Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-27
THE OPEN FIRE.
The old-Fashioned Chimney Place as
Means of Heating Homes.

From the Springfield Republican.
The scarcity of anthracite has served to
introduce many people accidentally, but not
unpleasantly, to the luxury, obsolescent in
recent years, of an open fire. The rich still
enjoy the pure superfluity of the blazing
log in a house already raised to summer
temperature by steam, but the typical
house among the moderately well-to-do,
who constitute the larger part of the popu-
lation, depends entirely upon arid and
cherries 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 ne
cessity. of soiling her spick and span things
with blaze. In the darkest days of house
building there was even mania for false
replaceS-sometimes a mere blank section
of thing with a permanent screen over the
non-existent fire-hole. sometimes a white
marble sepulcher of fireplace, with ele
CANT andironS and no connection whatever
with chimney. Perhaps such horrors are
no longer perpetrated. 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 gift-book OF a
secret society tin sword. They are very
well SO long as they are not needed: there
is, indeed, distinct advantage in house
already heated unwhOlesomely by furnace
in having the fireplace arranged so as to
convey 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 dexterously contrived
as to let the heat out and keep the smoke
in
The truth is that the building of fire.
places is a delicate art, and, like other
arts, declines when practiced purely for
purposes of ornament. The chimney fire is
the most extravagant as well as the most
6ali tyht FIJI Of hf,6S Of hos nd
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 pres
ent 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 be loath to
give it up.
But while the fireplace at its best squan-
ders fuel, there is vast difference between
the practicable fireplace of an old-time
house, sternly tested by the austerities of a
New England winter, and the fancy artt-
cles that pass muster in modish modern
domicile. The difference is not greater be-
tween light pleasure yacht and Glouces-
ter schooner. built for any weather. The
true open fireplace or crate Is buHS to
throw the heat out into the room; its ficti-
tious substitute is simply a chimney with a
place for fire at the bottom The case is
made worse when the chimney follows 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 CEN
ter Of the house. but this is not essential.
1t is essential to good heating, however, to
have the brick pile of the chimney indoors
out of the weather, and the more the fire.
place follows the principle Of the Franklin
stove the better. With straight draft
up flame, heat and all go straight up to the
frosty armament. If the fireplace is brought
well forward into the room and the throat
of the vent is narrowed down and Skillfully
twisted, if the CRATE is so set as to find a
happy mean between too much and too lit
tie draft, and to radate the heat out into
the room, mode of heating is given which
is entirely practicable even in cold weather,
and only disadvantageous in that it re-
quires somewhat more fuel and good deal
more work than the prosaic and utilitarian
hot-air furnace The toy fireplace, how
ever is mockery, and in the past week or
two it's sins have been brought glaringly to
light.