Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-10-08
The CHIMNEY QUESTION.
Be Sure That the Main FIue Is Free from
Troublesome Angles

The chimney question Is still an unsatis-
factory problem in domestic architecture.
How absolutely essential it is that the
flame on the family altar" as some one
not unaptly calls the central open chimney
around which the inmates Of the house
chiefly eongregate, should burn with a
clear, steady brightness, undimmed by
smoke or inadequate draft Of air. Yet
how often it occurs that the very fireplace
that the new householder fondly fancied
would lie the centre and attraction OF the
dwelling has proved TO be smoky, cranky
and altogether unmanageable-ae chimney
that must be humored. managed, worked
over and helped out with this and that de-
vice for stopping the smoky turns to which
it is liable, until the owner IS fairly vexed
to death over the perversity which really
seems an intelligent righteousness and
fully accounts for the koboids and house
hold spirits Of the old legends.
One very obvious and practical reason,
however, for smoky chimney is a crooked
fiue Make it straight, right up TO the
blue sky. and if there is no roofage to in
terfere you viii never have any trouble.
Your architect or builder viii constantly
tell you that to adjust itself TO this or that
bit OF architecture your hue may be car
ried this way or that way with perfect
safety and yet. in nine cases out of ten.
where this is done it will smoke.
In one very handsome house that cost
many thousand dollars the main chimney
was thus carried away from its course to
suit some picturesque angle in the floor
above, and every time fire was lit in the
noble fireplace ia the great hall the whole
81. =
the entire hue from the second story up
had to be built over again. This, OF course.
involved taking down almost the whole
chimney.
II however. it is simply impossible, as is
sometimes the case, to run up a straight
and perpendicular fue remember at all
events that there must be no angles, that
the hue must be curved in the direction in
in which it is to 90.
Architects are frequently great tyrants
in the matter Of placing and construction
of chimneys. and many a one who is build
ing a new house has had to give up some
cherished fancy about a particular ingle-
nook ON account Of the pros and cons
raised by the architect. I'VE are going
to build our house, said young woman
to an old aunt Of the family who lived in
one of the few memorial houses left stand
ing on the Hudson. I'VE are leaving il
ali to Mr.. R., our architect. but there Is
one thing wish to copy exactly, and that
is the great fireplace in the hall here"
And so she brought her architect, took
all themeasuremenfs Of the ample hearth
and chimney seats and departed. A year
later, when she was living in the com
pleted house her aunt paid her a visit, and
her first thought on entering the hall was
TO look for the fireplace. There she saw a
small tidy affair, pretty, it is true, but the
very reverse OF the dear old family gather
ing place in her own house. why, Belle, :"
she said to her niece, where is your fire
placer Il never got IL. after all" pouted
the other, half laughing. Mr.. R. grad
ually talked me out Of il, said this would
be so much more in keeping. and so on,
and now have got what do not want at
all and have not got what l do want"
The number is legion OF just such cases
as this, and il is very seldom in building a
house that one gets just what be most de-
sires to have.-New York Tribune