white ashes on them, and mighty coals, the remnant of tree-trunks
that the hungry, elements have gnawed for hours. The morning
hearth, too, is newly swept, and the brazen andirons well
brightened, so that the cheerful fire may see its face in them.
Surely it was happiness, when the pastor, fortified with a
substantial breakfast, sat down in his arm-chair and slippers and
opened the Whole Body of Divinity, or the Commentary on Job, or
whichever of his old folios or quartos might fall within the range
of his weekly sermons. It must have been his own fault if the
warmth and glow of this abundant hearth did not permeate the
discourse and keep his audience comfortable in spite of the
bitterest northern blast that ever wrestled with the church-steeple.
He reads while the heat warps the stiff covers of the volume; he
writes without numbness either in his heart or fingers; and, with
unstinted hand, he throws fresh sticks of wood upon the fire.

A parishioner comes in. With what warmth of benevolence--how should
he be otherwise than warm in any of his attributes?--does the
minister bid him welcome, and set a chair for him in so close
proximity to the hearth, that soon the guest finds it needful to rub
his scorched shins with his great red hands! The melted snow drips
from his steaming boots and bubbles upon the hearth. His puckered
forehead unravels its entanglement of crisscross wrinkles. We lose
much of the enjoyment of fireside heat without such an opportunity
of marking its genial effect upon those who have been looking the
inclement weather in the face. In the course of the day our
clergyman himself strides forth, perchance to pay a round of
pastoral visits; or, it may he, to visit his mountain of a wood-pile
and cleave the monstrous logs into billets suitable for the fire.
He returns with fresher life to his beloved hearth. During the