The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1874-12-16
TIE STOVE VERSUS THE
FIRE PLACE.

story houses will require each about
five thousand bricks, and cost,
when completed, sixty dollars each;
whether inside or outside, it is a
mere accident if they answer the
purpose for which they are built,
for Wbois there that has not scorch-
eu his shin in front Of a roasting
FIRE, while his back was freezing,
in very cold weather? Ordinary
plantation fire places will consume
weekly cord of wood, and withal
leave the room as cold as if there
had been no fire kindled. Hourly,
during cold days, the fire has to be
replenished, and the hottest part
of the chimney is its top, for nine
tenths Of the heat escapes up the
Aue. The chunks may be drawn
together, and fresh wood thrown
on, but all to little purpose half
the time, for We Southerners are
proverbially expert in leaving doors
open behind US in cold weather.
Possibly, cheerful fires may have
partially heated the sitting room,
for instance; a member of the fam
lily wishes to retire, ''only for a
minute the minute is prolonged
to an hour; the door stands ajar
all the while, until the draft offresh
air chills the room and inmates,
when on must 60 few more logs
to re-supply the lost heat. This
policy,so universally practised atthe
South, costs money. I care not if
the wood is burned to get rid OF 1t.
The tree must be felled, the branch
es Topped off, the wood hauled, then
cut again to suit the fire place, and
the fire built; every one Of which
acts has to be done by hired help.
True, the farmers say, the land
had to be cleared, and the farm
hands cut and hauled the wood,
and others build the fires when
they having nothing else to do, &C.,
&c.
Againstju just such fallacious ideas
I an contending. Clearing land
may at future time be opposed
as questionable economy, and sure
" s'hands'' that are hired by the
year should never be so idle as to
have time to do work that costs no
thing.
But I am asked, what substitute
have you for the chimney? [ an
swer, unhesitatingly, the stove
AS the cooking stove has supplanted
the Dutch oven, so should the heat
ing stove supersede the fireplace in
most of our rooms.
To-day is cold and icy, the wind
blows briskly from the northeast.
Three hours ago entered the room
in which I am writing, and for the
first time this Fall, kindled fire
in a stove that an able-bodied man
might carry under his arm, using
three small sticks Of oak wood
twelve inches long and two small
er pieces Of dry pine. in fifteen
minutes I had to move off from the
stove, and to this time the remotest
corner of the room is perfectly COM
Portable.
Yesterday morning at daylight,
(2nd November, white frost) with
few splinters and a gnarled stick
Of pine, probably twenty inches
long, and six inches square, |
kindled q fire in q stove; at 9 A.
NJ, three or four small oak sticks
we're added; at y NJ, as many
more, and again at / P. NJ; at 9
P. NJ. this room, sixteen by twen-
ty feet with a ceiling twelve feet
high, was warm and comfortable,
and had been so throughout the day.
Had either of these experiments
been tried in room with q fire.
place, I would have written with
cold 6nge4s, and eaten my meals
with discomfort.
The objection to a stove is trite,
that it dries as well as heats the air Of
room, and produces headache
There is science in using stove
as there is in the use Of all imple-
ments, and it may be made to re-
supply the very moisture it de-
strcys. A tea kettle, sauce pan,
boiler or any open vessel filled
with water and placed upon the
stove will furnish by evaporation
the necessary moisture as rapidly
as needed.-D. WYATT AIKEN,
in Rural Carolinian for Decem-
ber.