Fire & Light Article Count:  10

 

In the northern hemisphere where the days are short, dark and cold during the winter months, daily warmth indoors, and being able to build and maintain a domestic fire was an important housekeeping skill in the days before electricity. Fire and light are as necessary today as they were in years gone by. However making both light and fire in times passed was much more onerous, an art passed on from one generation to another. As a consequence a whole industry, terminology and paraphernalia accompanied the ritual of lighting the fire and making light. Wax jacks, chamber sticks, taper sticks, snuffers and trays, trivets, footmen, sadirons, fenders and firedogs were all items in everyday use that our ancestors took for granted.

 

Fire Article Count:  8

 

 

The art of making fire in this modern age is a failing art, and no longer do the family gather around the fireplace to get warm. Technological advancement is a fine thing, but the loss of social interaction where people sat around the fireplace and spoke to each other rather than talking into a piece of plastic as is the modern way today and something we may later live to regret. The fireplace once held the focus of family life and its importance is reflected in the number of goods that were made especially for the fireplace.

 

 

Light Article Count:  2

 

 

 

Household lighting has been one continuous effort to render the hours of darkness bright, and to provide by artificial means a luminosity which would, if not actually rivalling the sun, enable people to carry on their life with the same ease, convenience, and comfort after daylight had disappeared as during the earlier portion of the day. Every stage which has been advanced in artificial lighting has been welcomed in the home just as much as in the factory and in the workshop, for there are many daily duties as well as pleasures and amusements which are carried out much more satisfactorily when a good light is available than when there are shadows and dark corners only dimly lighted.