The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-06
SUBURBAN WINTER JOYS.
VALUE OF THE FURNACE TO THB
MAN VINO OYERSLEEPS.

"NNht ~ NV WV ~ Ou07N
Acqunintnnccs Little RevenEea Poas,s,e
when the Snow Is Deep rho Furnace Mas.
Snow and cold weather and clear bracinR
air are all right at tho proper time, but they
have their Drawbacks" said Suburbanito al
luncheon yesterday.
Didn't | caution you against moving into
tho country" said Tho Boy, who lives In dark.
est Brooklyn.
you did" said Suburbnnite promptly, but
just consider where you went yourself. don't
have to work my way home by jumping from
branch to branch in order to avoid trolley cars
and sandbags.'
Personally. l prefer that method to going
cross-country 10 the station on showshoes,"
said Tho 10y. Tho bronch-to branch method
OF vending your way home increases your
reach at handball and II expands the chest and
cures insomnia
THAT isn't to be compared with shaking
down the furnace for exercise. ;" said Suburban.
tic. "Sou don't know much about furnaces, Of
course, and neither did l until I moved into the
country. One class of licensed bandits in su.
burban towns comprises the men who .allega
that they attend to your furnace. It's merely
pretencc. Of course, but you pay for It at 20
much n pretend. l think that the man who at
tends to my furnace must also run o milk routo
simply for exercise. 1o Is one of the cold
weather developments, YOU know. In the
summer time he sets up a coach or opens his
cottage in the Adirondacks or goes abroad. M
suits the convenience OF q man of his imp0rs
lance. l suspect that the milk route Is an adj
junct OF his regular business because of the
early hour at which no calls in the morning.
Lantern in hand he sneaks into tho cellar,
gives the furnace a gentle shake for fear OF
arousing the household, throws on a shovel Of
coal and sneaks out. At 4 o'clock In the aft5r-
noon. or about twelve hours after his first visit,
he again makes a pretcnce of attending to your
furnace. That is all he does except once a month
he comes around with his bill. Now, no self.
respecting furnace can do business.with SO little
attention as that, and the consequence is that
l know something about furnaces myself.
jumping from branch to branch may increase
your reach for handball, but l insist that shak-
ing down a furnace will improve your stroke al
golf. 1t is of advantage in other ways. For
instance, IL you happen to oversleep and miss
your train. instead OF swearing at your alafm
clock and the railroad schedule collectively and
individually you 30 into the cellar and shake
down the furnace. 1t always noeds 10, you
know, and the more viciouslv you do 1t the
better for tho fire. At the end Of five minutes
you won't have energy enough left to get angry
at any one. You see, Boy. there arc more
things in the country, than you ever dreamed
OF In your philosophy"
Little bit cool up there. too. isn't it1".
We'll, yes, it is answered Suburbanite.
rubbing IA frost. bitten car tendelIy. Cold
weather in the country has its drawbacks. but
1t also has compensating features. If you re-
member last Tuesday night was really cold. I
had, been to tho theatre ard had neglected to
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS me for n moment. i found
that four waite; color pictures in the hall had
inch thick. l cut tho ice out Of the frames and
them tnenq / nave nave p pla wsi All al Of S'G my S " erys,iSai n sR me
coolest room Ia sthe house every night and,in
the TT nG %a.t be I f piesssn q y fs Ea sG0a Al ice so s5op nste,
colors hung in your BEDROOM said Tho Boy.
Cold weather and snow, in the country
sncer, give you n strong personal inter.
est in your'neiEhbors which cannot be acquired
your block, You don't caro- anything about
your ,neighborss, Boy, and that Is a heathenish
them in the summer time. l do now. For in
stance, there is Jones. l learned his name
on The same avenue as mine, but two blocks
nearer tho station. Until snow fell l never
! can trIthfuily say that / didn't care. Now
it is different. l know his name is Jones be-
cause | made 1t my business to find out. He
when heard that. Jones doesn't know me
now; but the time will come. Boy. when he
then let me tell you that il Jones runs for office
at the next election l am going to take two
fires and anti-Joncs parades until l defeat him.
Why am against Jonesi lie doesn't keep his
oiuc"dih CIcdl, tndl > WHY. Jones just letb
the snow stay there and pack down. His
walk. now is covered with nearly a foot OF snow
packed hard. l made it my business to know
two more of my ncighbors for the same rea-
son.. Tho winter widcns your circle OF ac-
quaintances in a suburban town amazingly.
You divide all of your neighbors into two
classes, those who do and those who don't
keep their sidewalks clean, and how you de-
spise the latter. That's better than not know
ing anything about them. Yesterday morning,
just as our train was ready to pull out and
was stepping, on board. he conductor, who is
an obliging chap, and will sometimes hold his
train half a minute TO allow IL man TO make it.
said to me:
Mr.. Suhurhanitc, isn't that a commuteR
trying to make this train way down there q
II looked. and in the centre OF the road, max.
ing the snow fly as he ran, was. Jones. He
was too busy running to holler. but 1 knew
that he. wanted 10 make the train.
No said | to the conductor, that isn't .
man trying for this train. It's a neighbor of
mine, who has been ordered by his physician
TO run down TO the station and back every day.
"All aboard shouted the conductor. and as
wo pulled out saw Jones come ~plunging into
the station. If no had kept his sidewalks
clean he might have been aboard our train. I
didn't mind piunging through .Jones's snow 50
much last night