The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-03-11
.From Hearth and Home.

fHE USE AND ABUSE OF KEROSENE
BY SUSAN. sNAPP.
From Hearth and Home.
I. Good Mrs. Poyser found it difficult t.
sleep with, q gallon of milk on hel
mind-and no wonder-but how woulG
she have felt il 1t had been gallon o
kerosene? Ispeak knowingly, for We
use the latter combustible article from
one end of our house to the other. We
try to get the purest and safest kind
but in these days of adulteration, who
can be sure of anything? Strike the
average, every gallon of kerosene
means an explosion.
IOften tell John it is almost more
than 1 can bear. From the time the
sun sets until it rises again, I don't know
what it is to feel perfectly at ease. The
least noise makes me start. What
with the parlor lamp and the hall
lamp, the kitchen lamp and the lamps
in the dining room and nursery, stand
in mOmentary dread ofa blow up some
where. Even during the dead OF night,
John insists on having a light in the
lower and upper halls. 1 would burn
oil for this purpose if the selling of good
sperm oil were not already one of the
lost arts. I often wake up suddenly
quite sure that the worst has happened,
and that the stairway is in a blaze
While We used the oldfashioned burn
ems, it was dreadful; the brass part
where the wick went in would often be
30 hot one couldn't touch it, and OF
course, if the kesosene became heated,
that was the end of it-or the begin
ming, according to what one considers
to be the true mission of kerosene. But
now, with the new fashioned safety
safety appliances and Etna arrange
ments, one may venture to indulge in
some slight hose of safety, though re-
ally there is no end to the dangers.
Kerosene, any way, is a sort Of liquid
gunpowder. / sometimes think that,
in times of peace, it does just as much
michief in the aggregate as real gum
powder. just as much good, too; for
there is no denying its usefulness
Gnnpowder does our blasting, and ker-
osene gives US light, that is, in the
country, where there is but the alter
native of fiickering candles between it
and utter darkness. Now think of it,
kerosene, too, is effective for blasting.
But alas! in tl,is case it is not rocks it
is wearing out, but human creatures
lives. 1t has blasted the joy and hope
of countless homes since its first intro
duction. During the past ten years
more than one thousand human beings
have died in torture from kerosene ac-
cidents. This the official records tell
us; but there are probably many more.
Think of it! hundreds upon hundreds
burned by kerosene explosions. Scarce
ly day passes that somebody is not
seriously or fatally injured by it; yet,
until some safe and cheap substitute is
obtained, we county folk, doubtless,
shall 60 ON using it, and being blasted
to its hearts content.
The War Department evidently have
come to my way of thinking. They
can stand gunpowder, but not Kerosene.
Among the latest general press dis
patches 1 find the following: IA gen.
eral order, promulgated from the War
Department, provides that hereafter no
volatile oils will be issued or used for
purposes at military posts,
and all varieties of coal oil will be re-
garded as volatile. In general, lard oil
will be supplied for issues of oil author
lied for the necessary illumination Of
military posts"
The Metropolitan Board of Health,
of New York, in their last report, gives
some refreshing facts. Of seventy
nine specimens of kerosene bought at
different retail stores, seventy-eight
were found to be unsafe, the standard
of safety being vaporizing point
of not less than 100 degrees Fahrenheit,
or "burning point" of ITO degrees.
The Board ask full power from the
Legislature to seize and destroy all
burning fluids, and | for
one sincerely trust they may get it.
The power of such board to be eff
cient must necessarily be despotic. AL
ready, with its present power of enforc-
ing certain standard of quality of
kerosene, more than four hundred re-
tail dealers have been brought into
court in New York and Brooklyn, and
we may hope for some decrease in the
of accidents. The Chicago
Board of Health look sharply to these
matters. According to local letter
writer, Onlyone kerosene accident had
occurred there during two weeks in
January, and that was from what is
called "diamOnd OIL" which had been.
procured from peddler, and which had
been highly recommended. In this
instance but little mischief was done,
but the case was promptly investigat-
ed by the authorities, and a fine impos-
o<I fOr colI;po fbo N, ,icoro bIa uon,no,lnd
By the way, John tells me that scarce
ly any one burns kerosene, or coal oil,
that the word as popularity
used Is a misnomer we burn refined
petroleum, and not kerosene. How
ever, petroleum or kerosene, or what
ever you call the stuff, is dangerous,
and that's enough. 1 have before me
at this moment accounts of many ne
cent accidents, all caused by its use or
abuse:
A beautiful young girl, passing under
a swinging hall lamp, falls victim to
its explosion. She does not die, but
she is terribly disfigured for life. A poor
ignOrantly emptying her lamp
to aid her in lighting her tardy kitchen
fire, is burned to death before aid can
reach her. A mother and child are
seated by stove, and the mother jerks
down a towel hanging from the man.
tie overhead; she does not notice that
its corner is held in place by an unligh-
ted kerosene lamp. The lamp comes
down on the stove with a crash; in an
instant the mother and child are in
flames. The mother will survive, but
she must live without her little one.
A hard working man, while assisting
in putting up stove, holds a lighted
lamp i'm his hand. 1t explodes, burning
HIM frightfully. Briget Miller and her
child died yesterday from the effects of
an exploding oil can. Lately, a neigh
Dor Of ours was closing his window
shutters at night, when the sudden
draught of air caused the lamp he held
to explode. He was on fire in an in
slant; but somebody saved his life by
throwing woollen blanket around
him. Alas he was "put out" in
double sense, for his house caught fire
from the blazing oil, and was burned to
the ground.
know of a young lady who, seated
one day at centre table, was quietly
reading, when suddenly the lamp ex-
plOded and she was in flames. The
poor girl lived, but she has never seen
a ray of light since that hour.
1t is terrible, this kerosene; yet there
would be no excuse for giving this little
chapter of horrors, if some good lessons
could not be drawn from it. Through
much tribulatiOn and anxious investi-
CATION into the causes of accidents, John
and have made out a list of kerosene
rules, which he has copied out plainly
and hung up in the kitchen, the nur-
sery, and sitting.room. Just now the
list doesn't do as much good as it