The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1902-11-26
HISTORY OF THE HEARTH
TRADITIONS WHICH CLUSTER ROUND
ANTIQUE LOGS AND ANDlRoNS.

Smoke eI1ue-Eyoiution of the Fireplace.
The fire on the hearth is one of the
oldest of human Institutions, and has
become symbolic of the traditions and
associations which are dearest to the
heart of man.
The primitive family gathered about
the single hearthstone of the rude hut,
and legends were told the history of
the race was preserved, while the uni
ty of the family strengthened. and the
good fellowship of the community was
kept alive. To the modern, the
thought of the open fire has a twofold
happiness of suggestion; of genial
companionship when the hearth is
shared with others. and OF absorbed
waking dreams when he sits alone
Cereain Il is that by no other means
indoors can the illusion of being in the
presence of nature be so potently pre-
served as in watching the fire. and lis
tening to the moaning and cracking of
the logs, driven by Natures most capri
cious handmaiden to the final silence
of ashes to ashes"
After centuries of improvement in
the way of heating houses. down
through the time of the stove. the built
in range, steam, gas. and electricity
the open fireplace has come back into
favor as a prominent part of the dec
oratiye architecture of modern houses.
Even where comfort is supplied by
the steam radiator in one corner of the
room, the instinct for the picturesque
is satisfied by the often elaborately
titled and manteled fireplace built in
the wall
In spite of the fact that the open fire.
place is one of the most ancient de-
vices in history, the upright flue for
carrying of smoke is a comparatively
recent invention.
The original form was large stone
in the centre of the hut, later the hall
ON which the logs were burned, the
smoke passing out of hole in the
roof Immediately overhead. Soon the
stone was raised above the level of
the floor, to escape the strong and
constant draught from under the door.
Later central flue was brought down
from the hole in the roof to within a
safe distance from the flames. The
black ceilings of some ancient raftered
halls" are due to this primitive way
of carrying off the smoke. AS late
as the middle of the 18th century some
of the Irish peasants still lived in huts
with the hole in the roof as described.
The College Hall in Westminster
School had one of these raised hearth
stones in the middle of the hall until
recent times. About the earliest men,
tion of fireplace built in the wall
with upright flue, is in an account of
house in the old town of Cluny, France,
in the 18th century. An illustration
shows low windows containing small
loaded panes of glass. diamond shaped,
set in swinging sashes, above the deep
window seats on either side of the
hearth. BY this arrangement the FAM
lily could look out on the highway
while enjoying the comfort of the fire.
Another fashion for the comfort of
the fire was an arrangement of screens,
so placed as to make the antechamber
of that part of the hall containing the
hearth, within this enclosure, protect
ed from draughts, the family sat about
in the long winter evenings, telling
and listening TO tales of ancient valor
and wonder In the 18th century the
kitchen became a part of the main
house, and was no longer a separate
aparement in which whole sheep and
oxen were roasted. Then the fireplace
in the main hall underwent modifica-
tions and was increased in size TO ac-
commodate the dual purpose of cook
ing and heating. Simplicity was COM
bined with massiveness, and granite
was the material most used. The key
stone of the arch often had the family
coat-of-arms cut upon it. Some of the
freplaces in the baronial halls of the
Middle Ages were 30 feet long and 10
feet high.
AS late as the 10th century the fire.
place built in the wall and having an
upright fiue" was novelty and oc-
casioned surprise. In an account of
Bolton Hall. Leland says: "One
| thynge | muche notyd in the hands of
Bolton, how chimneys were conveyed
by tunnels made on the syds of the
walls betwyXt the lights in the hawle,
and by this means, and by no covers is
| the smoke of the harthe in the hawle
wonder strangely conveyed"
Although so long in being invented
| they became very popular when once
introduced. In the reign of Queen Eliz-
abeth they were so highly appreciated
that accounts are found of apologies
| from a host when he could not supply
| all his guets with rooms containing
them, and the ladies were often accom-
modated in neighboring houses where
this luxury could be given them.
| The limitations of the knowledge OF
the arrangements of draughts made
some places near the fire more desira-
BILE than others, and an old book con.
tains an account of gift by Henry
VIII. of the revenues of convent he
mad confiscated to a person who
| placed q chair for him "commodiously
before the fire and out of all draughts. "