1856.] Our Winder Coverings. 149 



Deacon Goodman took his old seat on Sunday, but since tliat day's 

 adventure lias never sung in meeting. Once, and but once, did lie 

 attempt to raise a psalm on his own private account. He was in his 

 "barn putting some hay in his cow's manger. Now, the neighbors were 

 always ready to do a good turn for Deacon Goodman ; and before he had 

 finished the first verse, two of them rushed in and asked him if his 

 coic was cJiohed ! He never sung again. 



OUR Wi:XTER COVERINGS. 



"We clip the following paragraph, on the "Philosophy of Keeping 

 Warm in Winter," from the Cincinnati Gazette, where it appeared last 

 week without any acknowledged paternity, and we feel compelled to use it, 

 not as an orthodox text to preach /r6i??z, but as an " abominable heresy," 

 to preach against : 



" WixTER CovEErN-Gs. — There is one fact in tLe philosophy of keeping Tvarm in 

 the winter which is not so well understood anywhere as in Russia, The lower 

 classes of Russians wear coarse but closely woven canvas, almost impervious to 

 water and air. The object of clothing is not to keep cold out, but warmth in ; to 

 prevent the heat of the body from being abstracted by the cold atmosphere. For 

 this reason, nature thatches animals with fur, that their animal heat may not 

 escape. Cauvas is largely used in Russia, because it is a home manufacture, and 

 the cheapest. Any closely woven fabric will answer the same purpose ; but the 

 main requisite is not weight, but imperviousness. Those of the humane who 

 visit the poor will do them a great favor by carrying this practical philosophy to 

 them, particularly as regards bed clothing. An old piece of table oil-cloth, a 

 fra.gment of an old sail, a remnant of thick carpet, anything closoly woven, or 

 with its interstices filled with paint or rosin, thrown over the outside of a bed, 

 will preserve warmth better than ' coats enough to smother nine.' It is not weight, 

 we repeat, but imperviousness, that is wanted. Are there India rubber bed 

 spreads made ? If they could be deodorized, they would be a capital invention ; 

 light and warm — not to the touch, perJiaps, but certainly warm as an outside 

 spread.'' 



Were we to set about the compilation of a chapter of solemn nonsense, 

 we would make the above paragraph to constitute the first verse ! For, 

 it would seem impossible to conceive of a series of stiitjments so blun- 

 dering, and of propositions so utterly erroneous, as these few sentences 

 contain ; every doctrine stated is directly opposed to well settled princi- 

 ples of philosophy, and to the well ascertained laws of the animal economy. 



