Evening star., 1932-10-01

No two wood fires on the hearth are
alike, even If made with logs from the
same cord.
The game in the fireplace is like the
game of chess in this respect.
Just as no two games of the ancient
indoor pastime are exactly alike, so
there is a great deal of difference in
two fires kindled from logs similar In
appearance.
Now that the GOODNESS Of Autumn is
stealing over the land, bringing with 1t
the first brown patches in green grass
and the first tinges of red to certain
leaves, the desire for a fire in the fire.
place buds in every household.
All Summer long this central point
of the living room stood almost un-
regarded. 1t was place to pass by
without much thought. Its mantel shelf
held many an object which perhaps
ought not to have burdened it. Its
chief function was in abeyance.
With the first breath of cooler
weather, however, a transformation
came over the thoughts of men; the
first thoughts became yearning ones to-
ward more and better heat.
Nothing seemed quite so natural as
fire in the fireplace. No matter what
modern forms of heating a home pos
sessed, all those who lived there turned
instinctively to the hearth.
Thus, they were living over again,
for a brief moment, the ancestry OF
their race.
As they gathered kindling and logs
and began the happy preparation for
v,fn f3yA }rrx hoy
think of themselves as pioneers ex-
actly, nor were they in one sense.
In another, however, they were dis
tinctly and entirely pioneers, almost as
much so as the men and women OF
long, long ago, who had no other way
Of keeping warm.
1t is difficult, practically impossible
for many men and women of this era
TO realize that other men and women
once had no other method of keeping
warm in Winter except by the use OF
log fires at the bottom of huge Chin
neys.
The crudest of stoves. Of types nc
longer to be found in commerce. owing
to their ineflciency, were only inven-
tions of few hundreds of years ago
All during the ages the hearth. the
fireplace, the chimney, have constituted
the one indispensable way of control
ling the use Of fire in the home.
If mankind lost its furnaces tomor-
row, it still could keep itself warm
(fairly) with its wood burning fire.
places, eked out with coal-burning
CRATES.
There will always be dispute about
the relative merits Of wood and Goa
burning fire CRATES. The utilitarian:
will haf ir, hn 10 ~
burns longer and gives more heat.
Those opposed declare that coal fires
are dangerous-did not the great novel
ist. Emile Zola, die from the fumes sent
out by such fire in his bed room?
The real winning argument, however
in favor of the wood burning hearth lie.
in the real difference between every
batch of logs.
Coal fires are more or less the same
They are efficient, but, like SO many
efficient things, quite monotonous.
No two log fires are ever the same.
Specifically they may seem to be so
and some watchers who have not
watched at all but only think they have
may have the temerity to dispute the
assertion.
Those who watch best will know that
the truth of our prime assertion stands
and will forever stand.
Games of chess may have the same
! openings" but just let one pawn bt
given a different move from the one
it received, at the same point, in tht
last game. and the whole plan Of actor
Of both sides must be changed.
With wood fires it is much the same
But here the very openings" are diff
ferent. We have never seen two fire:
| begin in the same way. One will catcf
gradually. until the fireside sitter think!
something must be wrong with the con-
struction of the pile on the andirons
All Of sudden a row Of small flame:
| will run along the bottom of the outel