The National tribune., 1889-09-19
CHAPTER XXXIv.
HOME RrMrn1rs-feontinuedl.

HOME REMEDIEs-(c -(continued).
few years ago a companion of the traveller
Vambery was captured by troop of Afghan
border bandits and dragged about from camp
to camp for nearly seven months before no
managed to effect his escape. How l sur
vived those thirty weeks is puzzle to myself"
he writes in communication to Vienna
newspaper, "and / do not wish to weary my
readers by describing all tho hardships, cruel
ties and insults had to endure; but j will say
this, that if i should have TO live my life over
again, with the proviso of having to undergo
the same period of similar wretchedness, L
would prefer annihilation as blest alternative.
Whatever of enjoyments a world like ours may
have in store for man, there is not one chance
in million that their value would outweigh
the horrors of an experience like mine"
For similar reasons people who arc obliged
to undergo the martyrdom Of Summer-lle In
the sweltering cities of our Atlantic seaboard
might be pardoned for entertaining serious
doubt if life, on the whole, is worth living
and if all its probable and possible blessings
weighed against those IA weeks Of yearly mis-
cry, would not make it sadly evident that It's
somewhat better not to be-"
There can be no reasonable doubt that the cit
les of the future will be as fully equipped with
the means of cooling houses in Summer as the
towns of the present age are provided with ar
raugements for the production of artificial
porary families of moderate means can coDtrive to
combine a Summer in town with anything like
ali endurable existence. Il have often wonder
ed, writes friend of mine, how long per-
son of average vitality could stand it, If such
Summer weather as ours were to last the year
round. For the last six weeks ] have not got
ghost of n chance for anything that deserves
to be called good nights rest. ! sit up in bed,
tanning away for dear life or fighting mus
ketoes and after giving up tho hope OF finding
| a cool corner anywhere else, i resign myself TO
the inevitable and roll over-not 10 sleep, but
to faint and pass six or seven hours in sort of
a fever trance, enlivened by occasional dreams
of trip to the foot of Mount Vesuvius with
hot cinders coming down in a thick shower
Five hundred musketo- bites per hour | take
to be the nightly average in this town. (not
hundred miles from Chesapeake Bay,l but
musketo- bars i'm such n temperature are out OF
the question. i would rather BIO tackled by
vampires than miss the chaDre of getting the
benefit of the cool air current which now aud
then springs up about an hour after midnight.
Just as it gets really cool have to get up aud
dress, with a lingering impression Of having
been cheated out of my right 10 strength
restoring rest. But what can do about it2"
What. indeed? How few Of the millions of
our felow-citizens. most sorely in need of
"strength-rcstorng rest" can afford to seek
| that rest in the mountains Still, as in Dantes
always choice Of lesser evils, even in tho un-
airiest towns of our East American lowlauds.
In the first place. every foot of vertical dis
| tance from the fat levels of the down town
! quarters makes very apprcciable difference.
! A nickel or two day for strect-car ride from
the hill suburbs To the business ceuters is an OK
| eelent investment, even If coupled with tho
necessity Of leaving bed an hour earlier every
morning. The night breeze too makes itself
felt at least an hour sooner on the uplands. and
thus compcnsates the lost chance for Sleep be-
| sides making that sleep little more worth its
name. BY actual measurement the thermal
| difference between Arlington ii ghts, near Bos
| ton, Mass. aud the neighborhood of Fremont
| or Franklin street, has been found 10 vary from
81 TO IL degrees Fahrenheit in Spring. and from
| 5 10 10 degrees in Midsummer. College Hill,
near Cincinnati, o.. is only about 900 feet
| higher than the downtown quarters, yet that
moderate elevation not only secures a comfort
able rest every night of the year but ataTes
the musketo plague by NJ least 80 per cent.
The slopes Of the hill in the Immediate neigh.
| borhood of the Mil Creek Valley arc studded
with cottages actually one. half cheaper than less
roomy quarters ia the torturc-dens Of the down
town slums; yet those slums are overcrowded,
while the hill cottages, by scores and hun.
dreds, display their " For Rent" tablets In
vain. The distance 10 center-town factories. II
is true. rather exceeds four miles, but steam
and electricity reduce the loss Of time TO 10
minutes. and the round-trip fare 10 10 centsl
ii only fraction Of the average sums expand-
ed by the visitor Of soda stands and lageF-on-
ice shops in their desperate efforts 10 =" cool Of,
not to mention the risk of far more serious cx.
penses when nature at last aveuges the repctl.
ton of the sanitary outfagcs by penalties which
uuinine aud tonic bitters fail To relieve. No;
mentioning, either, the loss OF physical viRoi
aud the consequent loss Of working capacity
The life shortening tendency Of Midsummer
martyrdom can be computed only by tens aud
dozens Of years, though under the ciTenm
stances that result must DO included rather
under the redeeming dispcnsations OF mercifu
Nature
Upstairs rooms, In Midsummer, are not apt
TO be specially comfortable, but experience ha.
proved the curious fact that the upper fats o.
tenements exceeding six-st0ries enjoy re
matkablc immunity from the visits Of tipuiary
insects, though the same insects afIlct the base
nents Of dwelling houses OIL low hills AZ leve
with the top floors Of the tall tehements. Tht
explanation seems to be that musketos rarely
rise above certain hight from terra frnd
They stray 10 certain distance from theii
breeding places near the river shore, and, flying
along the ground. may reach hil.tops AS much
as a hundred feet above ryer-leyel, but only by
following the slopes of such hills. steep
vertical elevation OF 60 feet seems TO exceed
their range and, taught by similar xperionce
the planters OF the Orinoco Valley pass THEN
nights on pdlotddds, or frame turrets, raised ik,
the trestlework Of high bridge. 10 an elevation
OF 80 feet or more above the damp river bottoms
where gnats make night.life an absolutely in
supportabc torture (some OF the smaller vari
, ties being able TO penetrate the meshes OF til,
finest musketO-scrcenj while the sleeper OF
top Of the palotada can rest comfortably with
out any screen at all. The tenement babels o
our great cities thus have their redeeming fca
tures but the same peryersity that makes min,
out Of ten workmen prefer the gwelteriBg slum
10 the airy hill-suburbs has brought the lowe
flats of towerlike apartment buildings to
considerable premium, while the upper storie
are apt 10 stand vacant. especially at the yery
time Of the year when their mmunities c0ult
help TO lessen the misery of the dog day season
The only adequate explanation Of that pref
> erencc for dead levels is the hereditary iustinc
developed in the lOwlands Of Northwestern
: = European instinct which likewise manifest
= itself in the exodus craze of our southern high
landers. who leave the paradise OF the uppe
Alleghanies TO settle in some treeiess Gehenn
y Of the Far West. Inclined planes would maxi
= IL quite possible 10 locate n whole city with al
. its factories and cottage colonies on the uppe
levels of lofty plateau, where the semblanc
u Of fat ground might reconcile our hill dreadin
! conntrymen 10 the altitude of their situation
, but in the meantime persons who can manag
: 10 rise above the bias Of tho hereditary preiu
dice may enjoy all the advantages Of an un
= fashionable, and consequently inexpensive
:, privilege.
II ITO be eontinledJ