Backlog Studies | Page 5

which is deep, and nearly three feet wide, has a broad
hearthstone in front of it, where the live coals tumble down, and a pair
of gigantic brass andirons. The brasses are burnished, and shine
cheerfully in the firelight, and on either side stand tall shovel and tongs,
like sentries, mounted in brass. The tongs, like the two-handed sword
of Bruce, cannot be wielded by puny people. We burn in it hickory
wood, cut long. We like the smell of this aromatic forest timber, and its
clear flame. The birch is also a sweet wood for the hearth, with a sort of
spiritual flame and an even temper,--no snappishness. Some prefer the
elm, which holds fire so well; and I have a neighbor who uses nothing

but apple-tree wood,--a solid, family sort of wood, fragrant also, and
full of delightful suggestions. But few people can afford to burn up
their fruit trees. I should as soon think of lighting the fire with sweet-oil
that comes in those graceful wicker-bound flasks from Naples, or with
manuscript sermons, which, however, do not burn well, be they never
so dry, not half so well as printed editorials.
Few people know how to make a wood-fire, but everybody thinks he or
she does. You want, first, a large backlog, which does not rest on the
andirons. This will keep your fire forward, radiate heat all day, and late
in the evening fall into a ruin of glowing coals, like the last days of a
good man, whose life is the richest and most beneficent at the close,
when the flames of passion and the sap of youth are burned out, and
there only remain the solid, bright elements of character. Then you
want a forestick on the andirons; and upon these build the fire of lighter
stuff. In this way you have at once a cheerful blaze, and the fire
gradually eats into the solid mass, sinking down with increasing fervor;
coals drop below, and delicate tongues of flame sport along the
beautiful grain of the forestick. There are people who kindle a fire
underneath. But these are conceited people, who are wedded to their
own way. I suppose an accomplished incendiary always starts a fire in
the attic, if he can. I am not an incendiary, but I hate bigotry. I don't call
those incendiaries very good Christians who, when they set fire to the
martyrs, touched off the fagots at the bottom, so as to make them go
slow. Besides, knowledge works down easier than it does up.
Education must proceed from the more enlightened down to the more
ignorant strata. If you want better common schools, raise the standard
of the colleges, and so on. Build your fire on top. Let your light shine. I
have seen people build a fire under a balky horse; but he wouldn't go,
he'd be a horse-martyr first. A fire kindled under one never did him any
good. Of course you can make a fire on the hearth by kindling it
underneath, but that does not make it right. I want my hearthfire to be
an emblem of the best things.

II
It must be confessed that a wood-fire needs as much tending as a pair
of twins. To say nothing of fiery projectiles sent into the room, even by
the best wood, from the explosion of gases confined in its cells, the

brands are continually dropping down, and coals are being scattered
over the hearth. However much a careful housewife, who thinks more
of neatness than enjoyment, may dislike this, it is one of the chief
delights of a wood-fire. I would as soon have an Englishman without
side-whiskers as a fire without a big backlog; and I would rather have
no fire than one that required no tending,--one of dead wood that could
not sing again the imprisoned songs of the forest, or give out in brilliant
scintillations the sunshine it absorbed in its growth. Flame is an
ethereal sprite, and the spice of danger in it gives zest to the care of the
hearth-fire. Nothing is so beautiful as springing, changing flame,--it
was the last freak of the Gothic architecture men to represent the fronts
of elaborate edifices of stone as on fire, by the kindling flamboyant
devices. A fireplace is, besides, a private laboratory, where one can
witness the most brilliant chemical experiments, minor conflagrations
only wanting the grandeur of cities on fire. It is a vulgar notion that a
fire is only for heat. A chief value of it is, however, to look at. It is a
picture, framed between the jambs. You have nothing on your walls, by
the best masters (the poor masters are not, however, represented), that
is really so fascinating, so spiritual. Speaking like an upholsterer, it