The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-02-16
The Heating of Our Houses.

Entering the door of one of our
comfortable" modern houses, what
meets us? A puff Of scorched air
from q register, redOlent of burning
iron, or of boiled air from q steam
heater. The thermometer is standing
at about a. We adyanceto the parlor.
There matters are even worse, for the
outside cold has entered with mo-
mentafy freshness. The plants in the
window look yellow and forlorn.
OminOus cracks are visible here and
there in the furRiture-nay, q strip OF
ornamental veneer has actually split
of from the piano and lies on the
carpet. Our hostess coming forward
to meet US, is wrapped in 8 little
shawl, and remarks that Is an awful
day; that she hasn't been out, of
course, but even in the warm house
has felt the cold. In effect, she looks
blue and pinched. Whereat we won
der, for the room feels insufficiently
hot; but we place ourselves beside
her where she sits covering over the
register, and conversation goes on with
what spirit it may under these circum-
stances.
AT the end of an hour we are sur
prised to find ourselves 3 little chilly.
That is, our head Is hot enough
little too hot, perhaps-but both
hands and feet are cold, and we are in
clined to agree with our friend when
she opines that " the grip must have
let the fire 90 down. But elaneiBg at
the thermometer, we stare to see that
the mercury has risen instead Of fall
ing. 1t is nov at S0o. And after all
why should we wonder? Nature is
inevitable in her Ietributions, and we
suffer the penalty Of @.deranged cir
culation when we violate her laws o.
temperature.
Bad enough, If this were ali OnC
can live and be useful under the
trifiing discomfort of cold extremities
as our worthy forefatheFs sufficiently
proved. But how much of life and o
lies best energies, of thought, Of wit
OF good-humor, of aspiration, gOe
down through those holes in the foo
into neither silence? AS from somt
KObold's cave, the invisible gnomes o
the furnace climb, emerge aud stea
fIOm US the choicest, finest, most in
tangible part Of ourselves. No maj
ever lived and worked his best in
room heated over 6So-a sentence w
should Ike to engrave in letters 0
gold on the iron plate Of every regis
ter and the front Of every steam
heater ia the land from this day fOrtl
and forever.
The time may come when perfec
system OF house warming, one com
bining healthfulness, comfort, ant
economy, shall be introduced. Blu
certain it is, we have none such now
The hot-WRter furnace, in which
q large chamber well supplied witt
fresh air is heated by coils of pip
u Al,
warmth taken thence and diftusel
over the house, approached NOR
nearly to the ideal than any other il
all respects save one it is so cOstlyjtha
only the most luxuriOusly-built man
siOns can afford to enjoy it. Opel
fires are not sufficient, except il
the most moderate winter cold, t
supply the tificially-stimulated de
mand for heat made by the human
race to-day and even in the case @
that cheapest of fuels, coke, the,
cost more than the furnace. TIL
big base-burning hall-stoves, Whicl
make many Of our farm-hOuses s.
comfortable, take room which canno
be afforded in city entries, where eacl
inch of space is precious. In the air
tight variety by q goo
deacon who dealt in the article in tn
days of our youth, to burn up ever.
bit of a noXiOus gas which, as he wa
informed, abounded in the air, ant
the name of which was-oxygen !
what can be said in its favor? 1t
best left to silence, and that necessit,
on which it bases its sole claim to hu
man federation.
There remains, then, for the aveTag
house, only the hot-air furnace am
the steam heater. Both have insep
arabic evils connected with them, bOtl
advantages equally insepaTable. II
one, abundant moisture is provided
in the other an unfailing supply, bar
ring accidents, of outer air. AnC
either can be made toleTabiy comfort
able and sufficiently wholesome only
by intelligent watchfulness, by stric
regulation of heat, by observation O
Thermometers, by periodical care Q
evapOrators and water-pans, by renew
ing the air of rooms through opel
windows, and that perpetual Vigilanc
which is the price of the good thing
we enjoy, and, above all, of tina
healthful food which we consume wit
our lungs, and without which we Cal
enjoy nothing.-Honle and Society
Scri6neT's for February.