Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-20
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

| mallows we were roasting there than
in the conduct of the wood as a burn
ing medium.
We are just a bit afraid that too
many fireplace sitterS are content with
a dull, prosaic burning process, as If
there were no pictures to see, nor any
individual logs to watch. Now 1t Is
this watching of each log, log by log,
| that constitutes one of the greatest
charms of the fireplace. We recommend
1t to all who have not discovered it for
themselves, and many will not, because
1t Is not every one who consciously
recognizes the smaller charms of life.
! What Is more intriguing, however,
than the way yonder backlog bursts
into blue flames in a row of jets, exactly
aIter the manner Of burner in gas
stove? One might suppose it to be con-
Stunning artificial fuel, as it were, it
burns so evenly.
1t even makes a suffering noise like
noisy gas burner of the old school,
Somewhere within the rotund depths
OF the as yet scarcely charred log Is a
well OF gas, imprisoned there by the ca
price of Nature
The burning away of certain banks let's
the gas be tapped. The result is we'll
in miniature. At the other end of the
log another type of well has been
struck. This one devotes its energies
to making smoke. Thick clouds of it
roll straight up, caught by the draft of
the fireplace, and vanish into the CHM
ney.
Amid these two main phenomena
exist score or more of minor ones,
ranging from spark shooting to COM
buStlon in its varying ranges. On this
smaller log there Is some sort of ar
rangement which every now and then
explodes with loud bang" sending a
small piece of charred wood forward
three or four feet, If one has no fire.
screen.
All the time the entire aggregation
of logs, in defiance of the experts" is
sending up sparks, some of which catch
on the sides Of the f1rebrickS, linger.
and go out, others of which shoot
heavenward out of sight.
If you go outdoors into the chilly
night. and look up at the chimney, you
will be able to see some of those sparks
as they strike the air, still sparkling.
While the miniature gas well continues
to burn, and the geyser to throw out its
smoke screen, and the sparks to jump
up, there goes on a continued swapping
and cracking which help largely to
make the fireplace interesting.
Blessings upon that extra amount of
moisture in our crude logs, we say, if it
is responsible for this fine swapping and
cracking!
Fireplace wood should not burn too
quickly, nor, on the other hand, should
it burn too slowly. So much we are
willing to concede to the experts" but
for the rest we rather suspect that they
are a set of fireplace charlatans, talking
about something they have read some
where.
Surely they have never sat beside a
real fireplace, with real logs burning IN
1t, or they would not sneer at this divine
swapping and cracking.
Down with the man who wants no
snapples or crackles in his firewood!
Give us plenty of both. say we, and
let each log offer us something different
in the burning line. This one will need
a little proddlng, or to be turned over
on its back, when it will burst into
flames from one end to the other. This
one. with free burning, will help set
alight this slow-charring log In this
way we enjoy the evening symphony of
the fireplace.