Year: 1862




correspondent of the New York Leader thus
dscourses upon the ottractiveness and comfort
of the od-fOshoned log-fre. 1t is decidedly
graphic:


No means of heating for a room approach
the open fire Of blazing material. Can you
wonder at the tenacity with which old folks in
lie country cling to their great open re-place,
in which for generations of Winters, have blazcd
cracked and roared mammoth fires, dispensing
light and checrfuness. and refuse TO be cOmlorted
with square oblong iron collins of the genial
blazes Recall the difference in your own sensa-
toGs as experienced in entering, after long cold
drive, room warmed with blazing logs, and
ore heated with stove. 4 stove will warm
your body in dull, mechanical, gradual sort of
way, and accomplishes the object for which it
was designed But fire of logs-big, blazing,
roaring logs! Oh, for the divine afflatus neces-
Early adequate to describe the sensation! |
might OH for a very long timc and the ai1latus
would not come, and therefore the intensity of
ny feelings cannot be expressed. The mind is
Chorred The nerves, as it were, lay themselves
unt 10 the soothing influence the blood tngtes
gratefully all over the body, not rushing to the
temples cvcrishy and as if it feared to be dried
in the veins; the very " cockles' of the heart
are warned through aud thcengh,


What wonder that the burning of special
log of magnificent proportions, with special cere-





European races? | suppose there is not ir the
metropolis OF America, a man SO thoroughly
town bred, so completely cOckney, a. never to
have been off the stones, as there are men in
London and Paris U4ro have never had that
Felicity. But if I could imagine such an Ameri-
can man, aud | desired to give him a new. Il
thoroughtly new sensation, intense and exquisite,
beyond my power of description, and as believe
even not 20 be adequately described in language,
| would drive him in the cold still air Of a
Winters night for a compile of hours along a
quiet coantry road. We should be warmly wrap
bed in buffalo robes. and in a sleigh moving at
fair eight miles an hour trof, which is as fast as
Christian should drive horse on a short journey
Wc should hear the crunching of the hard
crystals Of snow for these two hours, and only
speak at intervals dare TO lift our noses
above our wraps, and after brief speech drive
that important feature beneath the wraps again.
We shOnld become chilled at the eXtremties
chilled at the shoulders chilled more about the
region Of the stomach Suddenly emerging from
stretch Of woods, we should see a small ilu- !
minated window afar off The horse shall prick
up his ears and move faster. We shall lift up
oUr heads, settle our buiIalocs and feel tresbcr-
Gradually, as we near the object of vision, there
comes upon the cold air to our sharpened sense
of smell the ordor Of burning wood. A wood
fire. Again | long for the divine ailiatus-
There is a gate at the roadside. 1t sants open
We dtive up modest carriage-way and stand
heore porch Oar sleigh-bclls have brought
those within to the door. for hospitality never
waits for ring Of bell. The horse goes his way
Alas poor beast. there is no wood fire for him
We shake ourselves free from bulaloes, and walk
with stiff knees, and cold toes, and brown paper
faces into ;he presence of the god of Winter
the great log. Al, that indescribable charm of
the old farmhouse on which bangs the air of
gcntliiy, where the owner has cultivation and
taste to grace bis home, and the agricultural
skill q maintain AS | nut nv cOcknpy
friend down before that fire in Hat house. feel
that ! have settled him in the very elysium Of
earth. If there is any position in the world
more soothing, more delightful, know it not,
after years Of intense research half the world
over in search Of the comforting"