Sheer imagery...

From 'Great Irish Short Stories', edited and introduced by Vivian Mercier

This description of a fireplace, is so evocative...

'The fire was of peat which had recently been put down, and from between the turf, the ruddy blaze was shooting out in those little tongues and gusts of sober light which throw around the rural hearth one of those charms which make up the felicity of domestic life.'

Wonder what it is about a fireplace that is so charming....for one, the word 'hearth' is often used as a substitute. Of all the meanings that the Oxford dictionary gives, I think I'll go with this one, where the word hearth is 'used as a symbol of one's home'....

A fireplace always brings back lovely memories----in Jabalpur where every winter there'd be a fire in the hearth.....and in Lovedale, where we would burn Eucalyptus wood and the room would be redolent with the soothing smell of Eucalyptus.

From Tahir Shah's...

In Arabian Nights...

Talking about how his father used to take them into the magic land of fairy tales...His father would rub his hand over his dark moustache, and down over his chin, and...

"...use the words that were the bridge into another world: 'Once upon a time . . .'"

What magic just reading these words...

Came across this...

in today's Business Standard:

the word pass-outs has been used for graduates...

As I read in one of the many sites on editing, cutting down too heavily on words can actually change the meaning, or as in the example above, coin some word which does not sound good at all...