Evening star., 1930-12-02
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

who somehow have acquired the belief
that nothing which is known should be
put into print, let us hasten to add that
those who are not subject to such COM
plants as colds, sore throats, coughs,
grips. infiuenzas and pneumonia ordi-
narily have little sympathy with those
who are.
To those who are by nature inclined
to catch" any of these diseases, Win
ter will ever be time of danger, made
all the more an adventure because of
that very. fact. Is 1t not danger, after
all, which gives adventure its spice?
The adventure from which all danger
is removed Is no adventure at all.
They do Admiral Byrd a grave in
justice who are given to saying that
his great Antarctic expedition was so
well organized and equipped that it was
lacking IN the elements of real sdven.
ture.
Any one who has seen the fine Aim,
With Byrd at the South Pole" or who
has read the new book, Little
America" containing Admiral Byrd's
own story, will know that the splendid
equipment and organization merely
shaved off few of the rough spots,
but did In no sense lessen the danger
or the force OF true adventure.
n
Overcoming an extreme of Nature,
which real cold ever must be held, may
be INDUCED in by the householder as
well as by the Arctic explorer.
There Is vast difference IN degree,
but the common enemy is one ard the
same. The intensely bitter cold of the
frozen North Is met by men accustomed
to it and equipped for it, whereas a
record "low" for a city may find thou
sands of persons lily prepared to
meet 1t.
Aside from those who by fate or
fortune are not able to meet Winter
adequately, there are a surprisingly
large number of persons who do not
possess the right mental attitude. They
believe in fresh air" to an extent which
makes them keep a home chilly all the
time, mostly at the expense of less
warm -blooded persons.
1t Is no uncommon thing for some
one perfectly healthy man or woman
in home 10 infiict an extremely low
temperature on others at night, on the
ground that such air is "bracing" and
healthy" But If one is, by nature or
i'll health, unable to benefit from such
methods of extreme ventilation, near
freezing indoor temperatures are neither
healthy nor bracing, but just the
opposite.
We call to mind particularly the man
who is husky enough to bathe in snow,
who so opens windows at night that
he chills the house of to the point
where it takes until noon to get the
indoor temperature even up to 70.
He, of course, goes to the Office, say
at o'clock, where he enjoys a tenn
perature of IS degrees, while his wife
and others sit around shivernig until
lunch time.
*
Besides thus believing in "fresh air" !"
as they call it, mostly they insist that
10 degrees is the proper" indoor tenn
perature.
Just what the word proper" means
in respect to temperature no one knows,
any more than he does what "the city
proper" as displayed prominently on
some taxicabs, means.
Mostly, We suspect, it means nothing.
The idea that 70 degrees is the correct
indoor temperature for human beings
arose in a day and age when there was
no such thing as central heating.
Seventy was correct" because 1t was
about all that could be secured.
But any one who Is honest with him
self and others knows perfectly well, we
believe, that he Is comfortable only
when the thermometer shows "A or 76
degrees.