Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-12-29
THE OPEN FIRE.
Coal Shortages Brings Into Vogue an
Old Time Joy.

1
the luxury, obsolescent in recent
years, of an open fire. The rich still
enjoy me pure superiority of the blaz-
! ing log in house already raised to
summer temperature by steam, put
| the typical house among the
| moderately well-tO-dO, who constitute
| the larger part Of the population, de-
| ponds entirely upon arid and cheer
less registers. Crates or open fire
places are commonly put into the
more modern houses, but only for
ornament, and are concession to
fashion. There is many a careful
| housewife who would never dream,
except under the cOmpulsion of nee
essity, of sOiling her spick and span
things with blaze. In the darkest
days of house building there was even
mania for false fireplaces-some-
times a mere blank section Of thing
with permanent screen over the non
-, existent fire-hole, sometimes a white
marble sepulcher OF fireplace, with
elegant andirOns and no connection
whatever with a chimney. Perhaps
| such horrors are no longer per-
| petrated, but the crux Of an actual
test has revealed the painful fact that
the majority OF the auxiliary fireplaces
that are put in to meet the mandates
| of fashion are as useless as a gift-book
or a secret society tin sword. They
are very well so long as they are not
needed; there is, indeed, a distinct ad-
vantage in a house already heated un-
wnolesomely by furnace, in having
the fire place arranged so as to con-
vey all the heat into the outer air.
AS mere display, they are all that
could be asked, unless they smoke.
Unfortunately many OF them are SO
dextrously contrived as to let the heat
| out and keep the smoke in.
The truth is that the building of
fireplaces is a delicate art, and like
other arts declines when practiced
purely for purposes of ornament. The
chimney fire is the most eXtravagant
as we'll as the mos delightful OF all
methods of heating, and it was after
the whole field OF experiment had
been gone over that Count Rumford
and Benjamin Franklin developed the
stove. The Franklin stove is indeed
to the present day the best equivalent
| for the luxury of the fireplace, and
gives much of it's pleasure at far less
cost; there are old-fashioned families
that would he loath to give it up.
But while the fireplace at it's best
squanders fuel, there is a vast
difference between the practicable"
| fireplace of an old-time house, sternly
tested by the austerities of a New
England winter, and the fancy articles
lnat passes muster in a modish
modern domicile The differences is
| not greater between a light pleasure
| yacht and a Gloucester schooner, built
| for any weather. The true open fire
place or CRATE is built to throw the
| heat out into the room; it's fictitious
substitute is simply a chimney with
place for fire at the bottom. The case
is made worse when the chimney fol
lows the fashion of standing on the
outside Of the house, fully exposed to
the inclemency of the weather. One
might almost as well build bonfire
in the dooryard. Many of the most
satisfactory old houses had the big
chimney stuck in the very center of
the house, but this is not essential.
1t is essential to good heating, how
ever to have the brick pile of the
chimney indoors out of the weather,
and the more the fireplace follows the
principle of the Franklin stove the
better. With a straight draft up
flame, heat and all go straight up to
the frosty armament. If the fireplace
is brought we'll forward into the room,
and the throat of the vent is narrowed
down and skilfully twisted, if the
CRATE is SO set as to find happy
mean betWeen too much and too little
draft, and to radiate the heat out into
the room, a mode of heating is given
which is entirely practicable even in
cold weather, and only dis
advantageous in that it requires
somewhat more fuel and a good deal
more work than the prosaic and
utilitarian hot-air furnace. The toy
fireplace, however, is a mockery, and
in the past week or two it's sins have
been brought glaringly to light.
So unused have we become to old
fashioned modes of heating that the
choice of fuel for the open fire has
been a serious problem to many In
the o4d days of the traditional New
England fireplace, with it's backlog
drawn in by oxen, the construction OF
the fire became a science-the details
can nowhere be better learned than in
Whittier's 'Snow Bound" But with
everything in the world to choose
from except anthracite coal-the
people who have suddenly been COM
PEELED to fall back upon the open fire
have been at loss to know what they
could burn to the best advantage.
| Beyond question the best fuel in the
world for a CRATE, when real practical
use in zero weather is demanded is
camel coal, fuel SO little known in
| New England that barely carload