The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-01-23
OPEN FIRE AND THE PINE KNOT

I don't recollect just how many
years ago it is since we first turned
on the natural gas at our house up
Winterland, and sat down before q
mo that required only the turning Of
the valve and the application Of light
Cd match. We thought then that per
lection had been reached in the art oil
house.warming. So the fire places
were shut up with new.fangled con
trapdons and the old stoves went out
that new contriVances might come in,
ana we sat by the gas fires and pitied
the folks who still had to depend on
wood and coal.
There is no use to try to make PEG
PIE dissatisfied with their conditions,
so nothing will be said Of the gas fire.
( Il has some virtue. 1t never requires
any carrying Of coal up to the second
story, and no ashes have to be car
ried down every morning. The month
h bnl-but then the gas company
needs the money, so what's the use to
bring that up until the end Of the
month.
Before the days OF gas we boosted
a the excellent soft coal in Western
Pennsylvania. 1t is a magnificent fuel.
It's wonderful heat generating qualities
have made Western Pennsylvania an
Industrial wonderland with an atmos-
phere like that Of tophet, but soft coal
has done more for civilization and the
comfort Of the human race than all Of
the natural gas that has been used
since the first days Of the ancient fire
vorshippers Of Balakhani.
Way back Of the days of soft coal
there was broad fire place in the din.
ing room Of house that has gone 10
make room for one Of the nasty pre-.
tentious modern boxes with impossible
trimmings in which people live and
Bum gas, The fireplace was big
enough 10 take anything that the men
Of the household could carry in to 1t,
and how 1t lighted and heated tho big
room when 1t was in commission on a
winter night. Possibly there was a
time when winter was pleasant sea-
son, II SO 1t was when you could turn
your back on the snow drifts five feet
deep that filed the lane below the
dooryard and drop down beside fire.
place where the cheer was so pro-
nounced that the warmth so all.prevad'
ing that the outside atmosphere was
0utcIassed by the inside hospitality.
The old folks from that fireplace are
these many years at rest. A succeed
ing generation shut up the fireplace
and brought in a stove. Another gen
Grafton irreverent and unapprectatiVe,
tore down the house. The last time
I passed that way | looked at the
changes that had been made. The an.
Client idols were not only shattered by
this modern devotion to things that are
new, but we're swept away completely,
It suggested to me the magnificent
mosque Of st. Sophia, in Constantine
pie, which had been built as a Chris.
Han temple, and one OF the most costly
and elaborate in the world. l went
up to see It one day. But 1t bore q des'
ecrated air, for, instead Of the cross
which is the sign of good will and hu.
man progress, above the ediflce, rose
the minaret Of the Mahommedan, who
Il the high priest of blood and intellec.
ttlaE decay. Santa Sophia is the most
splendid example Of Dissertation that
know Of. The dissertation OF a fine old
fireplace is not so comprehensive, but
the one suggested the thought Of the
other.
When we talked Of living in North
Carolina my household gods planned
Tor open wood fires in the house, So
We built our home, In slx particular
places in the house we may pile on |
,the pine knots and sit before the fire
ana toast our shins and lose ourselves
a. fhA yvnFshin az ifha fra gods. Il do