the clover-breath, as briskly as
one who Of cool autumn morning
brushes with hasty steps the dew away.
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn"
nFOne Of the enormous charges a.
gainst Gen. Irwin, for which, as Locofoco
prints would have il, the people ought to
reject him, is that he votcl against re-
funding Gen. Jackson's fine. Upon ex-
amining the Extra Globe, first session Of
/ the 2Sih Congress, page i20, il viii be
found that Gen. Irwin voted in the atTrma-
tire on the question. This charge being
disposed Of, what shall we have next