The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1862-04-24
NId Rns,,ioned Comfort..

Our ancestors were frug al, selEdenylng PEG,
J!e, Injured 10 hardships from the cradle they
were cUntcift 20 oe without almost al the Ink
uries of life, but they enjoyed some OF It's com
forts TO which many Of us are strangers-old-
fashioned comforts, We may say-and among
these, the old pace,as 1t used to 9 termed,
held no mean rank. How wildly the picture
of one of those spacious kitchens of the olden
times comes to our mind with its plain turni
tureand sanded floor, innocent of paint, but as
white as the neates housewives could make It,.
In one corner stood the clock, its very lace
wearing an aspect Of good cheer, AID seeming
to smile benignantly upon miniature moon ov-
er its head which tradition said had at a remote
period, followed the rising and setting OF its
great prototype in the heavens, though It's day
of active service was over long ago.
But the browning glory of that kitchen was
not it's sanded floor, nor the high desk, with
it's pigeon-holes and secret drawers, which no
venturesome goungster ever dared invade nor
yet the old clock ticking so unsteady in the
corner; but it was the old-fasnioned fire place,
with its blazing embers, huge bocklogs and
iron hre-dogs, that shed glory over the whole
room, gilded the plain and homely furniture
with it's bright light, and rendered the place a
/ type OF true New England homes i'll we oiden
! times
! Never were there such apples as those which
swung round and round upon strings before the
bright FIRE of winters evening, never such
baked potatoes as those buried deep IN the ash
es on the hearth, never such cornstalks as those
which caught golden hue from the golden en-
bels, or turkeys like those turned upon spit,
filing the room with dainty odors so suggest
i've of a dainty repast.
| Before the fire was the wooden settle, and
here the Children are won't to sit III the long
evening, telling stories, cracking nuts, coming
their lessons for the morrow, OF listening in ST.
| lence to the words of wisdom that fell from
their superiors, and an ~ gazing IN silence Ill
to the bright fire, and c0njuring up all sorts OF
grotesque ,fanciful images from among the burn
ing Goals No tabled genii, with their magic amps
of enchantment, could build SUCH gorgeous pal
aces, or create such gems as the child could
discern amid the blazing embers the old-tash
Toned fireplace.
And we must not neglect the chimney corner,
where sat our grandfather in his accustomed
seat his hairs sIivered With the SHOWS of many
white rs-a venerable old man, TO whom old age
had come frostily but kindly, and whose last
days were like those of an 1nGian summer, So
Irene and beautiful, even till the stars appeared
! in heaven.
How pure was the air in those days. The
huge REPLACE with its brisk draft, carried of
the impurities of the atmosphere, and left the
air pure life giving and healthtnl. Now, we
crouch around hot cooking stoves and think 1t
strange that we feel SO stupid and droWsy of
an evening; or we hudde about alright stoves
and wonder that the air seems burning and i'm
pure : or we sit down in chilly rooms heated by
a furnace, and marvel that with all our costly
furniture, soft carpets, bright mirrors and dam
ask curtains, they are cherries places so I'M
like our ideas of New England home.
I Alas that with all the so called improve
ments of our advanced civilization, the fire
should be permitted TO 90 oat forever in our
old-fashoned fire places, thus buying in the
ashes of the. past SO many means Of health home
comfort, good cheer and l4pllness.-Sctentfc
/ american.