The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-19

To%he Editor of The Age-Herald:
 In a recent clipped article in The Age Herald, under the above caption, the wri.- e, took occa sion to refer in a very sar- ca stic way to what constitutes one of tho svaetest and most sacred memories vouchsafed the older ones who were for tunate enough to live at a time when the onen fire" was a hallowed thing, and has lost none of it's wonderful sweetness In our memories with the passage of years
 I+ was painfully evident the writer lap- ored under the double disadvantage oi having little or no knowledge of what ne was trying to write about, and being too aesthetic to have enjoyed such thirss had he lived in that day and time ana known of them The present writer ac- cents the gauntlet thrown down and will endeavor to draw or paint a picture that ;s real and true to life as briefly as pos sibic.
 A clear chill November evening oeep- ening into sunset, the western sky nam ing red shot with gold as few small specks of cloud float lazily aooVe the horizon, the hurrying of the pirds' tneH chatter becoming less as they make theih- selves secure for the night. Up from the fields come tired men and horses lall n,cwinp is in full blasD and soon the chores of the evening are under way the
 sorealing pigs, lowing cows, neighing
 horses are enjoying bountiful repasl
 from full ..crib." All secure and quiet
 for the night, the door to the big log
 farmhouse swings wide open and out rom it's portals streams the soft glowing hsht
 from the "open fire charging the twi-
 light air with an overpowering sense or
 hospitality causing tired feet to quicken
 and a great wave of quiet, restful con
 tentment to reign in the heart.
 It is altogether too sad in this paper
 sack" age of the world to dwell in the
 steaming supper of home-raised ham,
 eggs, chicken, pies, etc., spread on the table, and would be inhumanly cruel to taunt present day, people who subsist on oleomargerne, cold storage meat and eggs and loaf bread of doubtful age. with possibly little tea or coffee warmed In @ chafing dish and eaten while hover ing over a leaking radiator that ooesn | 1 "radiate."
 Supper over, the blazing logs are stirred into a still brighter blaze and chairs are drawn and specs are produced, father fills up his cob and leans back in the old hickory arm chair with an ineffable sigh of content; mother and the girls soon clear away the dishes while the smaller children are busy getting out the corn pepper or skillet to roast peanuts. more | familiarly known as "goobers." to be fol- 1 lowed by the cracking of walnuts and
 hickory nuts. Quite frequently a neigh | bor with his wife and children drop in to I "set til bedtime" Mother slips out and | Af md these are soon buriedSand roasting in the | hot ashes being urged on by surreptitious | punches of the fire stick by the more youthful and impatient members of the 1 family.
 | All is peace and contentment, even ''Ponto" and '"rabby' are asleep, or pretending to, with their noises quite l close together.
 | Nc rigid formality, no conventions; just plain, simple, glorious living. No hollow mocking sham could live in the radius of that life-giving blaze on the open hearth.
 | The big clock in the corner slowly and l reluctantly peals out the hour of 9, in l dicating bedtime, the kids who are now
 in the main asleep in various positions are
 rudely shaken out of their dreams and told that its bedtime"
 The visiting neighbors marshal theii little group together, leading some, carry ing others, wend their way homeward And now, the crowning time has come Amid a silence that is too deep and holy l to be written down. the old family Bible worn with much use, is opened, and ir clear, decisive tones from fathers lips | comes, Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God; believe also in me. l etc.
 | Lower and lower falls the flame, ths glowing coals casting loving warmth around the bowed heads, as in fervent words burning with pentecostal powers the family is committed into the loving esre of Him Who 'careth for us." Th(