Litchfield enquirer., 1857-08-27
Modern Conveniences and First Class
 Houses.
BY REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER.

There are many persons who suppose tha people who live in first-class houses, with al modern improvements must of course be mucl puffed up, and that they become quite grand in their own eyes.
 1t is true, sometimes, that fine houses have proud people in them. But we suspect the same of very poor tenements. We can ina zine pride so reluctant of discipline, and SC indocile as to survive in spite of the experience of frst-class house.
 When We moved into capacious brown stone dwelling, our better nature with great simplicity, whispered, Beware of temptation ; And with an ignorance quite as simple, we sup. posed that the thieves of grace would be found lurking Tn large rooms, at ambush behind cor. nces reproduced from old Rolne, or in stately appearances How little did we suspect that these were harmless, and that very different el- ements were to moth our patience
 But let a little preliminary exutaton of a new man ill new place be forgiven, ye who are now established Remember your own household fcrvor on first setting up, while We recount our economic joy, and anticpations of modern conyeniences that would take away all human care, and speed life upon dowll-hill
 
 to stand still Everything was admirable 1! The attic had within it. tank 50 large as bet ter to be called reservoir. Down from it ran the servc,ab.e pipes to every part of the dwelling. E tch chamber had its invisible Wa ter mlid in the wall, ready to spring the floods upon you by the mere turn of your hand ; then the bath room, with tub, douche, shower, and indce'l various and universal squ;rt--up and down, and promlscuous The kitchen, too-the tubs with water waiting to leap into them, the long cylinder by the side of the fire, as if the range had its baby wrapped up, and set perpendicular in the corner to nurse But, greatest of all admrations Was the furnace. This, too, was interframcd with the attic tank For 1t was a hot water furnace. For a time this was our peculiar pride. The water flowed down into system of coiled tubes, which were connected with the boiler surrounding the furnace fire. The idea was, when the water got as hot as it could well bear, that it should frisk out at one end of the boiler into the pipes, and round through the whole system and come back into tie other end cooled off, Thus complete arterial system was establish ed-the boiler being the heart, the water the blood, the pipes at the hot end the arteries, and the return pipes at the cool end the veins :; the whole inclosed in brick chamber, from which the air warmed by this liquid heat was given off to the dwelling. It Was a day of great glory when we thought the chill in the air required a fire in the furnace The fact was that we wanted to play with our pet, and were half veXed with the old conservative ther- mometer, that would not come down and ad- init that it was cold enough for fire How ever we do not recollcct ever afterwards to have been so eager.
 In the first place, we never could raise enough enough heat to change the air in the house more than from cold to chill We piled in the coal, and watched the thermometer :; Tan down for coal again, and ran back to watch the thermometer. We brought home coal, exchanged glanccS over the bill with the consulting partner and made silent estimates of the expenses of the whole winter, if this was but the beginning But there was the old red dragon in the cellar devouring coal re- morSelesSly, with his long iron tail, folded and coled, in the furnace chamber, without heat. Thus, for a series of weeks, we fired off the furnace in the cellar at the thermometer in the paror, and never hit. But we did accomplish other things. Once the fire was driven so hard that steam began to form and rumble and blow off, worry innoccntly but the girls did not know that, and took to their heels for fear of being blown up. When the cause was discovered the remedy was not easy, for the furnace bottom Was immovable, and the fire could not be let down. But one Joan of Are assailcd the enemy in his own camp, and threw a bucket of water into the fire. This produced several effects it put ont the fire, it also put Cnt sthon oShn tI1t thn maiden was quite put out also. And uore than a it cracked the boiler Bat this we did not know till some time afterwards There were a few days of comparative rest The weather was mild out of doors, and cold with n It was soon reported that one of the pipes was stopped up in the chamber, for the water would not flow. The plumber was sent for. He was already wei! acquainted with the way to the house. He brought upon himself d laugh of rdcule by suggesting that the water had given out in the tank Water given out We turned imwardly pale behind the outward red of laughing. We thought We had pock- ct ocean up stairs. Up We marched, climbed up the sideS peered down to the dirty bottom of an emptied tank Alas, the whole house was symmetrically connected. Everything de- pended upon this tank the furnace in the eel lar the range in the kitchen, the laundry de- partment, all the washing apparatus of the chambers, the convenient china closet sink, where things were to be washed without going down stairs, the entry closets, ard almost eve ry thing else, except the door-bel were made to go by water aud now the universal motive power was gone A now system of conven. fences was now developed. We stationed an Irish engine at the force pump to throw up water into the tank from the street cistern Blessings be on that cistern in the street |! No man knew how deep that was Like the pond in every village, nobody had ever found bot, tom. And so we lmped along for few days Meanwhile, the furnace having been examined