490 AMERICAN 
ent designs, is really a corrupted 
form of the term “hand-irons,”’ 
although the name ‘“‘end-irons’’ is 
also found in some early inventories. 
In addition to the large andirons for 
the heavy logs, smaller ones called 
‘creepers’? were often used to sup- 
port the short sticks. 
As time went on and the colo- 
nists found themselves growing 
more well-to-do they began to build 
more substantial homes. ‘The num- 
ber of rooms was gradually in- 
creased, and when the kitchen came 
to be no longer utilized as the prin- 
cipal room in the house, the number 
of fireplaces grew larger also. But 
the fireplaces themselves began to 
decrease in size. There was no 
longer any need of such huge fires 
to keep comfortable, for in the new 
houses there was little chance for 
the biting wind to enter. Then, 
too, wood was not so plentiful as 
it had been at first and the enormous 
back-logs were not so readily avail- 
able as in the earlier days. 
So it happened that by the mid- 
dle of the eighteenth century the 
great, yawning fireplaces had given 
way to those of more moderate 
proportions. Some of the early ones were still in use, it 
is true, but the majority of these had been partially filled 
in with brick and mortar in order to conform with the de- 
mands of economy and the prevailing fashion. 
About this time the brick oven was introduced in connec- 
tion with the kitchen fireplaces. “These ovens were roomy 
affairs generally situated at one side of the fireplace. Early 
in the morning of baking-day a brisk fire of wood was kin- 
veal 
a 
ern 
HOMES 
Fire-dogs in the fireplace of Saltonstall House 
at Haverhill, Massachusetts 
AND GARDENS December, 1909 
dled in the oven and was allowed 
to burn until the bricks were thor- 
oughly heated, usually about two 
hours. The coals were then taken 
out and the Saturday array of 
brown-bread, beans, Indian pudding 
and pies were transferred to the 
oven and left to be baked by the 
slow, even heat. The delicious 
flavor imparted by this process 
lingers tantalizingly in the memory 
of those who have eaten food 
cooked in this way, for as yet 
nothing has been found that can 
compare along this line with the 
old-fashioned brick oven of our 
grandmother’s day. 
Another bit of kitchen furnishing 
that dates back to the time of the 
open fireplace is the tin kitchen. 
With its shelves laden with pies and 
bread this odd little tin cupboard 
was drawn up in front of the blaz- 
ing fire and allowed to remain there 
until the food was _ thoroughly 
cooked by the heat thrown out by 
the fire and reflected by the convex 
tin hood. Cooking was also done 
in kettles suspended over the blaze 
from the stout iron crane by means 
of pot-hooks or trammels. The 
long-handled frying-pan, the baking-pan supplied with legs 
so that it might be set directly among the embers, and the 
roasting-spit were also included among the culinary utensils 
which every well-to-do housewife of the fireplace era 
possessed. 
With the advent of the smaller fireplaces came the dec- 
orative mantel and the more elaborate fittings. Indeed, so 
important a feature did the ornamental chimney-piece be- 
Fireplace in Saltonstall House, at Haverhill, Massachusetts 
Fireplace in an old Salem house 
