The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-01-24
A Damp City.

"Ozias Midwinter says in letter
from the South to the Cincinnati Com
merciai, that the dampness of New Or
leans upon wet day impresses one as
something phenomenal. You do not
know in the North what such dampness
is. 1t descends from the clouds and
arises from the soil simultaneously it
exudes from woodwork it perspires
from stone. 1t is spectral, mysterious,
ipexplicable. Strong walls and stout
doors can not keep it from entering;
windows and doors can not exclude it.
You might as well try to lock out a
ghost. Bolts of steel and barriers of
stone are equally unavailing, and the
stone moulders, and the steel is smitten
with red leprosy. The chill sweat pour
ing down from the walls, soakes into
plank floors, and the cunning of the
paper-hanger is useless here. Carpets
become so thoroughly wet with the in
visible rain that they utter soughy
marshy sounds under the foot. Con-
sequently few houses are carpeted with
in, and those good folks who insist upon
carpets soon learn the folly of putting
them down on more than one ,or two Of
the upper rooms. Mating is the substi
tute even in the arlstocratic houses-dry
crisp, neat mating. Paper-hangers and
carpet-layers would starve to death here.
If you even lay few sheets of writing
paper upon your table at nightfall you
will find them quite limp and rebellious
of ink in the morning. Articles of steel
must be carefully laid away in air tight
drawers. The garments hung upon the
wall, the coverings of beds, the we'll
stretched shirts in the bureau seem as il
they had been rained upon the stall
carpets become like wet turf and 6
mouldy, mupty smell prevades the at
mosphere.
Fire is the only remedy possible
against this invasion of moisture anc
mildew, and fires are absolutely neces
sary in all bedrooms almost all through
the winter. During the daytime, il
winter months, doors and windows are
generally left open, except on exception
ally cold or rainy days; the fires are al
lowed to go out, and the winds are in
vited to come in and keep things dry
But when night falls, chill mists invade
the city, and exhalations of dampnesl
rise from the moist earth. This is til,
case even in clear weather, and Louis
ianians would not think of sleeping
without fire in their bedrooms to dr.,
the air and Danish the spectre of damp
ness. Even in the heat of the summe
the night-news are often heavy lik,
heavy rains.
In the North you place open vessel
of water upon your heating stoves tina
the warm air may be kept moist. Here
all possible efforts are made to heat tn,
air so that it may hold in suspension a.
little moisture as possible. For the cit,
sits upon marsh, and swamps lie abou
her crescent boundary.
Carpets become an affliction here
Save in the house of the wealthier
where continual fires keep them dry
they absorb the unhealthiness of damp
ness in the wet season. They fill tn
house with an odor of mustiness tina
makes one think of bacteria an,
vibriones, and divers other horrors O
the microscope. I say " houses of tn
weather." because here there are few
families who can afford to maintain
good fire fight all the year round will
the swamp dampness.