The Portland daily press., 1895-02-14
OPEN WOOD FIRES.
Hints to those Who Would Enjoy the
Luxury in the Highest Degree
tFrom the New York SUM

tF1om the New ork SUM-
Since the taste for the open wood fire re-
vived many new houses have been oulll
with ample fireplaces, and many old ones
have neen altered SO to be supplied Win
this old necessity and new luxury, While an
cient andirons have been brought out from
holes and corners to grace the hearth But
many persons have contented themselves
with the shallow, narrow frepiaces de-
signed for coal fires and with the modern
cheap andirons of spun brass.
The New York fireplace at best is apt to
have an artificial look, for nobody mas
wood pile in his back yard and man TO
chop his firewood. so the New 1of ker with
fireplace, great OF small, has his wood sent
seasoned from the mill and sawed even at
both ends. If anything can destroy the
beauty of an open fire it is those artificial
looking logs with their mathematical par
aliel ends and their dead, sapless bark. The
real leg fire should De of unseasoned wood,
SO that one may hear the sap stew and smell
the aromatic, sacrificial cd OF of the trees
living tissues, which. in the case of
seasoned wood, are consumed in advance
by the slow combustion involved in the sea-
soning. The seasoned log is half burned be-
1000
poetry is dried out of it's lifel"ss body. The
fire of unseasoned logs is to the fire of sea-
soned logs as juicy broiled steak an inch
and half thick Is to the hin beaten steak
fried TO crisp and dry as punk. 1t is we'll
to have few seasoned logs to make sud-
den heat, but for lasting, picturesque fire
to keep IA mans body warm of a long winter
evening and to nourish his magination. the
AZ I'D cf1
lent of the forest and unspoiled OF civiliza-
ton.
Utterly unworthy is the trick of obtaining
a so-called picturesque fire by having the
logs soaked in copper as in order that IN
burning they may stimulate the brilliant
colors of the drift-wood fires that burn in
great fire places along the coast. The only
proper wood fire is that obtained from logs
with rough-hewn ends, still rich in sap.
clothed with living bark, and not too often
split. Two split logs of generous size and
two smaller round legs make an admirable
fire, and it is all the better if the fire place
be large enough to take them flom thirty
inches to three feet long. 1t is a mistake to
suppose that green wood burns badly. Logs
from a tree less than twelve hours felled
will burn brilliantly. though they do not
consume with the unseemiT haste or sea-
soned wood.
Hickory is considered the best wood for
open fires. Even seasoned hickory will
carry fire for long time, and log of green
hickory may be buried in ashes at bedtime,
uncovered the next morning. ard with I've
minutes work of the bellows blown into
lively fame. If covered deep enough it will
waste but little in all the intervening
hours. Oak makes brilliant hot fire, bnt
being less dense than hickory will not last
SO long. One hickory log four inches in
diameter will outlast. perhaps. twice its
bulk of oak. Maple, round green logs of the
pin oak. sassafras, and three or four other
Of the native woods, burn well. though most
of them rapidly. 1t is a sin to burn elms.
but an elm but with part of the root makes
lasting fire. The tulip tree is on no ac-
count to be used unless nothing else is to
be had. for it burns i'll when green, goes
like finder when dry, and in either case
snaps great burning Goals a yard or more
beyond the fireplace. The Connecticut
parson who, having received from deacon
twenty cord OF white birch asked for
twenty more to 'help quench hell fire."
seems to have done Injustice to the wood.
unless Connecticut white birch of early
days was different from that of the Adiron-
dack region, for up in the New York wilder
ness white birch makes ii good fire. Chest
nut is another of the light. snappy woods
not to be depended upon for the hearth.
The man that is not too poor to have the
right kind of wood fire and not too busy to
enjoy it should now and then drop all else
and give himself. up tc.this indulgence. No
L.,Ju 6ras al 10 M mo-
body ever saw successful one thar was
not beautiful. 1t is a proper and common
dable late Saturday night indulgence. to
turn dow the lights and see the logs
shoulder and slowly fall Tito embers. This
operation may we'll last an hour. ard when
4 he silent observer is brimfull of revery. the
time has Gene 10 cover the fire and go to
bed. Covering the fire is an almost forgot
ten art in these parts, because too many
uneasiy neat housewives sanction the sac
rilege of sweeping up and Carrying out each
morning all the ashes from the tre of the
night before. Then there are some cautious
persons that extinguish the embers at night
with water, an act that seems almost like
taking life. If, however, the ashes have
been spared for three or four nights. and
the inmate.s of the house have no nervous
fears touching live Goals left to themselves,
the cere.nony of covering the fire may APP
propl lately end Saturday nights revery.
deep bed should be aped until the
bricks of the hearth are lad bare, and into
I his bed a thick. well-fired brand should be
rolled Over this should be poured the en-
bers, and over them the warm ashes, till
not a spark or glimmer shows in the dark
ened room. Half dozen pats of the
shovel on the mound of ashes will complete
the task. ard the life of the fire is pro-
longed until Sunday morning. No good
man should permit his hearth fire to die the
winter through. and all the train of legen-
dairy house fairies come to bless the hearth
that is warm from midnight to dawn.