Just fire and water and beans ....

So I got up a while ago, poured a cup of coffee from the reserve stock (left over from a pot made yesterday afternoon) and nuked it. The day cannot start without coffee. Hot coffee.

Then I got to wondering what I'd have done 150 years ago, when there were no microwave ovens; no coffee-makers either; only fire and water and beans.

Coming downstairs in the morning, you'd find something like this Loyal Acorn in the kitchen waiting to be fired up in winter's cold and summer's heat. It was either this or a campfire in the back yard.

In Chariton, the Loyal Acorn was available at Goodrich & Ensley's on the west side of the square. Here's how they were advertised in The Chariton Democrat of April 4, 1886:

"It is immense and positively grand. Indeed there is nothing in town or in several towns around that equals it. Just take a walk around the square and gaze in upon the many fine displays that are being made and you will find many things to astonish you. But that stock of cooking stoves at Goodrich & Ensley's beats them all. The 'Acorn,' manufactured by Rathbone, Sard & Co., of Chicago, has long stood at the front in Cooking Stoves. Late improvements have added to the former excellence of this grand stove and it stands today without a rival. Don't think of buying until you see their stock. They also carry a full line of hardware, tinware and house furnishing goods, and sell at bottom prices."