Economy of Fuel. 321 



crease the severity of the cold in the halls and passages by requiring a 

 constant supply of fresh air from without. To pass from the parlour 

 into the open air, seldom occasions much sensible inconvenience, be- 

 cause the person is suitably prepared by supernumerary garments, 

 hats, bonnets, and hoods, coats, cloaks and belts, gloves, m'itts and 

 overshoes— to encounter the frosty rigor of the winter. But when 

 we merely pass from the parlor to the " hall," or through the stair- 

 case to a chamber, we scarcely think of a similar precaution, and 

 consequently encounter a fearful hazard by exposing ourselves to the 

 opposite extremes of summer and winter temperatures without the 

 slightest change of apparel. Nor are these exposures always of short 

 duration. They not unfrequently extend to a length of time, during 

 which no prudent person would venture to remain in the open air, at 

 the same temperature, as the entry in which we stand, perhaps con- 

 versing, — or giving directions — or reciprocating compliments, or pay- 

 ing cold civilities. We retire at night to our lodging rooms which 

 have been all day in a freezing state, and load ourselves with numer- 

 ous and heavy coverings to keep off the cold, — or we sink into mas- 

 ses of feathers and down for the same purpose, thus stifling and en- 

 ervating ourselves in the most effectual manner, instead of enjoying 

 the elastic and refreshing curled hair matress which proved so agrea- 

 ble and healthful in summer. Or, we cause a fire to be lighted in the 

 evening and heat up our lodging rooms for the former part of the 

 night, only to become more sensibly dreary and comfortless in the 

 morning. We descend to the breakfast parlor, and find that want 

 of care, or want of skill, in a domestic, has allowed the fire to remain 

 inactive till a late hour, or in removing the " dust and ashes^^ under 

 which the family had been humbled on the preceding day, he had 

 found it convenient to throw up the sash and admit a copious supply 

 of cold air, which now begins to riot about the room, and at length 

 takes full possession, driving from the house even that remaining ves^ 

 tige of comfort which the walls, warmed by yesterday's appliances 

 had hitherto afforded. The true purpose of heating apartments is not 

 merely, to allow the occupants to derive heat from a direct exposure 

 to fire, much less from a contact with the source of heat. It is to sup- 

 ply in winter that equable temperature to our persons which nature 

 has provided in summer. The means, too, of communicating it, ought 

 to be similar, and that is, chiefly, through the warming influence of 

 the air in which we move, and by the respiration of which, the due 

 temperature of the vital organs is maintained. Although these truths 

 Vol. XXIIL— No. 2. 41 



