How My Kitchen Almost Burned

I live in a big old house which was built in 1880. Recently a neighbor showed me some old yellowed typewritten local history, in which I read about how my kitchen almost burned down back around 1914.

The then residents of my house were preparing some concoction to oil the leather horse harness of their buggy. Said concoction had to be boiled over the stove, and the bottom of the tin container melted out. All of a sudden there was oil everywhere, burning. They were afraid the kitchen was going to burn down. They were afraid the whole house was going to burn down.

But they managed to get the fire put out. And so nearly 100 years later, here my kitchen and house still stand, safe and sound. I must admit, these past few days I've been looking at my kitchen in a different light: the almost ex-kitchen.