There was one time that I well remember when that box of dry matches was to me about the most valuable thing in the world. That was the time when I broke through the ice of a lake in the northern wilderness, far from camp, and my clothes froze stiff before I had gone a hundred paces. The dry matches enabled me to make a fire quickly and dry my frozen clothes. What could I have done without the waterproof match box?
Fire is as useful to the modern woodsman as it was to the prehistoric man and in the far north it stands between him and death when King Boreas reigns. But it can also do a world of mischief. Is it not strange that the great forces which are so terribly destructive when let loose in all their strength are the most beneficial and useful to mankind? We could not exist more than a few days without water, yet floods destroy each year millions of dollars worth of property and thousands of lives. Electricity is, perhaps, the most useful power in the world and we have grown so used to it that to give up its comfort, which we derive in the form of light, power and heat, would be an awful hardship, and yet electricity is the most dangerous and deadly element known.
Fire also is so needful that we could no longer exist without it. It alone can make our homes comfortable when the winter winds howl without. Its heat is necessary for the preparation of the greater portion of our food. Yet fire is a dangerous and destructive element, and must be closely watched at all times to prevent it from breaking out of bounds. From the harmless comforter of the home it becomes the relentless destroyer.
The loss by fire would be reduced greatly if all persons would observe a few simple rules and in the hope that some of the readers may become just a little more careful in this respect I will give these rules here:
(1) Use only "safety" matches. They will ignite only by friction on the preparation found on the side of the box in which they are purchased. If one of these matches falls on the floor it is harmless since it cannot light accidentally and thus cause a fire. If they fall into the hands of children they are also harmless as far as starting a fire is concerned.
(2) Do not throw a lighted match onto the floor, or among rubbish. Burned matches should always be placed somewhere where they cannot possibly ignite anything in case a little fire still smolders in the burned wood.
(3) Don't drop cigarettes or cigar ends into places where they can do harm, and if there appears to be the least possible danger they should be carefully extinguished. A pipe dumped into a waste basket has many times started costly fires.
(4) Be sure that there is no woodwork so near the stove that it grows scorching hot when the stove is overheated. Likewise make sure that no rubbish is thrown near the stove or fireplace and that there is no danger of fire dropping out onto the floor.
(5) Never leave the house with a fire burning in the stove, or fireplace.
(6) Kerosene and similar substances should never be used for kindling fires; their use is exceedingly dangerous. Gasoline especially is very dangerous, not alone through the fact that it is very inflammable but even more so from the fact that the fumes of gasoline explode with great violence. It should never be used in a house where there is a fire or a lighted lamp, and a fire should never be lighted in a room where it has been used until the fumes are completely cleared from the room.