Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1897-11-09
ART OF KEEPING WARM.
RUSSIAN PEOPLE MAKE WINTER TIL
PLEAsANrEsr TINE OF THE YEAR.

II you want to spend = perfectly CON-
Portable winter and never know what Il
is TO be cold, or 70 wish for the happy
days Of spring, come here 70 Russia
OF course, there are plenty Of places IN
our own blessed and enliehtened land
where everybody knows how tn make
winter \ pleasant season, but 10 Europ
IL Is different. 10 all Western Europe
have found not single country whers
winter is what we would call endurabh
much less pleasant. The days ar
generally damp and raw, and often quite
cold, but still the Inhabitants seem e.
live In the fond delusion that nature will
keep them warm and comfortable, auG
fur ithermo e, that IL II entirely un-
necessary for them TO assist nature In
this matter.
But 10 Russia all Il different. There
they expecct IL TO be cold, they know II
| will be cold, and the people make y
speciality Of keeping warm. And likf
most specialists, they come much nearer
attaining perfection than do ordinary
| mortsls.
So II you want to be warm anywhere
In Europe during the winter, keep ava,
from Euglsnd with It's fogs and rain
Don't 20 to Italy where there are only y
few stoves 10 the whole kingdom. Ger
many avoid rs you would the plague
there you can never get much sbov,
freezing point. But 60 70 Russis II you
love warmth and comfort Indoors and
without, bright days and sunshine, and
dry, bracing air, and cheerful, bright.
faced people. That's the place to b.
really comfortable and TO epj,y winter
and everything pertaining to Il, there
where the thermometer Il from zero q
10 below, where the snow, as dry and
hard xs sand, crunches under your feet
with = pleasant crisp sound, where your
breath makes . little cloud before you,
and sometimes little icicies on the edg,
Of the great fur collar that reaches to
the top Of your head.
In the frst place the houses are bulls
for winter. The doors are double, the
windows are double and the walls srs n
yard thick. Some time about the latter
part OF October, the windows are all
closed for the winter, and thoroughly
sealed 10 every crack with putty. But
la every room there Is one tiny pane OH
hinges, In both inside and outside win
dows. Every morning for about ten
minutes these psnes are opened. The
rest Of the ventilation is secured by two
little openings Into the room--one ih
the floor, la the corner, the other In the
ceiling, 10 the opposite corner. In thi.
way fresh air comes from somewhere
and bad air goes somewhere else, and
the result Is that the atmosphere OF The
rooms IL usually good.
The heating OF these houses ID fine
art. IL was great surprise 10 me at
first when discovered that the only fuel
used in Russia IL wood. To my Ameri-
can mind a wood fire meant a great.
glowing, sparkling, beautiful fire, with
logs piled high sni flames leaping up 4
wide, black-throsted chimney, q poetic
and romantic sort OF flrc, but rather In
adequate when the thermometer Is below
zero, when your back will free ~
even while you sit on the very hearth
with your feet inside the fender. Such
Was my Idea Of wood ire, and 10 hear
that all Russia WAS kept warm during
the long, deadly cold winters solely By
wood fres WAS necessarily somewhat OF
q shock to me. have since learned
that there are other ways OF having
wood fires besides our wssteful Ameri-
can way-not so beautiful, perhaps, and
not at all picturesque or romantic, but
certainly strictly useful. For with rs
much wood as man can carry 10 not
over full arm load large room Ia Russia
Is kept at = temperature OF 40 or 10 de-
grees for twenty-four hours. On tn
usually cold days they have two "heat-
ings," but In ordinary westher-that Il,
with the thermometer around zer0-one
heating day Is enough.
A heating Is very mysterious process.
I don't understand it at all. l only tell
IL As IL appears to me. Iu each room
there IL stove, built generally OF white
porcelain tiles. IL is 3 orr feet square
and reaches nearly TO the ceiling. Near
the bottom Ia brass door, and near the
TOD another smaller one. There are
also several little round brass caps that
fit over certain little holes In the side Of
the stove. To me, however, the work
ings Of these are rs mysterious IS Bill
Nye's parlor stove, the ''fearfully and
wonderfully made" In which to increase
the heat you were 70 "slide forward the
camera and grease the aurora borealis. !"
In the morning the man brings In an
armful of wood-ten or dozen sticks
opens the big brass door st the bottom,
and builds fire. Then he climbs up on
step ladder and opens the top door,
and takes out q thing that looks like q
stove lid, from somewhere in the inter
nal regions Of the stove. The fire Is al