92 
T1IE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 
ment; nor might they, as some shallow utilitarian may 
imagine, be better employed in gathering honey, or 
superintending some other department in the economy of 
the hive. At great expense of time and labor, they are 
supplying the rest of the colony with the pure air so con¬ 
ducive to their health and prosperity. 
Impure air, one would think, is bad enough; but all 
its inherent vileness is stimulated to still greater activ¬ 
ity by air-tight, or rather lung-tight stoves,* which can 
economize fuel only by squandering health and endan¬ 
gering life. Not only our private houses, but all our 
places of public assemblage, are either unprovided with 
any means of ventilation, or to a great extent, supplied 
with those so deficient, that they only 
“ Keep the word of promise to our ear, 
To break it to our hope.” 
That ultimate degeneracy must inevitably follow such 
gross neglect of the laws of health, cannot be doubted; 
and those who imagine that the physical stamina of a 
people may be undermined, and their intellectual, moral, 
and religious health suffer no decay, know little of the 
intimate connection which the Creator has established 
between body and mind. 
Men may, to a certain extent, resist the injurious influ¬ 
ences of foul air; as their employments usually compel 
them to live more out of doors: but alas, alas! for the 
poor women ! In the very land where they are treated 
with such merited deference and respect, often no pro¬ 
vision is made to furnish them with that first element of 
health, cheerfulness and beauty, heaven’s pure, fresh air. 
* The beautiful open or Franklin stoves, for coal or wood, manufactured by 
Messrs. Treadwell, Perry & Norton, of Albany, New York, deserve the highest 
commendation as economizers of life, health, and fuel. 
