Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-24
ABOUT NEXT WINTER.
Some Becoming Thoughts for the
Closing Days Of Summer.
HOW HUMANITY LIKES EXTREMES.
Things That in the Distance Look Delight.
full Don't Prove So.
AN EXPERIMENT IN COUNTRY LIFE
WRITTEN roR THE prseATcH.1

Liability to sunstroke may be lessened oy
meditating upon frost bites. Thunder storms
may be less terrifying if we reflect upon
billiards.. Therefore at the close OF August
it is well to dwell upon plans tor mitigating
the atrocities of the frigid season.
A very queer thing about human nature
is the abiding disposition to cure one form
OF discom tort by adopting another form OF
discomfort We always insist that the re-
action shall be at least equal to the action.
We are not satisfied to let the
| pendulum drop to the perpendicular;
we wish it to swing beyond that to q
point opposite the point it swung from. If
we have become tired out with walking We
want to become tired out with riding. We
| are sure that felon on the hand would be
| greatly relieved BY bunion on the loot
Last winter there were discontented sous
| who complained that the season was un-
kind to them and permitted them no COM
fort. The snow-what little there was-was
nuisance. The frost nipped them. The
cold withered them. The wind pierced
their very bones and would not be kept out.
They could not stir from the fireside with
out wrapping up, and to wrap up was
sore trouble.
Making Winter Out Of Summer.
But now, to escape these torrid terrors
that environ them, those same people seek
out the coolest places they can find to flee
to. If they can find some far mountain
where ice and snow abound, they re-
joice. They write boastful letters to
the sweltering friends at nome
about show cold it is" in their
haven of refuge. They brag about the
overcoats they have to wear; the blankets
they have to sleep under; the fires they have
to sit by; the ice that has formed in their
washbasins. 1t seems very odd when you
come to analyze it. Is it any pleasanter,
then, to be uncomfortably cold in August
than it is In January? If the time OF year
makes the difference between comfort and
discomfort, why not go once for all to the
South Temperate Zone where the seasons
are reversed? There you can wear over
coats in July, believe, and 60 in your
shirtsleeves in February
But, OF course, that is not what makes the
difference. Nothing makes difference,
but the intense sense OF contrast which
belongs to our national temperament. 1t
impels us to fly from the evils we suffer to
the opposite evils, which seem good because
we have forgotten that they are bad. One
hundred in the shade is sure to convince Us
that zero is the most desirable mark on the
thermometer.
But about next winter? Next winter zero
will convince US that 100 is the proper
figure. Therefore now is the proper and
unprejudiced time to consider that matter.
If torrld temperature Is thing to flee from
now, why is it thing to covet six months
henee? To pant and perspire are not
pleasant things to do now; why should they
be any pleasanter after awhile? To-day
the man who should suggest to US "per-
petual summer" would be smitten hip and
summer" idea be so beguiling later on?
Because then we will have forgotten what it
is like, and will be occupied with the dread
Of perpetual winter.
Flies and Mosquitoes.
A few facts, gathered while the summer
is present, may be handy for reference
some months in the future, when
the summer is thing of dim memory
and ardent longing. They will be
of especial value and comfort then to the
people who cannot get away, but must re-
main in the grasp OF winter whether they
like or not. Why. in the miraculous pro-
cesses of evolution, flies should ever have
been developed from the all-originating pro-
toplasm. is thing past finding out. Per-
haps they had to exist somewhere, and it
was judged that this pleasant world with all
the blessings that endow it. could endure
them better than any other place. At all
events flies exist actively in the world-in
summer time. None of US are bald, but
some OF us have thin places on our heads.
Those Of us who have can testify whether
flies add to the comfort OF the season which
is their own; whether they do not rather
make it a time of torment and of much peril
to souls.
Mosquitoes, alsoi Is there any doubt
about mosq uitoes? One of them can make
life burden grieyous to be borne. To feel
the poisoned wdknd and then to hear the
assassin brag about it will make a philoso-
pher frantic, and will cause a stole to rage
Mosquitoes come with the summer time; and
alas! they stay until the going thereof.
These are two OF the facts that belong to
summer. They belong to it exclusively,
and they belong to it inevitably. ANY
summer sufferer can extend the list indef-
nitely. Let him write down such memoranda
as he can summon the energy the write, and
post the slip of paper somewhere so that he
cannot help seeing it bye and bve Let
him write humidity" on it; and "red-hot;"
and the number of thunder storms that ter
SriIy, and OF cyclones that threaten; and the
ruin that comes of buying ice; and the jeso-
lation that comes of not buying it; and the
mildew that comes upon his garments
and his books; and the mold that
spoils his food sometimes; and the disap-
pointment Of not having peaches when he
expected peaches; and multitude of other
such summer pleasantnesses. He will find
the little list inexpressibly comforting next
winter when he is longing for perpetual
summer" and cannot spare the time or
money to hunt Tor it.
An Immortal Fly.
There are certain reflections which will
add greatly to the peace OF mind of him
who re ers to the memoranda. Perpetual
summer means many things which recurring
summer does not mean. 1t means the con-
tinuance and accumulation of things which
speedily come to an end with us, and have
to begin all over again next time. Sub
tropical evils have the gathered force of a
past with all its experiences. Take
the sub-tropical fly, ior example.
Practically he is immortal. He does
not die in his early youth, to be succeeded
by infant flies which have to learn how
before they can do their worst. The brief
summer fly we suffer from is bad enough.
Think, then, how bad must be the fly with
the veteran memories of years to aid himl
And they have such long memories, those
sub-tropical fiesi Experience through
many years has fitted the p to deal with any
sort Of emergency. and he deals with it in
manner to make our infant flies at home
objects Of contempt