The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-12-24
ART OF FIRE BUILDING.
Plan of Man Who Might Be Expected
to Succeed in Any Calling.

From the New York Sun.
"A philosopher has said that man
who can build a good fire could do any
thing WELL and 1 suppose" said Mr.. Grip
tongs. that there is truth In this.
ITO make a fire that will so the fire
builder must first have provided himself
with all the materials requisite, thus in
dicating a due degree of forethought III
preparation and then he must so arrange
this material in the stove or on the
hearth as to insure the fire catching in it
and burning freely and with certainty,
this requiring a knowledge of how ID
build a fire, and calling for the exercise
of patience and care in the work. 1t IS
a fine art, indeed, the building of good
fire.
Some years ago we spent summer
in the mountains where a fire was needed
for comfort. We had a good fire builder
in the party.
I'm the sitting room of the small COZ
tage we occupied there was a square box
stove for burning wood, and every morn
ing as regular as clockwork our fre
builder used to come in to build the
fire.
Apparently he never considered the
stove, as some folks do, simply all
inanimate iron box, but he looked upon
it rather with a sort of friendly feeling,
as of somebody something he knew;
and he would draw up chair and open
the stove door and look in, and then he
would sit back and get big jacklSnife
out of his pocket and fall to whiting
deliberately on that piece of soft white
! pine.
These curly punches of white pine he
would put in the stove, carefully laying
| them one above another around so that
an abundance of air could get in around
every shaving to make sure Of perfect
| combustion when he should touch a
match to them. And then he would lay
in gently some strips of fine kindlings
crossing, them, too, to give them plenty
| of air, and on top of these he would put
| in the same manner, a few sticks of a
| little heavier split stuff with surfaces and
edges that would catch the fire more
readily, and then he would put in two
or three fair-sized sticks on top.
! Now there was fire built in a fit
| and proper manner, one that would not
go out, fire that would burn; and with
| uoldmoO puB 9ulBT w 'fInlu9o Qlua9lIu
| st. Bartholomew also goes back to the
| everything all ready so, the fire builder
| would scratch a match on the stove and
| touch the flame of it to tip of white
pine shaving sticking out under the stove
| door, and in a minute, while he sat Ivy
the stove watching it, our fire would Ne
burning bravely, and that he felt, as he
Justly might, as much pride in his good
| work as we did we had no doubt. And
who could doubt that such fire builder
would do equally well in whatever he
might put his hand to?
In later years in the same region we
| had a bigger cottage, in whose sitting
room was broad and deep open fire
place delightful to contemplate. But how
different were the fire building methods
| here,
when the fire builder came around to
us on our first morning here we noticed
that he had with him an oil can. First
he laid in few strips of thin board stuff
split up from a wooden box, and then he
piled on logs, and then he picked up that
oil can and poured kerosene on the kind
ling stuff. and after setting the can down
back little again. lighted a match and
touched it to the kerosene covered kind
lings,
I'VE couldn't say it to him, for we al,
liked the fire builder; but we could think
it to ourselves: How had the art of fire
building fallen.
| But this was only an instance of its
| decline which circumstances brought
sharply to our attention. In truth, the
art of fire building has fallen altogether
in many places and especially in cities.
Once fires were built regularly in every
home. Now we have steam radiators and
gas stoves. and in many homes fire buili-
ing is an art quite unknown