The first thing of a cold winter morning was to lay the foundation for an all-day fire. The ample bed of coals, that had reposed under a covering of ashes, was scraped aside with the large iron shovel. A log of birch or maple of the average size of eighteen or twenty inches in diameter had been drawn in on a hand sled or raised up on end and hitched along, first on one corner and then on the other. This was placed in the back of the fireplace and upon it a back log was laid. A large fore-stick was placed on the andirons in front. The foundation of the all-day fire was now complete. Kindling and fine wood, dried between the jambs of the capacious fire place, were used to start the fire. In due time the "frost lineŇ was forced back towards the rear of the room. The open fire was used to cook the food of the family. In the long-handled frying pans, heated by the glowing coals, meat, fish and game were cooked. Indian meal, rye meal, and rye and Indian meal mixed, were spread upon long, shoal tins and baked by the heat of the open fire. A fat, nicely dressed chicken or other fowl, handing by the legs before the glowing coals of the huge fireplace, held by a flaxen string fastened to the floor timbers above, was not as unusual sight.