Wood-smoke
The stock of logs we bought before winter is sadly reduced.. They have helped a great deal, and we have used them generously. Next to the smell of burning peat there is nothing so nice as wood-smoke. Unfortunately we have no open hearth, and the scent is lost. I like to go outside on a frosty evening and take a breath or two of air that has the delight of burning oak in it. When it is exceptionally cold, my return to the fireside has the effect of putting me to sleep in a few minutes, but worse than this is the head-shaking of the family who think I am being eccentric, to say the least, when I insist on risking a chill to smell the smoke from my own chimney. A good fire of logs will make the most lively person feel like dosing, probably because the rapid combustion takes more oxygen from the room than when ;a coal fire is in the grate. The peat fires of my childhood were cer- tainly things for prostrating the family in armchairs, and responsible for a deal of shivering when they awoke long past midnight to find the embers dead.
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