The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

Turning Night Into Day

A Piece of Kindling Instead of a Bonfire

But someone had the brilliant idea that it wasn't necessary to build a whole bonfire to light the house; that all one needed for this was one small stick of kindling wood.

The fire filled the house with smoke and also used up too much wood. So, when they wanted light only, people began to burn one stick at a time instead of a whole pile of wood. They would split up a straight-grained log without knots into slender pieces of kindling wood about a yard long, and light them at one end. That is, instead of a bonfire they used a "kindle-light."

This kindle-light was a wonderful invention for its time. It continued in use for more than a thousand years. Not so very long ago it was still used in some out-of-the-way Russian villages.

But it was hard to keep these pieces of kindling burning. If you have ever tried to start the fire in a samovar with a piece of burning kindling you know how it has to be held at an angle, burning end down. Otherwise it will go out.

Why? Because the flame always goes upwards along the wood. This is because the air near the burning wood is heated and, as hot air is lighter than cold, this air goes upwards and carries the flame along with it.

So this light had to be held at an angle, pointing downwards, with the flame at the bottom, otherwise it would go out. Now, it would be too tiresome to have someone stand and hold it in this position all the time. So people thought up a very simple device. They made a holder for the light by setting a straight stick upright in a stand, with an iron clamp on the top to hold the light in the right position. This wasn't so bad a light as you might think. In fact this kindle-light gave a very satisfactory light. But what a lot of smoke and soot! And what a lot of work and bother with it! They had to keep an iron plate on the floor under it so it wouldn't set the house on fire, and had to keep putting in new sticks every little while. It was usually the job of one of the children to look after the kindle-light while the grown-ups worked.

Torchlight

It wasn't always easy to find the right kind of wood for these kindle-lights. But people weren't daunted by this difficulty. Someone noticed that kindle-lights made of pitchy wood burned much better than any others; that is, that it wasn't the wood so much as the pitch that was doing the burning. They found that any kind of wood, smeared with this pitch, would burn as well as or better than those made of the pitchy wood itself. This was the origin of the torch.