The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-01-20
COOK ED AIR.
some 0f the Cold weather FoilIes of tho
American People.
IPhiIadelphin ledger.

- lthtiHslpfih LSuRerl
There Is one very good reason why peopIe
take cold" In winter time. Most of the we'll
to-do spend their lives, when in-doora in
cooked air The lower down the Thermometer
goes the higher the burning coal Is piled; all
the chnks and cracks are stopped that would
lot any fresh air In, and It's main chance. in
deed. ls when the front door opens for twenty
seconds, or when the beds are made In the
sleeping rooms. In the living rooms Of the
family there is no OCCASION many people
think, TO raise the windows ever except to
wash them on periodical cleaning days, or
TO shut In the shutters. So carpets and fur
niture and people, lungs and skin, are dried
and baked In the hot, dry rooms, until in-
genious persons can bring out electric sparks
from their finger ends by skating rapidly up
and down the room In their wooden sinners
Out from this kiln-dried atmospheric into
The winter streets and into the very cold or
very camp air plunge the folks who live In
these air-tight rooms. They put on plenty of
wraps, but they wear the same fDot-gear and
they carry the same lungs out into the streets
with them and the same sensitive skin. Then
they go into friends houses and sit In other
hot rooms with all their wraps on, or they stt
In church pews, the women, at least heavily
muitied In furs and woolens, for q matter Of
two hours.
tWhy man will take off his overcoat in
church and women cling 10 their Jackets az
to an article of faith, Is among the puzzles
for the wise to settle, or for the next hundred.
questions OF an lnguirlDg wortd) Again they
go out Into the damp. streets, and 1t Is o wori-
der 70 all doctors and thinkers that they do
not all take and keep too, that congested
state Of lungs and membranes, and chilled
blood vessels that We class under this ono
convenient term Of "cold"
Perhaps the houses are not kept any
warmer than they ought TO be. when people
are taking but little exercise. But they GER.
tainly are nearly all Of them too dry and
lacking in constantly renewed pure air 1t
has been before remarked In the Ledger that
folks who are extremely particular about
wearing their own clothes, and who would by
no means consent to take the cast-off gar.
ments Of a neighbor -one and all Of them are
perfectly comfortable to breathe over and
over again the cast-oT and soled air from
each others lungs, when 1t Is cooked espe-
cially; for In summer time they do insist on
q change OF 1t, and do get their houses ven
tilated. Janitors OF public buildings, In n
short-sighted economy Of fuel. will shut up
all the apsrtures by which fresh air might get
In, lest they should suffer some heat to
escape thereby, and are rewarded by
burners are at work, also draining the cooked
air OF what little life 1t has. There are some
people-many, 1t is To be hoped-who open an
inch or two Of their bedroom windows every
night to insure a modicum OF fresh air to
sleep by. But these do not in tho least care
70 have fresh air to be awake in, 1t seems for
they are content to have their furnace draw
all It's supplies from the tightly-sealed cellar.
and from the stale atmosphere of the ASH
boxes and vegetable bins In that subterranean
apartment. When we live in fresh air within
doors as without, with its proper proportion
OF moisture for the skin and breathing appa--
ratus To keep up their healthy tone II ts like
Iy We shall have found out one way al Ieaat
Of how not to take cold.