To Mr. Clement C. Moore we are indebted for the creation of that jolly little gnome, the Americanized Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, or Saint Nicholas. When “The Night Before Christmas” was written our homes all possessed ample chimneys and spacious fireplaces, affording a most convenient entrance for the merry little saint; but now he is without doubt sorely puzzled by our modern houses, and experiences great discomfort and difficulty in entering the hot-air chamber of the furnaces, and squeezing his corpulent little body and his pack of gifts through the registers.
A deep sense of gratitude for many favors received, induces me to offer a few suggestions which will help the friend of my boyhood to come, as of old, through the chimney.
Fig. 253 shows
The First Start
for the framework, which is made of smooth or rough pine strips, 1/2 inch thick by 2 inches in width. Make the frame about 5 feet 4 inches high by 4 feet 6 inches wide; the top and lower pieces 4 feet 5 inches (A, B, and C, D, Fig. 253) long, thus allowing 1/2 inch at each end, to fit the ends of the side-pieces (R and S, Fig. 256). The diagonals, X and Y (Fig. 253), are temporary braces, to keep the frame in shape, and are nailed at each end in such a manner that the nails may be easily withdrawn when it is necessary. The illustration is so clear that there should be no difficulty in following its lines.
Fig. 253.—Beginning the Framework.
The frame, A, E, F, B (Fig. 254), is the
Back of the Chimney,
and should reach to the ceiling of the room in which the fireplace is to be built. Set the frame, A, B, C, D (Fig. 253), against the wall; then take Z (Fig. 254) and raise it up until it touches the ceiling, and drive a nail at the intersection of X and Y into Z, and another exactly in the centre of A, B; drive them far enough to hold Z in an upright position, but leave enough of the nail-heads protruding to make it easy to redraw them and remove the temporary braces, X, Y, and Z (Fig. 254), when the whole frame will be finished and ready to use.