Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1860-02-16
Old Fashioned Comforts.

Our ancestors were frugal, self-denying
people, Injured TO hardship from the cradle ;
they were cont mt to b9 without almost all
the luxuries of life, but they enjoyed some
of its comforts to which many OF US are
strangers od-fashioned comforts, we may
term them,-and among these the old fire.
place, as it Used to be termed. held no mean
rank. How wildly the picture of one Of
those spacious kitchens of the olden time
comes TO our mind with its plain furniture
and nded floor innocent OF paint, but as
white as the neatcst of housewives could
make it. In one corner stood the old ock
its very face wearing look of good cheer,
and seeming to smile beuignantly upon
miniature moon over its head, which, tradi-
ton said, had at ii remote period followed
the rising and setting of its great prototype
in the heavens, though its days Of active
service were long ago over.
But the browning glory of that kitchen
was not its white, sanded floor, nor the high
desk with its pigeon-holes, and cret d awers
which no venurous youngster ever dared in
wade nor yet, the old clock ticking so mu.
sically il one corner but it was the old
fashioned fireplace, with It's blazing embers,
huge backlog and iron fre.dogs that shed a
glory over the whole room gidod the plain
and houely furniture with its bright light,
and rendered the place fit type Of true New
England homes in " yo olden time"
Never were there such apples as those
which swung round and round upon strings
before the bright fire Of winters evening,
never such baked potatocs as those buried
deep in the ashes upon the hearth, --never
such corn-stalks as those which caught a
golden hue from the blazing embers, Or tur-
keys like those turned slowly upon spit,
filling the room with savory odors so sugges.
tive of dainty repast,
Before the fire was the wooden settle, ard
here the children were wont to sit in the
long evenings, telling stories, cracking nuts,
coming their lessons for the morrow, or lis
tening in silence to the words of wisdom that
fell from the lips Of their superors and
anon gazing in silence into the fright fire,
and conjuriug up all sorts Of grotesque and
fanciful images from among the burning Goals.
No tabled genii with their magic lamps Of
enchantment could build such gorgeous pala-
ces, or create such gems as the child could
discern amid the blazing embers of an old
fashioned fireplace.
And we must not neglect the chimney cor
ner, where sat our grandfather in his accus-
toned seat--his hair sivered with the SHOWS
of many winters-a venerable man, to whom
old age had come " frostily but kindly" and
whose last days were like an Indian summer,
serene and beautiful, even till the stars APP
peared in heaven.
How pure was the air of the room in these
days! The huge Fireplace, with its brisk
draught, carried off the impurities Of the at
mosphere and left the air pure, life. giving
and healthful. Now we crouch around hot
cooking-stoves, and think it strange that we
feel 80 stupid and drowsy Of an evenings or
we hudde about alright stoves, and wonder
that the air seems burnt and impure; or we
sit down in chilly rooms, heated by furnace,
and marvel that with all our costly furniture,
soft carpets, bright mirrors and damask cur
tains, they are such cherries places, SO little
like our ideas of New England home.
Alas that with all the so.caled improve
ments OF our advanced civilization, the fire
should be permitted to go out forever in our
old-fashionod frc-places, thus burying in the
ashes of the past so many means of health,
houe-cOmfort, good cheer Eand happiness
Exeter NescS Letter.