ill give them colds. What _can_ be the
matter? The poor creatures never dream that they have been breathing,
for hour after hour, decomposed air, charged with poisonous gases, which
cannot escape through the tight walls, or over the tight windows, or
through the tight stoves; and thus they keep on in the sure course to
infirmity, disease, and premature death--all for the want of a little
ventilation! Better indeed, that instead of all this painstaking, a pane
were knocked out of every window, or a panel out of every door in the
house.

We are not disposed to talk about cellar furnaces for heating a farmer's
house. They have little to do in the farmer's inventory of goods at all,
unless it be to give warmth to the hall--and even then a snug box stove,
with its pipe passing into the nearest chimney is, in most cases, the
better appendage. Fuel is usually abundant with the farmer; and where
so, its benefits are much better dispensed in open stoves or fireplaces,
than in heating furnaces or "air-tights."

We have slightly discussed this subject of firing in the farm house,
in a previous page, but while in the vein, must crave another word.
A farmer's house should _look_ hospitable as well as _be_ hospitable,
both outside and in; and the broadest, most cheerful look of hospitality
within doors, in cold weather, is an _open_ fire in the chimney
fireplace, with the blazing wood upon it. There is no _mistake_ about
it. It thaws you out, if cold; it stirs you up, if drooping; and is the
welcome, winning introduction to the good cheer that is to follow.

A short time ago we went to pay a former town friend a visit. He had
removed out to a snug little farm, where he could indulge his
agricultural and horticultural tastes, yet still attend to his town
engagements, and enjoy the quietude of the country. We rang the door
bell. A servant admitted us; and leaving overcoat and hat in the hall,
we entered a lone room, with an "air-tight" stove, looking as black and
solemn as a Turkish eunuch upon us, and giving out about the same degree
of genial warmth as the said eunuch would have expressed had he been
there--an emasculated warming machine truly! On the floor was a Wilton
carpet, too fine to stand on; around the room were mahogany sofas and
mahogany chairs, all too fine to sit on--at all events to _rest_ one
upon if he were fatigued. The blessed light of day was shut out by
crimson and white curtains, held up by gilded arrows; and up