Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1862-04-11
--|||- TTuI1 VIC SuItHtIC Amert
Old Fash oned Comforts.

Our ancestors were a frugal, self f-denying
people, Injured TO hardshps from the cradle
they were content to be without almost all
the luxurics of life, but they enjoyed some of
Its od-iashloncd comforts, we may sav--and
among them, the old fire place, as it used to
be termed, held no mean rank. How vivid.
ly the picture ofone of those spacious kitchens
or the oldcn times comes to our mind with its
plain furniture and sandcd floor, innocent Of
paint, but as white as the neatcst housewives
could make it In one corner stood tho
clock, its very face bearing an aspect Of good
cheer, and seeming to smile benignantly up
on II miniature moon over its head which,
tradition said had, at a remote period, fol-
lowed the rising and setting of its great pro-
totype in the heavens, though its day of nc.
tive service were long ago over.
But the crowning glory of that kitchen was
not its sanded floor; nor the high desk, with
its pigeon.holes, and secret drawers, which
no ycnturcsomc youngster ever dared invade;
nor yet the old clock ticking so rnusically in
the corner; but it was the old d-fashioned tirc-
place, with its blazing einbers, huge back
logs and iron tire-dogs, that shed glory over
the whole room, gildcd the plain and homcly
furniture with its bright light, and rendered
the place type of New England homes in
"ye o!dcn time" a. a fH
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 ashes on the hearth, never such
cornstalks as those which caught golden
hue from the golden embers, or turkeys like
those turned upon spit, filling the room
with dainty odors so suggestive Of dainty
repast. ! ..r. .rHgt5- aaa
Before the fire was the wooden settle, and
here the children were wont to sit in the long
evening, telling stories, cracking nuts, con-
ming their lesson for the morrow, or listening
in silence to the words of wisdom that fell
from their supcriors, and anon gazing in ST.
lcncc into the bright fire, and conjuring- up
all sorts of grotesque, fanciful images from
among the burning Goals. No tabled genii,
with their magic lamps Of enchantmcnt, could
build such gorgeous palaces, or create such
gems as the child could discern amid the
blazing cmbcrs Of the old-fash,oned fire.
place.
And we must not neglect the Chimney
corner, where sat our grandfather in his ac-
customcd seat. his hair silvcred with the
SHOWS OF many winters--a venerable Old man.
TO whom old age had come I" frostily but
| "'' W ii'oS taSt udy WCIc ukc tJ1OB0
Of an Indian summer, serefie and beautiful,
e'cn until the stars appeared in heaven.
How pure was the air in those days Tho
huge fireplace, with its brisk draught, car.
ried off the impurities Of the atmosphere,
AID left the air pure, life giving and health
fal. Now, we crouch around hot cooking
s.ovcs, and think it strange that we feel SO
s.upid and drowsy Of an evening; or wc
hnddle about alright stoves, and wonder
that the air seems burning and impiire or
we sit down in chilly rooms heated by 4 fur.
mace, and marvel that with all our costly fur
nitnre, soft carpets, bright mirrors and dam
ask curtains, they are chccrless places so
unlike our ideas of New England home.
Alas! that with all the so.cal!ed improve
ments of our advanced civilization, the fro
should be permitted to 20 out forever in our
old fashioned tire.placcs, thus burying in
the ashes of the past 80 many means Of
health, home comfort, good cheer and hap
/ piness. aA