Evening star., 1932-07-01
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Spring or Summer. which strikes you as
better than the average, and for which
no terms OF comparison seem quite as
good as like wine" although you may
never have cared for wine, personally,
the chances are better than average
that the mean reading of the ther-
mometer will be within the range set
down above and that the relative hu-
midity will be about SIS degrees.
Upon those Summer days. however,
which are cool outdoors and thereby
render the interior of houses really
clammy, owing to the excess humidity
confined therein. the traditional log
burning fireplace has its uses.
There is a novelty about an open
wood fire in Summer which the Win
ter fire in the f1replace'lacks. In many
homes the rooms are warm all Win
ter without the aid Of the fireplace
thanks to the truSty furnace, and its
use is rather poetical than practical.
In Summer, however, when a cool
day arrives there is utility as we'll as
ornament in 1t.
What does one do to a fireplace when
he starts a fire in it?
Not a roaring FIRE" remember. for
that is totally unnecessary The best
fire is the easygoing, placidly burning
affair. which lasts longer and which
therefore gives one more time in which
to enjoy it.
one puts life into a fireplace when
he starts a fire in it. The ancients
did not regard fire as one Of the four
elements" for nothing.
Flame seemed to them q thing dis
tinct. The scarcely knew about gases,
but they somehow sensed them with
that strange intuition which early man
had.
Suppose the crumpled paper. the
kindIing and the logs have been re-
posing in their respective positions for
several weeks
No doubt they are damp. as Is the
entire chimney.
1t is said that the best way to start
a fire in the fireplace is burn up a few
papers first, in order to warm up the
chimney.
This is another one Of those advices
OF perfection which no one ever fol-
lows.
No. building a good fire, with proper
backlog, and so on. is something of a
nuisance, and once the job is done, it
stays done until needed.
The crumpled papers, or sheets Of
paper rolled into tapers, occupy the
most humble position down at the
bottom of the pile
Next comes the kindling. whose duty
1t is to catch the fire handed up by the
paper, and pass it on to the logs.
These, in turn. burn with that srdor
which has made the open fireplace a
favortte in all ages and nations. Even
today. when it Is scarcely needed. N
a sense, it occupies a more preferred
position than ever. owing to its deco
rative value. and the sense of house
hold center which it gives to an entire
home
Utility it still has, however in large
measure. as any one will find out who
starts a fire on any unsessonably cool
Summer day, preferably IN the early
morning.
This paper burns slowly. and the
kindling even slower. while the logs
show no disposition to break into
flames The good draft whirls clouds
OF smoke sloft.
There Is a erinkling Of paper, and
bits OF wood, as they feel the pressure
of released gases in burning.
Suddenly a genuine fame bursts
forth. down at the right end; shortly
the whole backlog is ablaze from one
end to another. while the two other
logs-three is the perfect number
catch fire from it.
Drying warmth creeps out into the
room.
The pictures in the flames are there
to be created bv the imagination as
surely as one may piece together cut
blocks of wood to make maps and the
like.
Now the fireplace has settled down
to its steady pace: It will require but
the addition of log from time - time
to keep it simmering pleasantly I'll day
long. George Washington would not
understand your radio or your auto
mobile, but he would feel quite at home
in front of your fireplace