70 WINTER SKETCHES. 



railroads in England, orders were given to 

 reduce the speed on frosty days, but now, 

 although the risk is the same, speed is con- 

 sidered to be of more importance than human 

 life. So we rattle on, satisfying ourselves 

 from statistics that the average of death from 

 such causes is small, and calculating with rea- 

 sonable probability that we shall not be 

 counted among the dead. The same theory 

 prevails as to the warming and lighting of 

 cars. The great mortality from train wrecks 

 comes from the overturning of stoves and the 

 bursting of kerosene-oil lamps. But who con- 

 siders that? We estimate the averages, and 

 feel reasonably sure that we shall not be 

 among the victims. 



Aside from the danger from a stove, the 

 stove is a villanous thing anywhere, notably 

 in a railroad car. It burns up the oxygen of 

 the air, and is accountable for much of the 

 pneumonia which at the present day hurries 

 people out of life. As an abomination it is 

 second only to steam-pipes. 



Englishmen know some things better than 

 we do. We can teach them something about 

 baked beans, the frying-pan, a beneficent pro- 

 tective tariff, and more, but in sanitary science 



