Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-30
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

This is that curious season, which
comes twice q year, when the house
holder is in doubt as to whether tc
have a furnace fire or not.
There is a time every Spring and
a time every Autumn when COM
mon sense fights with frugality. or
better, boredom with the furnace is
In conflict with judgment.
Perhaps, after all, 1t is not SC
much a matter of saving the price
of ton Of coal as of ending. with
one gesture, the nuisance of running
the furnace.
Even less than a gesture is neces-
sary, as the fire can be allowed to
expire without so much as raising
q hand. or the finger of one hand.
The trouble is that no sooner is
this consummated than the weather
takes a turn for the worse and 1t
becomes necessary to build up an
other fire.
Those heroic ones who SILVER many
days come into their own self-giyen
reward-a nice cold, cough or sore
throat. or any two Of these, or. per-
haps. all three.
The combinations TO be worked
out with a cold, cough and sore
throat are astonishingly varied
ranging from the illness that makes
one feel miserable, but still allows
puts the sufferer firmly into bed.
The hard part about the first is
that the crouch 1t brings must be
inflicted on office mates and neigh
bors. In the second instance. ones
troubles are kept more at home.
perhaps the best place for them
after ALL
Ones degree Of resistance to cold
must be the first thing to be consid
cred in this matter. Persons are con
stituted differently, in this respect as
in others, and what Is one mans
warmth is another's cold.
Save coal, If you will, but with all
your saving, be comfortable. The
price of q ton of coal is still-miracu
lousy enough--only equal to the cost
of about four theater tickets to one OF
the big shows.
At this season of the year, when
Spring hardly knows whether 1t is
here or not, the temperature inside
house is very apt to be less than
that outside, If there is no heat In
the domicile.
IuGTG is QucSllOi HiaAiS
homes put themselves to much dis.
comfort during these transition pc
RODS in Spring and Autumn simply
because the so.called head Of the
house is tired Of running the furnace.
After six months of attending the
heating system morning and night
with the administration Of coal. and
the shaking down Of ashes and the
removal Of same. one undoubtedly
does become very bored with the
whole process.
No mention is made here Of the oil
burner, for the vast ma jority of read
ers still have the thanksgiving va
riety, in which the shovel Is still the
major implement.
There Is a slicer bar, which is handy
to run In over the CRATE, to break
up clinkers, and there also Is a poker
with bar set sideways, called in some
households the ''golf stick" There
is. too, bar with wire brush on the
end. for cleaning ont fues.
A pair Of tongs ought to be sup.
piled with every coal-burning furnace.
With them it would be comparatively
easy to reach in to the firebed and
drag forth rebellious clinkers. where.
as the prevailing system, which calls
for the pushing forcibly back Of the
live Goals and the dragging forth of
the fused masses by means of the
"golf stick" sometimes works and
sometimes does not.