The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-07-24
What is a Defective Flue /?

| " u1G ID d O01cCb1VG Z 1u6 !
A correspondent of the Cincinnati
| Commercial gives the following practi-
cal answer to the question
"The question is often asked, what
| is defective fiue p 1t is due that has
open, upholstered joints in the brick
work through which flame or sparks can
pass into the spaces between the floors
and ceilings, or in which SCOT can accu-
mulate and take fire. If the joints in the
| bricks of the fue are carefully covered
with mortar, no joints built into or
| touching 1t, and no floor or woodwork
allowed to come in contact with it, the
owner of such fue can retire to sleep
with a mind at ease on that score Safe
| fues in houses built by contract are ex-
captions, as the contractor subjects to the
| bricklayer, and he does not feel respon-
sible to the owner, who gets defective
| flue unless he stands by and bosses the
| job. If he does not he must chance it.
have had some eight or ten hues built
| for ovens heated to white heat, but
have always stood by to see that every
| Joint was well closed, as the first f1ue 1
used fred the building. The last one I
| built was so dangerous-passing through
| q hav-loft-that. rather than trust 1t to
others, I built it myself, and although
! it made the loft unbearably hot, I felt
perfectly safe, and used it for three
years constantly. Another cause of fire.
| quent fires is the careless use of matches.
A porter in a store sent into dark Gel
lar or upper story goes with lot of
matches to strike while hunting what
he wants the match is thrown down
if it goes out, good if not, and there
is straw, paper, shavlngs, moss or rags
| lying around loose, presto there you
| have a spontaneous combustion. Al
WAYS take a lantern, and let it be a
| globe lantern, fed with lard or sperm
oil. in looking back through business
| life in Cincinnati of thirty years, fiud
that fire originated eight times on my
premises, all, however, got under with
ont calling out the engines. Only once
was burned out, thanks to neighbor.
| Once, defective fue; twice, defective
stove pipes once, pan of hot ashes left
on the floor over night (servant girD
once, hot ashes in an clubhouse (servant
girD once, wood coal spilled on
floor (servant girl) twice matches used
and thrown on shavipgs.
The need of our light literature is
light the light which comes from nat
ure, making clear and bringing into
truthful distinctuess the common OBJ
jects about us; sunlight which is
searching and comprehensive, and
candle-lght which asks to have the
shutters closed before it can make itself
available !; lghtness, too, it needs, in
lifting into freer air and brighter moods.
The sun and the fresh atmosphere to-
gether would render it fit for the COM
mon needs of common folks. It has its
own province, never asking to trench
upon the proper field of instructive lit
erature. Its thoughts and fancies skim
Just above the surface of the world and
wheel round the houses and barns. Ieav-
ing the upper air to more adventurous
spirits We cannot spare it when it is at
its best, and we begin to know its value
when we have TO put up with its poor
imitation. -EUeTy Saturday.