CHAPTER TWENTY THREE 



THE FIREPLACE AND ITS TREATMENT 



But they've a wall'd up now wi' bricks 

 The vier pleace vor dogs an' sticks 

 An' only left a little hole 

 To teake a little greate o' coal, 

 So small that only twos or drees 

 Can jist push in an' warm their knees. 

 And then the carpets they do use 

 Ben't fit to tread wi' ouer shoes ; 

 An' chairs an' couches be so neat 

 You mussen teake em vor a seat : 

 They be so fine, that vo'k mus' pleace 

 All over em an' outer cease, 

 And then the cover when 'tis on, 

 Is still too fine to loll upon. 

 Ah ! gie me, if I wer' a squier, 

 The settle an' the girt wood vier. 



WILLIAM BARNES. 



ROM the modern utilitarian point of view I suppose it must 

 be conceded that the open fire is an extremely unscientific 

 and unsatisfactory arrangement. But the modern scientist 

 satisfies himself with putting the matter to the test of the 

 thermometer, and the value of the system is judged by its 

 effects on mercury, rather than on the complex human, whose attitude in the 

 matter is not altogether a question of degrees Fahrenheit. 



In the house the fire is practically a substitute for the sun, and it bears 

 the same relation to the household as the sun does to the landscape. It is 

 one of the fairy-tale facts of science that the heat and brightness from the 

 burning coal is the same that was emitted from the sun on the primeval 

 forests ; and so the open fire enables us to enjoy to-day the brightness and 

 warmth of yesterday's sunshine, and the cheerfulness we experience from the 

 fire is akin to the delight which sunlight brings. To live in a scientifically 

 adjusted temperature with the fire relegated to the basement is to live in a 

 grey and cheerless world ; and so the house, however warm, without a fire may 

 very reasonably be compared to a summer day without the sun. It is, there- 

 fore, no mere archaic affectation which leads us to cling to the open hearth 

 and the blazing fire ; and although, especially in large houses, it may be 

 desirable to introduce more effectual means of heating, this should never 

 replace but only supplement the open fire. 



In glancing back at the evolution of the house one of the most interesting 

 features is the treatment of the fireplaces. The earliest arrangement was to 

 place the fire in the centre of the room, the smoke finding its way out through 

 the roof; and were it not for this difficulty of disposing of the smoke this 

 central position seems to possess many advantages, and the family gathered 

 round such a fire forms a complete circle. 



When, however, the fireplace became to be placed against the wall the 

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