280 RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 



of hot iron, and becomes loaded with ^,11 the vapor of arsenic and 

 sulphur, which that metal, ^highly heated, constantly gives off ! 



If in the heaii of large cities — ^where there is a large' population 

 crowded' together, with scanty means of subsistence — one- saw a few 

 persons driven- by necessity into warming their small apartments by 

 little close stoves of iron, liable to be heated red-hot, and itbereby to 

 absolutely destroy the purity of the air, one would jiot be so much 

 astonidi,ed at the result, because it is so difficultfto preserve the poor- 

 est class from suffering, in some way or other, in "gi'eat cities. But 

 it is by no means only in the houses' pl-.those who have slender 

 means of subsistence, that this is the case. It is safe to say that 

 nine-tenths of all the houses in the nortiiern States, whether belong- 

 ing to rich or poor, are entirely unventil^ited, and heated at the pres- 

 ent moment by close stoves ! 



It is absolutely a matter of preference on fihie part of thousands, 

 with whom the trifling difference between one mode of heating and 

 another is. of no account. Eyen jn the midst of the coijntrv, where 

 there is still wood in abundance, the farmer will sell that wood and 

 buy cdal, so that he may have a little demon — alias a black, cheer- 

 less close stoye — in the place of that genuine, hospitable, wholesome 

 friend and comforter, an open wood fireplace. 



And in order not to leave one unconverted soul in the wilder- 

 ness, the stove inventors have lately brought out "a new article," for 

 fpj;est countries, where coal is not tobe had either for love or barter — an 

 " air-tight stove for burning wood." The seductive, convenietot, mon- 

 strous thing ! *' It consumes ope-fifth of the fuel which was needed 

 by the open chimney — is so nesit and clean, makes no dust, and 

 gives no /trouble." All quite true, dear, considerate housewife — all 

 quite true ; tut that very stove causes your husband to pay twice 

 its savings to the family doctor before two winters are past, and gives 

 you thrice, as much trouble in nursing the sick in your family, as 

 you formerly spent in tajiing care ql the fire in your chimney cor- 

 ner, — besides depriving you of the most delightful of all household 

 occupations. 



Our countrymen generally have a vast deal of national, pride, 

 and natioiial sensitiveness, and we honor them for it. It is the warp 

 and Woof, out of which the stuff of national improvement is wo^^en, 



