The democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1868-1874, 1874-04-27
AMERICAN FARM HOUSES.
Their PseulIsritiss and Their spark
Ways n--some Most Suggestive Hints.

Their PeeuliaEi.iss and Their Ozark
Ways"-1sems h'stsaEgea'ive Hints
Mrs. Plunkett in n paper, "Some
Farm.houses and Some Mistaken Ways
Of Living in Them,p read before the
Massachusetts Board Of Health, says
the obnoxious houses Of the farmers Of
the State and their work are an inheri-
tance-a kind OF pilgrim fatherism,
evidently, which II is difficult to de-
scribe faithfully without seeming 10 be
drawing caricatures. In the first place,
these houses were built before sanitary
engineering was thought Of, and with
an especial eye 10 " hardness " OF some
sort built, for instance, at the foot Of
o hill for shelter, under a big willow
tree for shade, or close to the barns for
convenience. Everybody, has noticed
how towering red barns are put in the
best position in many farmyards, near
to the water supply, while the little I'M.
painted house Is stuck anywhere-too
near the barns often, Mrs. Plunkett
says, for safety. Under q willow, too,
means in the water, and in the shade
any way means out Of the sun; while
OF the bottom Of o hill Is apt 10 mean in
the drainage Of the hill. Then a mighty
delnsion Of the average farmer Is 4
house all on one. floor, "long, sprawl.
ing, and mud-turtle shaped.h This
may be picturesque, bnt il Ia an
economical and sanitary failure. You
can't have a cellar under the whole
mud.turtle, and where there Is no eel.
lar the floors are terribly cold, the
foundations get loosened by frost, and
the uncellared portion Of the house be.
comes IN aggregation Of clean to's y
leaning every way. Mrs. Plunketts
paper deals especially with tbe mis-.
taken ways and misfortunes Of farmers
wiyes who, in Massachusetts, have al.
ways been kind Of goddesses in
poetry and romance, This Ia the chap.
ter devoted to feather beds,
Another widespread source OF dis.
comfort and ill.health, though happily
growing less by force Of circumstance,
Is the use OF feather beds. These are
often precious family heirloons. and
they bad IN excuse for being while yet
stoves and furnaces were unheard Of,
hut are none the less injurious for all
that. A coarse sackine, filled with in.
expensive straw, forms the "under
bed /; on this Is laid huge bag filled
with thirty or thirty.fye pounds Of
feathers. The farmer with his blood
at almost boiling heat, after a DAYS
having, lies down on this cheap and
unpatented yapor.bath and perspirator
and tries to sleep. Is It any wonder
that he losses and groans; that he
finds his garments wringing wet
and himself nearly exhausted; that
he rises with the /" first streak OF light"
from pure misery? The poor wife,
who, very likely, in addition to all his
discomforts, has sucked IN infant all
night finds herself more dead than alive
inthe morning, and looks forward with
iustiiiable shrinking to the tasks OF the
day as she finds " the BABY oil broken
out with prickly heat and fretful &C.
cordingly. No wonder she calls this
world a vale Of tears " md considers
life q thoroughly puzzling problem.
Had the bedroom been on the second
floor the air would have been sweet and
inviting, and the bed should have been
formed byt placing the feather heir
loom under mattress "a good hair one
would cost $15 and last q 'lifetime).
The baby also should have been pro-
viied with n well mattresaad crib.
The farmer himself would have found
that the air circulating about him, as It
would when raised up above but sup
ported by an elastic mattress, cooled
his blood, and he would have fallen
into that refreshing sleep which is real
rest. The baby being cool would have
been mostly spared the eruption, and
the mother having received the full
benefit Of the mysterious cordial tlat