Sometimes it is desired to have a fireplace in the middle of the room. Personally, such a fireplace does not appeal to me, but there are other people who like the novelty of such a fireplace, and Fig. 276 shows one constructed of rough stones. The fireplace is high so that one tending it does not have to stoop and get a backache. The foundation should be built in the ground underneath the cabin and up through the floor. A flat stone covers the top of the fireplace, as in the other drawings. Fig. 277 shows a fireplace with a puncheon support for a plank mantel.

Fig. 276. Fig. 277. Fig. 278. Fig. 279. Fig. 280.

A Plank Mantel

A and B are two half logs, or puncheons, which run from the floor to the ceiling on each side of the fireplace. S, S, S are the logs of the cabin walls. C is the puncheon supporting the mantel and D is the mantel. Fig. 279 shows a section or a view of the mantel looking down on it from the top, a topographical view of it. Fig. 278 is the same sort of a view showing the puncheon A at the other end of the mantel before the mantel is put in place between the two puncheons A and B. In Fig. 279 the reader may see that it will be necessary to cut the corners out of the mantel-board in order to fit it around the puncheons A and B; also, since A and B have rounded surfaces, it will be necessary to so bevel the ends of the puncheon (C, Fig. 277) that they will fit on the rounded surfaces of A and B. Fig. 280 shows the end of C bevelled in a perspective view, and also a profile view of it, with the puncheon A indicating the manner in which C must be cut to fit upon the rounded surface. This makes a simple mantelpiece but a very appropriate one for a log cabin.