Lucy Crane says: "The one indispensable stone in every room of the house — the hearth- stone— is, in most old-fashioned houses, of marble, easily kept clean by washing; when it came to be made of inferior stone, whitening was used at the edges, and black-lead under and about the grate. In fire-places of this kind, instead of these, I would recommend reddening, which has an excellent effect with brass fender, and fireirons, and the red ochre for the purpose can be got everywhere and applied just as easily as whitening or black-lead. As all the interest and home feelings of a house collect about the fireside, in our climate, in which winter holds us half the year, — a fire being, as Dr. Johnson said, "a living thing in a dead room," — it will be worth while to consider it in other respects carefully. The earlier household fires were made on an open hearth of logs of wood piled on iron supports called dogs, which at their ends fronting the room, were ornamented with figures and devices of wrought metal. As coal became more commonly used, — being found capable of containing greater heat in a smaller compass, — a sort of basket grate was made to contain it. In most cases the open fireplace is a great black hole in our rooms, only tolerable when there is a fire burning in it, and anything we can do to moderate the black- ness is a benefit, such as to redden the hearth in the way I have mentioned, or still better, to pave the hearth with red tiles — not tiles with patterns on them, as the ashes obscure and spoil the effect of the design. In summer great and wonderful efforts are in these days made to do away with that blackness. I cannot think painted and gilded papers, or lace bibs and aprons, or a heap of shavings garlanded with artificial flowers, or even cur- tains or a Japanese umbrella, really comfortable and appropriate. The fireplace itself is the root of the difficulty, which will last until there is a general reform. A wide fireplace lined with patterned and colored tiles, — the hearth of plain ones, red or brown or green, — and the grate itself a separate and detached object, capable of being removed, and its place in the summer filled with plants; like the hearth in The Deserted Village, "With aspen boughs, and flowers, and fennel, gay." This would be an improvement. The uselessness is obvious, in every way, of the long-admired bright steel fireirons; but now it is common to find these things made of more satisfactory material and shape, and I think there is little doubt that brass is the most beautiful and convenient metal for them, and for the fender and the coal box as well; it is easily kept bright, and has a cheerful effect, always supposing these things to be not too large and heavy, and to have as much elegant shape and delicate detail as are consistent with their use and material. And so we come to a short consideration of metals. Brass candlesticks, inkstands, chandeliers, and sconces are new to be had of simple and elegant shapes, many being reproductions of some of the old good work; and if, in the same room with these, the door- plates, and handles, and bell-pulls, are of wrought brass-work too, the general effect is so THE HEARTH-STONEr 25 much the better, as the eye is pleased with the repetition of the brightness in various forms.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Lucy Crane says: "The one indispensable stone in every room of the house — the hearthstone— is, in most old-fashioned houses, of marble, easily kept clean by washing; when it came to be made of inferior stone, whitening was used at the edges, and black-lead under and about the grate. In fire-places of this kind, instead of these, I would recommend reddening, which has an excellent effect with brass fender, and fireirons, and the red ochre for the purpose can be got everywhere and applied just as easily as whitening or black-lead. As all the interest and home feelings of a house collect about the fireside, in our climate, in which winter holds us half the year, — a fire being, as Dr. Johnson said, "a living thing in a dead room," — it will be worth while to consider it in other respects carefully. The earlier household fires were made on an open hearth of logs of wood piled on iron supports called dogs, which at their ends fronting the room, were ornamented with figures and devices of wrought metal. As coal became more commonly used, — being found capable of containing greater heat in a smaller compass, — a sort of basket grate was made to contain it. In most cases the open fireplace is a great black hole in our rooms, only tolerable when there is a fire burning in it, and anything we can do to moderate the blackness is a benefit, such as to redden the hearth in the way I have mentioned, or still better, to pave the hearth with red tiles — not tiles with patterns on them, as the ashes obscure and spoil the effect of the design. In summer great and wonderful efforts are in these days made to do away with that blackness. I cannot think painted and gilded papers, or lace bibs and aprons, or a heap of shavings garlanded with artificial flowers, or even curtains or a Japanese umbrella, really comfortable and appropriate. The fireplace itself is the root of the difficulty, which will last until there is a general reform. A wide fireplace lined with patterned and colored tiles, — the hearth of plain ones, red or brown or green, — and the grate itself a separate and detached object, capable of being removed, and its place in the summer filled with plants; like the hearth in The Deserted Village, "With aspen boughs, and flowers, and fennel, gay." This would be an improvement. The uselessness is obvious, in every way, of the long-admired bright steel fireirons; but now it is common to find these things made of more satisfactory material and shape, and I think there is little doubt that brass is the most beautiful and convenient metal for them, and for the fender and the coal box as well; it is easily kept bright, and has a cheerful effect, always supposing these things to be not too large and heavy, and to have as much elegant shape and delicate detail as are consistent with their use and material. And so we come to a short consideration of metals. Brass candlesticks, inkstands, chandeliers, and sconces are new to be had of simple and elegant shapes, many being reproductions of some of the old good work; and if, in the same room with these, the doorplates, and handles, and bell-pulls, are of wrought brass-work too, the general effect is so THE HEARTH-STONE. 25 much the better, as the eye is pleased with the repetition of the brightness in various forms.

Home dissertations