The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1879-03-20
COOKED AIR.
Some of the Cold-weatl,er Forlie, of the
from the Philadelphia Ledger

,. From the Philadelphia Ledger.l
There is one very good reason why
people "take cold" in winter time.
Most of the well-to-do spend their lives,
when indoors, in cooked air. The lower
down the thermometer goes the higher
the burning coal is piled; all the chinks
and cracks are stopped that would let
any fresh air in, and its main chance,
indeed, is when the front door opens for
twenty seconds, or when the beds are
made in the sleepingrooms. In the iv-
ing rooms Of the family there is no oc-
casion, 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 furniture
and people, lungs and skin, are dried
and baked in the hot, dry rooms, until
ingenious persons can bring out electric
sparks from their finger ends by skat-
ing rapidly up and down the room in
their woolen slippers.
Out from this kiln-dried atmosphere
into the winter streets and into the
very cold or very damp air plunge the
folks who live in these air-tight rooms.
They put on plenty of wraps, but they
wear the same foot-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 sit in church -pews,
the women, at least, heavily muffied in
| furs and woolens, for q matter of two
| hours.
(Why man will take off his overcoat
| in church and women cling to their
| jackets as to an article of faith, is among
| the puzzles for the wise to settle, or for
the next hundred questions of an in
| quiring worldly Again, they go out in
to the damp streets, and it is wonder
to all doctors and thinkers that they do
not all take" and keep, too, that con-
gested state of the lungs and mem
branes, and chilled blood vessels that
we class under this one 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 certainly are nearly all of them
too dry and lacking in constantly re.
newed pure air. It has been before re-
marked in the Ledger that folks who
are extremely particular about wearing
their own clothes, and who would by nc
means consent to take the cast-off gar
ments of a neighbor-one and all O.
them are perfectly comfortable tc
breathe over and over again the
cast-off and soiled air from eacl
others lungs, when it il
cooked especially; for in summel
time they do insist on change of it
and do get their houses ventilated
Janitors Of public buildings, in short
sighted economy of fuel will shut VI
all the apertures by which fresh al
might get in, lest they should suffe
some heat to escape thereby, and are re
warded by sleepy audiences, especial,
when the gas burners are at work, ais
draining the cooked air of what ittl
life it has. There are some people
many it is to be hoped-who open al
inch of two of their bedroom window
every night to insure modicum @
fresh air to sleep by. But these do NO
in the least care to have fresh air to b
awake in, it seems, for they are conten
; to have their furnace draw all supple
from the tightly-sealed cellar, and from
the stale atmosphere of the ash-boxe
, and vegetable bins in the subterranea
, apartment. When we live in fresh al
within doors as without, with its prope
{ proportion of moisture for the skin an
breathing apparatus to keep up the
: healthy tone, it is likely we shall hav
5 found out one way at least of how nc
, to take cold