The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1892-08-06

Al was only nttle NHlie ago
heard lady visitor here say she be-
lieved we did not know hot weather
in West Virginia-that for lack OF
any intimate acquaintance with it we
labeled very mild and gentle upris-
ings of the mercury intensely hot. y
/ suppose our recent efforts in the di
rection of an unmistakable variety
of weather have caused her to change
her mind.
We have all been told we should
not discuss this subject, and as / am
disposed in most things to do as
nearly right as know how, l have
no intention of doing so, but have
noticed that many people who should
have been occupied in making them
selves examples for the following of
those around them, have really was
ted great deal of time and the little
energy they had recently in berating
the heat. 1t didn't seem to make
any difference, and the mercury show
ed no signs of weakening-kept on
acting Excelsior in very pro-
nounced way, while indignation did
largely make the heat it fed on.
There's no denying we had some very
uncomfortable days, nor is there any
denying that the least uncomfortable
people were those who met them in
as severe state of mind as possible.
/ tried it both ways, when the mer-
curry fingered about one hundred, and
l prefer the latter way. However,
there are always people to tell one
how to keep cool-after a hot wave
has passed, and I'm not coming for
ward with any original method. We
we're doubtless all warned that COM
fort was not to be found by way of
the soda fountain or ice cream par
Tor, that iced tea was delusion and
iced water suicide, but we all went
on our way denouncing all cool things
that were presented us-and buying
them for ourselves when they were
not presented, and while we cannot
say we attained any state of positive
frigidity, we are living monuments
of endurance of the extremes of heat
and cold simultaneously applied, and
as such, should be interesting speci
mems to scientists.
x~x
/ have heard that there are realms
where the weather is never mention
ed; where the sun shines so unfail-
ingly from cloudless skies during the
dry season, and the rain is so certain
to fall each day during the wet, that
there is nothing for any one to say
on the subject. Weather habits when
so firmly established cease to excite
remark. Still when a thermometer
forms habit Of registering from one
hundred and ten to one hunderd and
twenty it is difficult to understand
why human nature preserves silence,
unless it be unable to speak Too
hot for utterance, it must be, because
all such well behaved regions have
remarkable heat records.
~
There is o whole volume of mean
ing in the recommendation Of a cele-
brated New York physician that peo-
pie should cultivate ''hobbies.n He
calls them "safety valves" and says
they should be as far divergent as
possible from the line of ones ordi-
nary occupation. So Cleveland does
very wise thing when he loses sight
of Presidential possibilities in bis
fondness for fishing, and Gladstone
is frightening his years by throwing
aside the cares of State and resting
by cutting trees. There are some
people who cannot rest outright, and
for these, doing something different,
which they really like to do, relieves
them from mental strain in one di-
rection, and allows their energies
time to reeuperate.
Then there are great many PEG
pie who have no purpose in life-to
whom a hobby may mean some rea-
son-even little one-for existence.
or all wearing, irritating things, to
have nothing definite to accomplish,
to see no especial end to be attained
is surely the most trying To feel
ones energies going to waste because
not directed into any particular chan
mel, to see ones vitality of no use be
cause weakly expended on host of
useless, unimportant affairs is almost
uncomfortable. People with nothing
to do, who have mental, moral and
| physical natures normally developed,
must find themselves in this undesir-
able condition, and to such people a
hobby must be a rest from the weari-
ness of long resting.
~
| The subject of road making is one
of practical interest to every citizen
in our country, but particularly a
matter worthy of the farmers CON
sideration. For months in the year
he is shut off from the markets, and
the wear and tear of bad roads, even
when passable, on his vehicles and
horses amounts to a good deal from
a financial standpoint
There has recently been very gen
eral agitation of the subject, and APP
peals have been sent out to the news
papers of the country asking that
they use their influence in arousing
a sufficient interest to demand some
thing definite in the way of an exhib
it at the Columbian Exposition. 1t
is estimated that the Exposition will
be training school for twenty mil
lions of people, and the people it is
most necessary to reach will be cas-
lest reached by means of it.
As at present arranged, one inter
ested in road making will have to
visit five enormous buildings located
at long distances from each other,
and having an aggregate area of sew
enty-nine and three -tenths acres. 1t
stands to reason that not many will
take the trouble to investigate mat
ter SO difficult of access. 1t is desired
to collect in one building all the APP
planes found useful in good road
making, and it is expected that each
State will contribute cross sections
of its best constructed roads, show
ing the methods best adapted to par
ticular localities, and having in mind
the material available The sections
need not be long. 1t is estimated
that each can be shown on form
ten feet long by three wide. Models