Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1909-10-22
Friday, October 22. 1909.
OCTOBER.

OCTOBER.
Really this month takes away
the poets inspiration and the d.
vine aftlatus-with its matchless
hues of the forest leaves, gray
tints of the fading meadows, the
purple berries ripening in the
frost of autumn, the homecoming
of the COWS, to say nothing OF
trying persimons to ascertain ii
they are ripe, and, in a word, the
whole array of Watching the fall
fading away into winter with its
bare forests and, and-mudholes
frozen over!
But lei us dwell for a brief time
on the comforts thatcold weather
brings. The wood-pile is heaped
high, and those who have such
are cleaning out the CRATE and
seeing TO it that the stove is in
drawing condition; the corn is i'm
the shock and the blankets are
laid out at the foot of the bed and
the long nights have begun. 1t
was Sancho Panza, we think, who
invoked blessings on the man
that invented sleep, and we are
quite ready to worship the man
who discovered fire. That must
have been an early invention, and
yet it laid the foundation for all
that followed, for without fire we
con!d not have cast iron, and
without cast-iron we could not
havestoves and without stoves
but the subject is too vast to
pursue. Some one has differ
entiated man from the beasts i'm
that he knows how to make a
fire. (Memo.: the wife insists that
we don't know, and that she
takes the chunks and GXes them
every time; but that's another
story.) While it seemingly re-
quires no very great skill. still we
should have to eat our food raw
but for the blessed fire. And now
that we are put on short allow
ance as to sunshine we can SUD-
PIGMENT this with fire. blessed
fire. and be content.
This old man with bent back
and cracked voice who comes in
tochat, as Sures us that the world
is going TO the dogs, and proves
1T aftera manner. There was. he
tells us, a time when the abomi-
nation OF stoves was unknown
1--WE suspect he has been trying to
put old stcvepipe joints togetRer)
and when a sure-enough fire
blazed on the hearth Che calls it
n hath) and this hearth was the
centre OF the family solar system.
About it the family gathered
morning and evening, and the
work OF the day was discussed
there. The big Bible was brought |
out and there was family PRAYERS. |
The days work done, around this
sacred spot gathered again the
family for prayers. 1t was the
family social gathering. (Here. |
too, the subject is too vast and
withal too touching; sacred in
deed are its memoriesl Get Burns' |
"Cotter's Saturday Night" and
read it for the most exquisite
picture in print of such a night. J |
The fireplace is gone, the hearth is |
enclosed by n sheet-iron fireboard |
the fire is in the stove. inyisi.
bile, provoking and only tolerable |
because it warns us. The charm
is broken. the spell dispelled, and
that which men loved and Sane.
the praises OF, that which men
fought for, nay, died for, exists
no longer save in memory. The
little barefoot boy who warmed
his toes by the open blaze and
roasted chestnuts III the hot ashes
has a home now of his own. but
it has no fireplace, no glowing
hearth. A furnace heats the
house, and what of magic or
poetry can be gotten out of a |
hole ia the wall from which issues
hot airl He has his own children. |
but John has his own room where
he can have his cigarettes and
questionable company, and Mary
has her private sitting place where
the still more questionable novel. |
or, worse still, French play. is
read. The evil is that the house
is warm all over and that the
no more draws the child
rem TO it. BE means and his voice
grows shrill as he declares that
the doom of the country is near,
for the family circle is broken up.
There is something in it. The
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