The Alaska citizen., 1910-11-14
THE PERKINS ROW
BY 4 NUMBER OF COLLECT ED STATISTICS.
OOCTOREO DATA GIVEN OUT
Why the Head of he House Re nounced His Intentions of Getting Cellar Heater to Save Wife's Life-She Ignores All.

The hour was o'clock in the eve aiug and Mrs. Perkins sat darning 1un of her stockings, and Mir. Per.
 -ius was surrounding the coal stove and shiyCriug now and then. By and ! ay, atcr Mrs. Perkins had heard Iim growing 10 himself half a i iozon times. she quietly observed: NIT. Perkins, you keep Q diary. l Please look it oyer for the first half 1 f last December" Any particular object?" he quer- led,
 T want 10 find what you said IaOou, hot air furnace on a cer- 1 raiH evening"
 I'm. um, Let me see. December. 1 Here Is the fst. 5th. 10th. It Is re corded here. my dear. that the eve l IaiuE oi Dstcnlgr n was stinger l Ne had this old stove red hot and were shiyeriug al that. Yes; it was zero and below
 And i-a't it recorded that you made any observations?
 Yes, it Is. On the evening in l n sriou I said that l would have i , furnace in this house if l lived to | he 1~t of MaF Do you wish to make any remarks on that observa- 1 ion?"
 Just a few. Mr Perkins. May i frame and went"
 "It surely did"
 And the sumner came and went" ] "I won't dispute it.'
 "AHl .he winter is half gone" aNes NT-. Perkins," And the furnace is not in yet i You are husging that stove, while l .hiyerS 20 mp and down your back i ! do not ask for explanations. l am simply r fcrring to the Perkins way If doing thinas."
 "I see the point I could see 1t i rTen if | weren't hugging the stove You wish for no explanation. but I reg the privilege If making a few. II g cm to have Lccn remiss. l seem Q have u~urrcd the functions of the l furnace and given out the hot air l myself"
 "Oh. you ~lll wigele out of it. i f coUr-e,' said Mrs. Perkins in her l lofty vav. When you bring what you call Eour philosophy to bear nothing an stand before it." Philosophy on the Subject. 'I m. um, Mrs. Perkins I was a i Eidower and you a widow. brought ,oca'lea philosophy to bear, and here 1 "e are as a C0nse1ucuce. Why not 'rinE the same to hear on the ques- 1 ion of furnace? In the first place i if was early in December. The man yho won't in December promise him elf T hot air furnace for a year
 7beai Is a shortsighted person" "Oh. it was just a promise. was Iit?"
 Tn good faith, madam-in the 1 best of faith. In facr. as recorded here in the diary. it was only four | lays later that I met Gillian, who nas 2 furnace in his home. l spoke ! f I'll" intentions 10 him, and he took ne by The hani, and in the most earnest and solemn manner and re- 1 piled:
 Perkins, don't do it. Hot air furnaces are killing off more peo- ] ple than tuberculosis. You are 1 breathing baked air half the time. 1 iod are inAaiing dust and cinders
 into your lungs. You are wantonly l "a5 ing money for coal. You are 'cwp,ing the cCal man to give you | i.SHe pounds fer a ton and thereby
 losing his soul
 He said that to me, Mrs. Per
 'tins, with tears rolling down his oherks. and could l call him a liar? | What kind of a husband would I nave been not to determine to in Te~tigafc further? Having married
 fou only two years ago, was to 1 fill yonr lungs with dust and cin- l ieys and kin you oT?" ! "NOnsense," she snapped. And so, having met Swift and '.nowiEg he had had a furnace for | ears I asked him if he had any ob- iec5ion7 10 them. He turned and an swered ne:
 Mir. Perkins, at this very minute men are in my cellar removing my l furnace. T. has aged me and my wife by twenty years It has sowed
 he seeds of consumption in my l children. Out t goes, and I shall re- | urn to coal stoves. Beware of the ! hot air furnace. Perkins-beWare
 The dear Mrs. Perkins will be | lead woman a month after you have
 put in one,'
 Those are the words he said as
 near as l can recollect them, and
 what was I to do? Put yourself in
 my place. Mrs. Perkins"
 You should have called him an
 idiot and got the furnace. Land l 5noWs, there's cinders and dust and
 1irt and ashes enough about an old
 coal stoye"
 Stove Man Gets in His Work.
 And then 1 made 1t a point to go
 10 MerriWeather. He is in the stove
 and furnace business, you know It
 is his business to sell them, but he
 IS truthful man When I asked | him if a hot air furnace was
 good thing he looked at me with
 nitFing eyes for a long minute and
 the replied;
 Perkins, do you want to kill off
 Mrs. Perkins in order to marry
 third? If you do then get a furnace.
 Why, man, the dust and cinders
 they throw out are killing tens of thousands of people every winter. i Haven't you read of that experiment
 ln Germany where furnace intro
 duced in a stable killed a strong
 bull in six weeks? Is that dear Mrs, ] Perhins stronger than bull?" That's what Merriweather said. and could l say that he was lying
 to me? Take the case as It Is, Mrs.
 Perkins"