WOOD FIRE. 
4:13 
task now ; these piles will soon be neatly stowed away under 
sheds, and in wood-houses, for they are all obliged to be re- 
moved from the streets, early in the spring, by one of the village 
laws. 
Wood is the only fuel used in this county. In such a cold 
climate we need a large supply of it. Five years since it sold 
here for seventy-five cents a half cord ; it now costs a dollar the 
half cord. Iron stoves are very much used here ; they are con 
sidered cheaper, warmer, and safer than fire-places. But how 
much less pleasant they are ! The smell of the heated iron is 
always disagreeable, and the close atmosphere they give to a 
room must necessarily prove unhealthy, A fine, open, wood fire 
is undeniably the pleasantest mode of heating a room ; far more 
desirable than the coal of England, the peat of Ireland, the delicate 
laurel charcoal and bronze brazier of Italy, or the unseen furnace 
of Russia. The very sight of a bright hickory or maple fire is 
almost enough to warm one ; and what so cheerful as tlie glowing 
coals, the brilliant flame, and the star-like sparks which enliven 
the household hearth of a bracing winter's evening as twilight 
draws on ! Such a fire helps to light as well as heat a room ; the 
warm glow it throws upon the walls, the flickering lights and 
shadows which play there as the dancing flames rise and fall, ex- 
press the very spirit of cheerful comfort. The crackling, and 
rattling, and singing, as the flame does its cheerful work, are 
pleasant household sounds. Alas, that our living forest wood 
must ere long give way to the black, dull coal ; the generous^ 
open chimney to the close and stupid stove ! 
Wednesday, ^\st. — Cold. Walked in the afternoon. It began 
to snow while we were out ; but one minds the falling snow very 
