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Show ! j i Q?l FIREPLACES. I i t Xearly cer uody who has read the story of the . I I early struggles cf Abraham Lincoln in the baek- l j woods, how he split rails in the daytime and read law by the light of an open fireplace in the cabin ; home of his parents in the evening, has felt just ' a slight tinge of jealousy for the great emancipa tor for having enjoyed the luxury of a real fire-j fire-j place, where real logs of wood were burned, and a real chimney corner where one could hang his coat I ! and hat while in the house. That this feeling is ) general is recognized by the up-to-date architects M : ' of the present day, for all the latest houses, thit is, those houses which are built for people who can afford af-ford the luxuries of life, have in their equipment a fireplace in which wood or coal can be burned, but J which are also usually constructed to burn gas, f j which is a great deal less trouble than wood. But 5 i while this indicates a tendency to give the people ; ! of today all the luxuries of the olden time, it is ; ' unfortunate that the rails are no longer ready to be split, for if we had more rails to split there ' would be more inclination when the evening shades have settled over the earth to gather about the open fireplace and enjoy the luxury, even as Abraham Lincoln enjoyed it. There are too many homes no more than a house in which the occupants gather to cat and i i-loop. The fact that there are no open fireplaces in 1 them may not be the. immediate cause for this ten- j deney to gad, but there is something fascinating about an open fire, as Ik Marvel has so well dem-; dem-; onstratcd. Before a blazing hearth, if anywhere, , i man's mind wanders over the past and builds airy, fairy castles whh-h he expects to work out in the i future. There the lessons of experience can be digested and there the fancy can play upon the fu-; fu-; lure, and strong resolutions can be formed and the joys of home life brought to iheir highest fruition. There is a lure aud a fascination about a danc- i ing blaze, and all are more or less susceptible to it. While your back may be cold as you sit before the open hearth, if there is no furnace in the cellar, there is yet. the appealing invitation of the blaze to sit before it and enjoy it. And there is many a man who would be drawn from the allurements of the city, and many a boy who likes to wander out at night, meeting evil associates, and many a girl whose interest in the dance or the theatre is greater than her interest in the home, could be drawn back to the home by the ever-present invitation of the open hearth and its cheery persuasion. It is pleasing to see the tendency among our present-day architects to place in the homes they are building an open fireplace. It is a recognition of one of the oldest influences for good in our modern mod-ern civilization. It is a returning to the old and worn-out fireplace, because it has been found to be good. If at the same time the present social order returns re-turns to that which made each man's fireside his home, where he could always be found anj'.time after sunset, with his boys and girls gathered around him, with books and magazines and papers to read, and nuts to crack, and apples to eat, then will the reappearance of the old fireplace and fire-dogs fire-dogs be a welcome innovation. In such a home we might even expect to find a bootjack and a purring old cat too lazy to go to the kitchen to eat, and demanding that her supper be served before the fireplace. Such homes have existed, and they were happy homes, as anybody who ever had one such will testify. |