WHEN wood was plentiful and easily gathered, the fireplace was built of generous proportions. At the back, lying in the ashes, was the backlog, sometimes so huge that a chain was attached to it, and it was dragged in by a horse. The forestick rested upon the andirons, and small sticks filled the space between backlog and forestick. In the wall beside the fireplace was built the brick oven, in which the baking was done. Upon baking day a wood fire was made inside this oven, and when the oven was thoroughly heated, the coals were removed, and the bread placed upon the oven bottom to bake leisurely. The tin kitchen was set before the fire, and pies and bread upon its shelves were cooked by the heat reflected and radiated from the tin hood. Illustration 308 shows a great kitchen fireplace in the Lee mansion in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with the tin kitchens in front of the fire, and the kettles and pots hanging over it, and the various kitchen utensils around it. Fire-dogs or andirons are mentioned in the earliest inventories. The name “fire-dogs” came from the heads of animals with which the irons were ornamented. “Andirons” is a word corrupted from “hand irons,” although some inventories speak of end-irons. Kitchen andirons were of iron similar to the ones in Illustration 316, but for the other fireplaces they were made of steel, copper, or brass, and in England even of silver. [Illustration: Illus. 308.—Kitchen Fireplace in Lee Mansion, 1760.] [Illustration: Illus. 309.—Andirons, Eighteenth Century.] Illustration 309 shows a pair of andirons, with shovel and tongs, owned by Francis H. Bigelow, Esq. The andirons are “rights and lefts,” and have the brass knobs to prevent the forestick from falling forward. Illustration 310 shows another pair belonging to Mr. Bigelow, with claw-and-ball feet and the twisted flame top. These are given as good examples of the best styles of andirons in use in well-to-do households in America during the seventeenth century. [Illustration: Illus. 310.—Andirons, Eighteenth Century.] [Illustration: Illus. 311.—“Hessian” Andirons, 1776.] Illustration 311 shows a pair of “Hessians” made of iron. Andirons of this style were very popular immediately after the Revolutionary War, the figures of the hated allies of the British thus receiving the treatment with flame and ashes that Americans considered the originals to merit, to say nothing of worse indignities cast upon them by the circle of tobacco-smoking patriots. Andirons were made of different heights, and sometimes two or more sets were used in one fireplace, to hold larger and smaller sticks. Creepers are mentioned in early inventories. They were low irons placed between the andirons, to hold short sticks.