The Center Of Interest

The fireplace was the heart of the home in those days and in the centuries before. It was the necessary feature of the house and was always present until the time when stoves and, later, furnaces were introduced. For many years after that time fireplaces were entirely disregarded in the average home. They were no longer necessary, they were dirty and required a great amount of attention, so it was natural that the people of a nation which prides itself on a high standard of efficiency and is the greatest promotor of labor-saving devices should turn their attention away from the open fire and rejoice in the more even warmth and greater physical comfort of hot-air registers and steam radiators. The new houses which were built were constructed without the large chimneys necessary for fireplaces, with the Georgian Furnitum,and the owners of the older houses containing fireplaces often boarded up the openings into the chimneys and complacently adjusted a permanent fire screen or a huge bowl of autumn leaves to fill the space.

No Living-room Is Complete without a Fireplace about Which the FURENITURE May Be Centered.

(Copr., 1916, Good Furniture Magazine).

Substitutes

The fact, however, that a lack of a center for the room was felt, even in those days of low regard for the open fire, was shown by the way in which houses were often constructed with a mantel in each room, even though the chimney were lacking. These disfiguring structures seemed to fill the place of a dominating interest in the room, an object toward which the larger chairs in the room could be drawn to give an air of comfort. It was the semblance of the hearthstone, without the care of the real fire, which the people wanted, so, as time passed, the invention of the gas log was hailed with great joy. It was considered a luxury, it is true, but it was also a labor-saving device in the way of seeming to afford all the pleasure of the old-time open fire at no expense of time or labor. The insincerity of the gas log did not trouble the public conscience in the least, and this insincerity was reflected in the cheap, light oak or near mahogany mantels which were almost universally used with a total disregard for the fitness of things. They were elaborately adorned with much poor machine carving and were designed in the fashion of the cheaply constructed furniture which was turned out in large quantities at that time.

A Necessary Luxury

Those days of deception are happily past in the matter of both furniture and fireplaces. The people of our nation accord the old-fashioned fireplace the position in the house of a necessary luxury. It has again been made the center of interest in the living room, at least, and fills its old-time station of family altar. It has come back into the homes to stay this time probably, for the true lover of the open fire will never be willing to again give up the companionship of the cheerful blaze. He realizes now with renewed interest the vital and extensive influence which the fireplace has had in the progress of civilization. The people of primitive times believed fire to be a gift from the gods and cherished it as their most precious possession. A fire in some one of their meeting places was never allowed to go out and was considered the token of a connection between mankind and the spiritual world. It is natural that through the centuries during which civilization progressed, much sentiment came to be attached to the fire which the savage forefathers worshiped, and social customs about its friendly glow replaced, in time, the ancient superstitious rites. Now it has come to mean, to the people of all nations, home, physical comfort, and spiritual joy and consolation. It is the token of a universal fellowship.