In the old days (before the 1950s), a real log was doused with brandy and thrown on to the hearth, where its flames were scrutinised as a harbinger of the next year's harvest and its ashes preserved for good luck.

ECONOMIST: Spoil the French and spare the Child

Everywhere you look there are porcelain ornaments: of more cats, of mice, even a couple of rabbits on the kitchen hearth, which she has adorned with a string of colored fairy lights.

WSJ: Reformed Bad-Girl Artist Tracey Emin

He just took it out on Marie, sulking when they went out on dates to the Hearth or the Nags.

NEWYORKER: Something Like Happy

That afternoon, as my grandfather waited for the hunters to return, he drew in the hearth dust with the same finger and hated the men on the hill.

NEWYORKER: The Tiger��s Wife

Like most Britons, Harvey gathered his family around the defunct hearth each night to watch the same half-hour comic situations repeatedly, in reruns and on video.

NEWYORKER: Dead Man Laughing