The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-09-14
The Reft4eeratinr Arr.

deed. the great majority-whose pc
cunlary circumstances are such thai
they cannot dwell in palaces or kings
houses, nor yet in summer villas by the
sea, or among the mountains, bu
whose little homes in crowded towns OF
on small farms owe all their comfOr
and their charm, so far as they have
afiv, to the taste and the efforts of those
that live in them.
1t is hard to endure heated term in
these homes of theirs; and the resident:
sit still or 60 about their household
tasks there in the state of disrepair oc
casloned by burning skins, wet clothes
consciousness of heated appearance
AMI general n,aldise. during such sol
stitial periods, except when here and
there there is one SO fortunate as tc
know how to moderate the heat ana
maintain the temperate GOODNESS where
others know only an unspeakable tor
ment of heat.
But in these narrow homes almost al
may reduce the temperature to point
within the confines of comparative
comfort by means of little thought
and work before the heat arrives.
| If, to begin with, the heavy
carpet, though it be perhaps the
pride of the heart, were abolished, and
in its place the floor were stained
round the edges, which the house.
mistress can very well do herself
| (taking care not to do too much at
once, so as to be made ill with the
turpentine), and a rug laid in the Gen.
ter-a rug which can be made of old
carpeting, with border of other old
carpeting-a much less surface for
boarding warmth will be left, and one
of the DEGREES of fashion respected into
the bargain. Quite as good plan also
to obtain a cool surface will be to put
down straw mating over the whole
floor in place OF the wooden carpet,
which gives 4 sensation of GOODNESS to
the mere eyesight, even if it does not
add GOODNESS itself. while its slight cost
will be more than made up by the four
or five months saving of the heavy
carpet that is put away. Moreover, if
the brown stain of the edges were made
to extend over the entire surface. and
no rue at all laid down, unless small
one at the door, or before sofa, the
effect would be quite as pleasing. and,
wiped over occasionally with a damp
mop, it would reflect GOODNESS instead
of heat, and in itself bring 4 refriger-
ating process into the house.
In the next place, if there is no small
outer building which can be used to do
the cooking and washing in, a kerosene
or a gas stove can be used to great adj
vantage for the time being, doing all
really essential work sufficiently well,
and Kidding the house of the hot box
of kitchen where range or cast-iron
cooking stove usually makes the place
suggestive of little Tophet. Where
there is also yard room enough
s.Dutch-oven' sort of arrangement over
a small charcoal furnace, similar to
that carried about by the plumber, will
answer for a clothes boiler, and the
washing may be done under shelter of
an awning made of sheet stretched
there over two tall clothes poles, it
there are no boughs of trees to answer
the purpose, the washer famed by q
breeze while about her work. or at any
rate spared the heat of stove in an in
closed room, and the worst nuisance
of all housekeeping, with its steam and
doors and warmth and slop, eliminated
from the house and from the family ex-
perience.
Thus rid of hot floors and hot fires,
the next requisite for GOODNESS is to
provide plenty of generous draughts
and not to be afraid of them; for a
draught is the only thing that will cool
of a heated surface, and in the course
of its passage through the house from
door to door and window to window it
sweeps flies and dust before it. To
procure this draught false doors and
window-screenS of wire netting will
have to be dismissed in degree, but
all the discomfort arising from their
dismission will be counterbalanced by
the pleasure of the increased GOODNESS.
Open doors, then, and open windows
and open shutters on every side except
that where the sun shines, or where it
is reflected from a hot opposite surface,
should be the rule for our cool house,
letting in the first sunlight of the morn
ing or the very last of the afternoon in
order to prevent dampness, but no
other, keeping blinds or else awnings
between the direct rays of
the sun and the glass which so readily
heats and so long retains the heat, and
how grateful to the eye
stung by too much light is the green
shade of the old-fashioned shutter; |
open doors, too, at night will be found !
of great advantage, when a thin, dark |
curtain across the doorway will secure |
all necessary privacy. There are peo-
pie who find a pillow in hammock !
suspended from corner to corner of a |
room cooler than any mat
tress or spring which can be found.
To this cool house add now body |
kept cool by clothing put on exactly as
the weather calls for it, not prevented |
bv fears of taking cold with change |
when the weather itself has so changed |
as to demand it, and by healthy cool
ing diet instead of heating one-a
diet consisting chiefly of vegetables,
with fruit where it can be afforded,
with cold meats rather than hot ones,
with no stimulating drinks other than
cold tea, with lemonade or spring
water or milk for thirst, and COM
Portable condition will be found when
others less thoughtful and wise are
of the heated term, and
living in constant terror of sun-strokes
and horrid phenomena of nature. In
4 house where the conditions are thus
regulated. well cooled in the early
and all day swept by currents
Of air without sun, the comfort can be-
with the health, there will
DO no fidgeting and exclaiming about
burning and blistering and perspiring,
he nerves will be at rest instead of
being rasped and worn out with the