Coal stove

(1980 memoirs)
In this part of the [Clapp] living room was a four-sided coal stove, and we loved to see the fire thru the isenglass.  Every night Frankie hoisted up a hod of hard coal and poured it in the top, adjusting the drafts.  In the morning, drafts were opened, ashes poked down, heat enjoyed.  Not once did she ever let me do one thing about the stove; I neither brought in the coal nor took the ashes out.  I did offer at first, but was turned down.  Once Lorin took the bucket of coal from her and poured it in the top, and she was quite surprised that he could do it well.  Oh, that stove!  Old fashioned and out of style, but how glowing it stood with the nickle trim gleaming and the black outlining its true shape.