New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-06-09
HOW TO KEEP COOL.


not SILVER. Consequently we have applied
ourselves to the solution with satisfactory sue
cess. We have nine hundred and ninety-nine
different stove patterns. We have storm-doors
and double windows. We have all manner OF
flannel gear for our backs and of comfortable
cOunterpanes for our beds. Steam, the ever
lasting steam, which does so much else, dlifises
the temperature if not the atmosphere of June
throughout our apartments. Our Winters are
imperiOus enough but we have mitigated their
austerities. Man, however, after all, holds but
a limited sway over his natural surroundings.
The primal curse imposed upon him was per-
spiration, and during considerable portion
of the year, whether he be a toiler for his
bread OF not, he perspires accordingly. He
may do his best, but Ito use q slang phrase
which in this case has new and true mean
ing) the Dog Star does him brown" He grows
red as it RACES he bethinks him of Shadrach,
Meshach and Abed-nego, cast by refinement
of cruelty in their great coats and hats into
the seven times heated furnace; the more fer
yently he swears at Sirius the warmer he be-
comes; lOcOmOtIOn ceases to be possible and
horizontality to alleviate; the night Is no
more long enough to allay the fever of the
day; the newspapers are full of cases, real or
apocryphal, of hydrOphobia; the more soda
water only the more sweat; the iced cocktail
has lost it's charm the honest thermometer,
with its silver thread still rising, will tell the
truth or burst in the attempt; the Can-Get-
Always flee to the seaside, and are by no
means so cool, even there, as they expected;
or they ensc0nce themselves (at enormous daily
l,,tf,y ,Iarc ~
some inconvenient, thin walled and low-rOOfed
farm house, while the Can't-Get-Aways grill
at leisure through July and August upon the
intramural gridiron-secular st. Lawrences,
every one of them.
Some small moralist long ago affirmed that
it was beneath the dignity of human nature
TO take any notice of the weather; but we
should much like to see human nature lgnor-
ing it under these feryid circumstances. Mere
bundles of nerves. as most of us are, 1t Is
childish to say that it makes no difference
whether the wind be n E. or S. W.; whether
the over -arching skies be light or only light
leaden whether we have hurricane or calm
whether we are braced or blstered. People
laugh because those who have nothing else to
say observe that the day is fine, or wet, or
hot, OF cold. They forget that upon these
vicissitudes many things are depending-exer-
else, the beginning or continuance of journeys,
the keeping of appointments, the facilltatlon
of business, and the opportunity of diversion.
The child who has been promised a holiday
upon the morrow, watches the sun set, and is
weatherwise beyond its years. The boy knows
that the still charging circle about the moon may
spoil his bat and ball next morn, or the long
planned little expedition into the woods.
Weather prophets do not rank in dignity with
Daniel or Ezekiel; it must be admitted that
too many of them are addicted to notional
charlatanry and fanciful guesses but who
does not see how invaluable would be a
sect of natural philosophers, small domestic
Humboldts in their way, who could tell us
with scientific precision the weather of COM
ing month In Lapland there are, or used to
be, witches who sold winds to the sea captains
coming upon that coast. What if we had
shops in which every one could buy the Day
he most desired for serious or festive pur-
poses
But we are straying from our subject, which
strictly speaking is Eighty in the Shade. We
are sensible that the problem of equal tenn
perature remains unsolyed, and that we can
offer but little for its solution, since great
deal depends upon physical idiosyncracies.
There are tolerably strong men who wilt and
become as women at go Fair; there are
others who find 90 delicious and invigorating;
but we fancy that the average American in
these ATTITUDES is at his best in temperature
of about 7O0-and of this he bears the minus
better than the pius-that is, he is not much
incommoded by a tumble to co., but he is
sensibly incommOded by rise to so. Now,
it is as well to understand, once for all, that
the desirable degree cannot be maintained
without at least as much care as we give to
our breakfasts or to other minor concerns of
life. In all physical straits, good temper goes
a great way, and nothing is easier than for
man in July to fret, and fume, and fuss him
self into fever from which little refriger-
ating stolidity might have saved him. AS a
general rule, through "the heated term,n we
should be as slow as sloths and as solemn as
the mutes at a funeral; and if there be
NORTHEAST corner in our hearts, we should
encourage the blood to flow as much as pos
sible fromthat point. With all Nature bla-
zing about us, passion is impertinent and
preposterOus. With the brain already fry
ing in its pan, like half-dOne
Omelette, we should be careful how We task it
with the consideration of the abstract and the
reconcile. In the hottest of weather we want
mainly only light work, reading, and thought
and it is safe to refer " free wilW and "fore-
knowledge absolute" to the next December
Summer should be period of quiet receptivity
we should hear the birds without listening,
see the landscape without looking, give our
selves up, as mere playthings, to the caprices