Oh, dear Hirschvogel, how I weep for the loss of you! How I wish I could curl up, like a small hedgehog in your warmth! Yes, Hirschvogel, truly you are the source of all joy and wonder and art in this cold and terrible world! The very soul, yes soul, of craftsmanship never seen before or since! All imitations are a scourge on earthly beauty! At first, you were but a strange story about a boy and his stove, but now, now I understand true passion and true wonder!

(More seriously: I've never really read anything quite like this book. It's not from an historical era I really know anything about, and I read it because I found it at the used book store, and it was so small, and odd, and there was this one line about hedgehogs...

Anyway, it's a weird little thing, an oddity of its time probably, but it amused me and made for an entertaining Sunday afternoon read. Also, I know a lot more about antique stoves now than I did yesterday, so there's that.)

( )

G. Gordon