Just as a turkey dinner depends largely for its success upon the “fixin’s,” so the fireplace is in itself incomplete without its andirons and tools. To begin with the most nearly indispensable appurtenances, we must name the andirons—or, if the fuel is to be coal, then the basket grate. I have wondered sometimes why the philosophers have not hit upon the andiron as a particularly fitting subject for pleasurable rumination. There are so few things which combine to such a degree the purely utilitarian with the eminently decorative qualities. Most things which do combine the two in any real measure have been developed on the side of one at the expense of the other quality. Take man’s dress coat, for example, the cut-away front of which, with the two buttons at the back, was designed to permit the gentleman to loop the skirts up to his waist when he mounted his horse. Or, take the modern lighting fixture with its little pan still waiting to catch the drip of the tallow beneath the flame, which has long since been displaced by gas tip or incandescent filament. How few things there are, after all, which ages ago—probably through a long evolution—were designed to meet a real need in the best possible manner and which still meet that need and combine true beauty with their usefulness. The wrought-iron shoe of a horse occurs to us, perhaps a ship’s anchor, a string-bow or an axe helve.

Some support is needed to raise the fuel so that the air may find a clear passage under and through it to the flames, and nothing could well be devised to serve the purpose better than the pair of horizontal wrought bars, each with its single rear foot and its steadying front, the upper continuation of which serves to hold the burning logs in place.

One is not likely to go wrong in making a choice of andirons for any given type of fireplace. The simply turned brass patterns belong so obviously to the Colonial brick opening with its surrounding white woodwork; the rougher wrought-iron types are so evidently at home in the craftsman fireplace or the rough opening of stonework, that misfits are hardly possible.

Fortunately the old brass andirons of Colonial days have proven themselves fitted to survive, and many of them are still to be found in old cobwebby attics or in the more accessible shop of the dealer in antiques. One of these confided to me his way of distinguishing the really old andirons from artificially aged reproductions: the old ones have the turned brass of the front post held in place by a wrought-iron bar that attaches to the horizontal member by a screw thread on the bar itself; on the modern examples this upright bar is drilled with a threaded hole into which an ordinary short screw engages through a hole in the horizontal member.

Next after the andirons in importance are the tools—the three most nearly essential ones being the poker, tongs and shovel. There is no need of saying that these should harmonize with the andirons and preferably be of brass if they are of brass; wrought iron if the andirons are of wrought iron. There are two ways of taking care of them—the ordinary method of using a stand which, if the tools are bought together, will probably come with them; or in some of the fireplace types where the whole chimney breast is of brick, concrete or stone, sometimes a combination of three or more hooks is wrought in the same metal as the tools and fixed securely in the chimney breast at the side of the opening.

A brush for the hearth, although not so frequently seen, is exceedingly useful in sweeping back the ashes and small embers. Then there is the time-honored bellows, now hardly more than an ornament, for with a scientifically built fireplace it should never need to be called into action.

A screen of some sort comes nearer to being classed with the necessities than with the merely decorative accessories, for it is hardly safe to leave a fire or even the smoldering embers without some protection against the damage that is so quickly caused by sparks. The usual type of screen is the woven wire one in several forms. Probably the most convenient type is that made up of a number of flat sections which fold upon one another into a compact mass which will not be in the way when not in use. In recent years, however, there is another sort of screen that is coming to be regarded with very high favor and that is the screen made up of glass in combination with other materials. There is the simple French screen of glass panes in a gilded frame, and there are wonderful possibilities for the employment of the craftsman’s skill in combining with plain or lightly tinted glass more decorative features in the way of stained glass and leading or in the combination of glass and metals.

The design of a fire screen depends, of course, on the purpose it is intended to serve. If it is desired to secure a screen that will cut off the heat but not the light of the fire, the craftsman will work with larger areas of clear glass. On the other hand, it may be felt desirable to make a nearly opaque screen to cut off both light and heat. These, of course, are usually small rectangles on some sort of a pedestal and are not intended to take the place of spark screens.

A wood receptacle of some form is a convenient accessory, as one will avoid the task of carrying fuel up from the cellar or in from the woodpile whenever a fire is desired. There is a broad field from which to choose—brass-bound boxes of many sizes and forms, sturdy baskets and the metal wood baskets which are made for holding the logs themselves. There are those who prefer not to encumber the vicinity of the fireplace with these rather bulky receptacles, but who find it convenient to have a box built in near by in the form of a window-seat or perhaps as a part of built-in bookcases. Two or three houses that I have known had a very simple rough dumbwaiter running from the cellar up into a window-seat. This could be loaded with fuel, hoisted into position and locked there until the fuel was needed.

There are two other fireplace accessories that we must not overlook, and these are the crane and the trivet. The crane is a very picturesque feature in a fireplace that is large enough to hold it comfortably, but it does seem unfortunate that in a great many fireplaces the crane is dragged in with the idea of making it a decorative feature but without any expectation of putting it to practical use. There are fireplaces—in a summer camp, for example—where a crane could be put to good use. Used elsewhere it is too often merely an affectation.

The trivet is not nearly so well known as the crane and yet it might be put to use in a modern fireplace much more frequently. In England it is found in various ingenious forms, most of which show, however, some form of low stool which is stood upon the hearth, as near as may be convenient to the fire, to keep warm a teakettle or perhaps even a plate of toast. There are some rather interesting antique brass trivets to be found in many of the larger antique shops.