New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1880-05-19
Let Us Have Pure Air.

A curious experiment was tried some
years ago, for the purpose of testing a
new ventilating apparatus which had
been placed in large church building.
Some of the trustees had opposed the
purchase of the "new-fangled notion"
as useless expense, and it was to con-
vince them of the utility of it that the
experiment was made. The occasion
was a lecture by famous orator. The
church was crowded to its utmost ca
pacity. TWAS observed, however, that
every one seemed to be uncommonly
comfortable and attentive, while even
the lecturer failed to exhibit the physi-
cal distress usually attendant upon en-
ergetic speaking in a crowded building.
In order to show the immense differ
ence between good ventilation and the
want of it, the skeptical trustees were
taken to a position where they could
get full view of the audience, and the
ventilators we're closed. In few mo-
ments the entire aspect of things
changed. The speaker began to labor
and perspire, and the listeners to grow
restless and inattentive, fidgeting about
with the indescribable movement
which so clearly indicates WEAKNESS
and discomfort. Then the ventilators
were reopened, and in moment or two
everybody was at ease again--and the
| doubling trustees were ready to pay
double for the apparatus. if necessary
to secure it.
The moral of this little story is plain.
II we want attentive audiences in our
churches and lccture-halls we must
have pure air. That it is not impossi-
BILE to secure it, the instance that we
have given, and many others of similar
character, amply prove. 1t is said, for
example, that the system of ventilation
in DR.. John Halls church is so thorough
that the temperature does not rise more
than three or four degrees after the
church is full. Let us leave off some of
the ornamentation of our churches, If
needful, and provide proper ventilation.
The worship of the Lords house will be
far more enjoyable and profitable in
plain room thoroughly ventilated than
in the most magnificent building full of
exhausted air and foul odors. (
This is equally true with respect to
school-houses. Children can learn to
read, and write, and spell, and even
founder through all the ornamental
branches" in 3 building as plain as =
Quaker bonnet; but they cannot study
to advantage, nor keep strong and
healthy, if the air in the school-room is
close and poisonous. 1t is not beyond
the reach of human achievement to Sc
cure pure air in school-rooms; and it
ought to be the first consideration, in
planning the building, to provide for
such an abundant supply of sweet air
that the rooms shall never be unwhole.
somely close, no matter how many chill
dren are placed in them. If parents
understood the absolute necessity of
this to the physical and mental growth
of their children, they would insist upon
thorough ventilation with even more
urgency than they insist upon through
instruction.
| The season is now at hand when
houses must be closed against the bit
ing winter winds. Our churches and
school-rooms, heated with stoves or
furnaces, will continue to be, as here
toforc, manufactures of slow poison,
unless special care is taken to provide
for the admission of ousidc air in some
proper way. We commend the subject
to the attentive consideration of church
and school trustees. They cannot do a
greater service to those whose material
interests are committed to them than to
make ample provision for the thorough
ventilation of the buildings under their
care. They have rs trustees no more
pressing duty to perform than this
Examiner anu Chronicle.
| The Sparrow War.
Once npOn time certain King of
Prussia found fault with the sparrow,
long before it was brought over here
and subjected to the prevailing storm
| of unfriendly criticism that is now beat
ing upon its hardy head and energetic
struggle for existence. The magnatc
aforesaid was fond of currants, big rcd
Dutch currants, and row of richly
laden bushes, which his gardener was
cultivating in confident pride for the
ultimate dclectation of the royal pal
ate, was the subject of more attention
from His Majesty than the gorgeous
flower parterrcs or the clumps of semi
tropical foliage, transplanted to please
his eye, here and there throughout the
princcly gardens. When the berries
were almost blushing in full crimson
beauty Of ripcncss, His Royal Highncss
made the unpleasant discovery that null
titudcs ofsparrows not only coveted the
fruit rs much rs he, but that they had
eaten them all before he could muster
an alarm, mount guard and pick the
clusters for himself.
A quaint chronicler tells us, there
upon, that the wrath of His Highness
Twas not confined to single or repeated
explosions CT disgust ON the garden
walks, but that an cdict was published
at once ordering the determination of
the Pyrgila don,est,ca; and SO thorough
ly did the vassals of the crown carry
out this law that the unhappy sparrows
were literally eliminated from the
Prussian realms. Then this old histo-
rian goes on to say that to the great
surprise of "His Majcstic'' the currant
bushes were not permitted, after the
expulsion of these birds, to render serv-
ice after their kind, for a strange fly
next year followed, and "did cate We
leaves so extensively that the shrubs
again failed in bearing; and so on, sea-
son after season, until the King, weary
II seeing the ravage, revoked the de-
cree of death to the sparrow, and actu-
ally paid out of the royal treasury some
eight hundred Thousand dollars in tho
form of rewards to his people for their
zeal in bringing the exiled birds back.
Thus the sparrow, which we have
brought over from the Continent. is no
stranger to persecution, and the success
with which he fights for living here
augurs well for his future; but, like all
other people of pronounced character,
he has decided phases of good COM
mingled with much that is as decidedly
evil, hence his friends and his foes have
arisen, and the overburdened refrain
of their angry disavowals and recrimi-
nations is spread out within the columns
Of the press wherever men can read in
this country. Professor II. W. Elliott,