pending half an hour a day breathing poison from each other's lungs.
There is not only no need of this, but, on the contrary, a good supply
of pure air would make the daily prayer-meeting far more enjoyable. The
body, if allowed the slightest degree of fair play, so far from being a
contumacious infidel and opposer, becomes a very fair Christian helper,
and, instead of throttling the soul, gives it wings to rise to celestial
regions.

This branch of our subject we will quit with one significant anecdote. A
certain rural church was somewhat famous for its picturesque Gothic
architecture, and equally famous for its sleepy atmosphere, the rules of
Gothic symmetry requiring very small windows, which could be only
partially opened. Everybody was affected alike in this church: minister
and people complained that it was like the enchanted ground in the
Pilgrim's Progress. Do what they would, sleep was ever at their elbows;
the blue, red, and green of the painted windows melted into a rainbow
dimness of hazy confusion; and ere they were aware, they were off on a
cloud to the land of dreams.

An energetic sister in the church suggested the inquiry, whether it was
ever ventilated, and discovered that it was regularly locked up at the
close of service, and remained so till opened for the next week. She
suggested the inquiry, whether giving the church a thorough airing on
Saturday would not improve the Sunday services; but nobody acted on her
suggestion. Finally, she borrowed the sexton's key one Saturday night,
and went into the church and opened all the windows herself, and let
them remain so for the night. The next day everybody remarked the
improved comfort of the church, and wondered what had produced the
change. Nevertheless, when it was discovered, it was not deemed a matter
of enough importance to call for an order on the sexton to perpetuate
the improvement.

The ventilation of private dwellings in this country is such as might be
expected from that entire indifference to the laws of health manifested
in public establishments. Let a person travel in private conveyance up
through the valley of the Connecticut, and stop for a night at the
taverns which he will usually find at the end of each day's stage. The
bed-chamber into which he will be ushered will be the concentration of
all forms of bad air. The house is redolent of the vegetables in the
cellar,--cabbages, turnips, and potatoes; and this fragrance is confined
and