The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Doing Something about the Weather Only yesterday I heard someone say that everyone talks about the weather and no one does anything about it. This old...
...At best, this ancient device protected us from only a part of the rain and none of the snow and cold...
...Except for planting, cultivating, reaping and preparing the various kinds of nutriment, our adaptations to the weather are our most constant and absorbing activity...
...Thousands of Americans are just now trooping off to Florida or California as the birds fly...
...When I was a boy, though, my family had a horsedrawn carriage with a great leather top supported by a system of rods...
...The next step in mastering the weather will be to get the hurricane by the tail, subdue it, and give orders to the rain, snow and wind...
...In the main, they took the weather as it came and endured what they could not avoid...
...This old and pointedly untrue crack is commonly attributed to Mark Twain...
...Only a couple of thousand years ago our ancestors in Northern Europe depended upon caves, torches and candles for artificial light and heat...
...In fact, the only other human activity which we make more of a fuss about and spend more energy on is the production of food...
...Thanks to an abundance of conveniently located motels we can drive clear across the country in perfect comfort...
...But the mere ability to predict the weather's course and prepare for it in advance should be counted as a victory for scientific man...
...Now all that is changed...
...As what we call civilization becomes more complicated, our efforts to make the climate more tolerable grow increasingly expensive and, on the whole, successful...
...Most of our building is done to protect us against the cold and wind...
...But those days have long since passed...
...The weather no longer inhibits travel the way it used to...
...How can anyone say, then, that we don't do anything but talk about the weather...
...Hospitals can now have their temperatures regulated according to doctors' instructions...
...Our silly saying was almost true then...
...very little was done about the weather...
...The whole subject of the weather and what we have done about it was brought home to me the other day while I was storing the summer screens in the attic...
...Today practically everyone has a car and can keep warm and dry while moving at an astonishing speed...
...And journeys by boat or airplane from continent to continent have become so easy as to seem commonplace...
...Yet no book, essay or lecture of his that I know of contains the remark...
...So far as the means of travel are concerned, we have almost completely defeated the weather...
...Indeed, the manufacture of clothing suited to the various seasons is probably the greatest of all our industries...
...Furnaces permit us to regulate the heat within these buildings to insure our health and comfort...
...We seldom think of the automobile as a modifier of our relation to the weather...
...We have done so much about it that we can choose our climates...
...And for those who must work in the open air in winter or are fond of winter sports, we have clothes which are both warm and comfortable...
...Preparing for winter, I got to wondering why our Mississippi pilot is blamed for a remark which everyone keeps repeating for lack of anything better, in an obviously strained attempt to be funny...
...By simply turning on the car heater, we can be comfortable driving even on the coldest day...
...If it rained while we were on the road, there were heavy leather curtains to be rolled out and pinned up...
...During the hotter months air conditioners achieve veritable miracles...
...And since Twain was one of the sharpest old boys we ever had among us, I find it hard to believe that he ever said anything of the sort...
...Even factories and office buildings are generally kept cool enough to allow for a maximum of comfort and efficiency...
...Winter and summer, night and day, indoors and out, a good deal of time is spent in an endless attempt to adjust ourselves to the weather...
Vol. 44 • November 1961 • No. 37
