The true northerner., 1881-04-29
A PLEA FOR PURE AIR.
BY MRS. A. Z. DICKINSON.

poem with the above title in dialect style,
but full of good sense and humor, occasionally
takes tour through the papers. have not seen
il OF late, but wish some one would resurrect it
and start it again on its mission. II would bear
an annual revival, for,-is l. not strange that
with all our modern improvements, our expen-
sive luxuries and elaborate decorations, pure
air Is so often kept out Of our dwellings, our
audience rooms, and especially OF our churches.
We shver at the picture of the village meeting
house OF hundred years ago, where our fore
fathers and foremothers sat through the long
services without fires, except the little foot
stoves Ca concession TO feminine weakness)
while the keen, eager winds thrust themselves
through every crack and crevice OF the roughly
built structure. They had no softly cushioned
seats or carpeted floors, but they did have pure
air without which they could not have borne
the ordeal and kept strong and vigorous in
body as in soul.
In how many or our modern churches is
there always drowsy, dreamy atmosphere,
which has almost come to be considered q ne
cessary accompaniment OF the solemn organs
peal? ? You sink upon the cushioned seat with
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organ swell and die away, mingling with the
trained voices Of the singers The minister be-
gins his theme, and you settle yourself to lis
ten for his oratory is expected 10 harmonize
with The cathedral symphony. He may satisfy
your expectations, but in spite OF his earnest,
solemn message to your waiting soul, Ycu find
yourself growing drowsy and your thoughts
wandering afar in dim indstinctness. You
rouse yourself You Will listen. That is fine
thought well expressed, but again the senses
are soothed as by an anesthetIc, the voice OF
the speaker sounds afar of as IN dream, and
the sun beams falling aslant the still worship
pers, mingle with the sheen OF velvet and SATIN
aud plume and wing and blossom in q fantastic
Kaleidoscope view. You recall yourself with
start. You sit bolt upright. You cast stealthy
glances around TO see il you neighbors have
observed your ipdecorum, But. no, on their
faces is reflected the same dreamy languor
against which you are struggling. By this time
dull PAIN Weighs heavily on your organ Of
vsneration and presses down the eye-lids.
Is it total depravity? Is 1t shocking lack
OF reverence and devotion? Is it the influence
OF tricky imps, who would defraud Ivour spirit
Of the heavenly mama? Not at ell. 1t is
simply that you are breathing impure air
which is clogging and poisoning the circulation,
and unless some one is wise enough to let in
current OF fresh air, you spend an hour OF tor
ture and then pass gladly out with an exhIlara-
ting sense Of relief; and your attendance upon
the house OF God, which should have been .
consecrated season OF worship and communion,
leaves but the impression OF troubled dream.
Why is that with all our modern knowledge and
modern appliances for ventilation, pure air is
so often denied US? How is that sluggish con-
gregations sit 80 quietly, Sabbath after Sabbath,
IN an atmosphere OF somnolence? How con-
tinual,y you bear the little hacking cough by
which weak lungs feebly protest against the
vtiated air. Do not they know what Is the
matter? Why does not the minister admopish
the sexton, instead OF bemoaning his own lack
Of earnestness and the apathy OF his people?
AS indigestion and torpid liver, more than
moral obhquity may sometimes cause all sorts
OF ebullitions OF llltemper, so may not the lack
OF pure air in our churches sometimes accouu,
for the lethargy OF pastor and people? John
the Baptist himself, or st. Paul, could not ava
ken fervor where there was not enough oxygen
in the air to feed the flame. As, then, you
would feed the starving and warm the shver-
ing before preaching to them the Gospel OF
Peace. see to il also that enough pure air is
furnished to fill the hungry lungs and send the
life blood coursing with vigor through the veins
before you can expect to awaken interes. and
inspire zeal even in the truths which pertain
to the salvation OF the soul and the llfe eternal
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