Chapter XXXIII

_Climate Incites Jonathan to Activity.--Healthy Cold.--Why
Drunkenness is Rare in America.--Do not Lose Sight of your
Nose.--Advice to the Foreigner intending to Visit Jonathan in
the Winter.--Visit to the Falls of Niagara.--Turkish Baths
offered Gratis by Nature._

It is to the bright, bracing climate of North America that the activity, and consequent prosperity, of Jonathan is mainly to be attributed.

The dry, invigorating air induces activity, and you can do things in America which it would never enter your mind to attempt in Europe.

The cold in winter is excessive, but you do not suffer from it; for my part, I scarcely noticed it. It is a kind of cold which does not penetrate, and against which it is easy to protect oneself. It is dry, healthful, bracing, excites the circulation of the blood, and makes one feel full of life.

The air is charged with ozone and electricity. Several times, in touching the heating-pipes and gaseliers, I had tiny electric sparks flash from my finger-ends. In brushing your hair, you will often hear the crackling of the electric sparks produced by the friction of the brush.

The American sky is bright. It is never clouded for more than two or three days together. You live in a clear, smiling atmosphere, which sheds joy in the heart. It is not wonderful that the Americans are so bright and lively. Man, everywhere, is influenced by the climate in which he lives.

* * * * *

Stimulants are not needed, water suffices; and few Americans drink anything but water at meal-time on ordinary occasions. Alcoholic drinks are almost forbidden by the climate. A bottle of wine goes to the head sooner in America than half a dozen would in England or France.

When I was in America, though it was winter-time (this includes the spring, which only exists in American almanacks), I was always thirsty; the dryness of the atmosphere made my tongue constantly feel like a grater. I quenched my thirst with water or an ice.

Drunkenness is not at all a national vice in America. On the contrary, it is rare even among the lower classes, and does not exist in the higher.

When a drunkard is picked up from the gutter, the passer-by says, "It is a European just come over."

I have often admired the sobriety of the Americans at great dinners, which are sometimes prolonged to the midnight hour. After dessert, no more wine. Bottles of mineral-waters are brought in, and the guests moisten their lips with Apollinaris, Vichy, or whichever sparkling water they prefer, while smoking and talking.

* * * * *

The air is so dry in the north of the States that, when heated at theatres, concerts, and balls, one breathes with difficulty, and it often causes the breath to be disagreeable.

I repeat it, the cold is healthy; and the foreigner who visits America during the winter, only suffers from the suffocating heat of the rooms. With fur wraps, and the ears well covered, he has nothing to fear in the air, unless it be for his nose, which I would advise him to keep an eye upon.

If you go to America for the winter, take only autumn and summer costumes. It is not only the houses that are heated night and day to a temperature of nearly 80 degrees, but it is the trains as well. All carriages, cabs, and sleighs are provided with rugs and furs, and you have no use for winter clothes. In the private houses, hotels, and railways you will only be able to bear light clothing. All the winter comforts you will need are furs for out of doors.

The Americans, who cook themselves within doors, fear the cold so little when they are in motion that, in the States of Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, and others in the north, when the thermometer is down to 30 degrees below zero, they give the preference to open carriages. In Chicago, Buffalo, and Milwaukee one has almost a difficulty to find a covered sleigh or cab to go out in at night. It is the same in Canada. In Toronto, Ottowa, Montreal, and Quebec, nothing but open sleighs. The driver buries you in furs. Your feet and body are warm, and the cold that cuts your face seems to help to make your blood circulate, and is quite enjoyable.

I went to see Niagara Falls (the grandest spectacle it was ever given to man to behold) in the early part of February. Without suffering from the cold, I was able to drive for three hours in an open sleigh through thickly snow-laden air. To have the snow beating in one's face so long, was not agreeable; but the storm added, if possible, to the grandeur of the scenery. On alighting at Prospect House, to take a cup of tea before beginning the train journey to Buffalo, I took off my wraps, and never have I felt such a glowing sense of warmth and life.

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The frequent and very sudden changes of temperature in winter,[15] and the great difference between the temperature of the houses and that of the outer air,[16] is very trying to the foreigner.

[15] One day in November, 1887, the thermometer stood at 78 in
Washington. Next day all the puddles in the gutters were
frozen, and the mercury marked only 17 above zero, making
a fall of 61 degrees in a night!

[16] Whilst the heat kept up within doors varies from 75 to 80
degrees, the temperature outside may be 10, 20, or 30 degrees
below zero. What a Turkish bath, indeed!

An American to whom I was complaining of this one day, and who would not stand anything like criticism of his country, said:

"My dear sir, those changes are very healthful. They stir the blood, quicken circulation, and are as good as a Turkish bath."