[America Through the Spectacles of an Oriental Diplomat by Wu Tingfang]@TWC D-Link bookAmerica Through the Spectacles of an Oriental Diplomat CHAPTER 13 33/36
It is true that there are not so many persons in the room as in an office, but if your sense of smell is keen you will notice that the air has close, stuffy exhalations, which surely cannot be sanitary.
If you venture to suggest that one of the windows be opened the lady of the house will at once tell you that you will be in a draught and catch cold. It is a matter of daily occurrence to find a number of persons dining in a room where there is no opening for the contaminated air to leak out, or for the fresh air to come in.
After dinner the gentlemen adjourn to the library to enjoy the sweet perfumes of smoking for an hour or so with closed windows.
What a picture would be presented if the bacteria in the air could be sketched, enlarged, and thrown on a screen, or better still shown in a cinematograph, but apparently gentlemen do not mind anything so long as they can inhale the pernicious tobacco fumes. It is a common practice, I fear, to keep the windows of the bedroom closed, except in hot weather.
I have often suggested to friends that, for the sake of their health, they should at least keep one of the windows, if not more, open during the night, but they have pooh-poohed the idea on account of that bugaboo--a draught.
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