When my husband was a little boy, his home in central New Jersey had what they called 'ductless heat.' For him and his brother, that usually meant no heat. The boys' bedroom was on the third floor, but the heat was on the first floor.

The coal-burning stove was in the basement and right above it was a large iron grate, through which the heat generated by that stove rose - without any ducts. As hot air does, a little of that heat rose from there up the narrow stairway to the second floor. What the warm air did not do was then turn and go up the narrow stairs to the third floor where he and his brother were - except in the summer, when all the hot air found its way to that then-stifling third floor.

The coal-burning stove in the basement needed to be fed coal more than once a day in the winter and each time a load of coal went in, a load of coal ash was removed. The ash was put out at the curb a couple of times a week, where the town picked it up. Windy days that were also ash-pickup days meant a cloud of ash blowing all over the neighborhood - and onto the clean laundry on the clothes lines. The best thing about the ash, though, was that some of it was kept in a bucket in the car, for icy and snowy days, when it could be shoveled onto the slippery road, for traction. It was also liberally sprinkled on the front walk, for the same reason.

Coal was the usual way to heat Millburn and Short Hills homes when fireplaces were no longer the primary source of heat and that coal was usually delivered here via rail. Articles in early local newspapers describe tragic deaths when entire families were on the tracks, picking up coal that fell off the coal cars and were killed by trains they did not hear approaching.

The Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society collection has a package of papers about a new 1940 heating system of radiators and an oil-burning boiler that was to be installed in the Short Hills home of Mr. and Mrs. George Gale. The 1940 and 1942 directories in the collection (also online at the Millburn library website) show George and Janet Gale living at 53 Linden in the Wyoming section and no other Gales in the area. The 1944 directory has no Gales in Millburn or Short Hills.

The specs for the Gales' new Crane heating system detailed the proposed installation of radiators in the: living room, study, hall, maid's bath, maid's bedroom, kitchen, dining room, bath off landing, maid's bedroom (second floor), bedroom #2, bedroom #3, bedroom #4, master bath, dressing room, and basement laundry.

The photos here were scanned from the Crane radiator brochure and promised "beauty and comfort" and "penetrating warmth (from the) radiant heat" of the slim, easy-to-clean radiators. Note the gown-clad woman in her sleeveless satin gown, as she greets her fur-clad guest, so we can assume that it is cold outside, but balmy warm inside.

A gas-fueled, hot-air furnace finally brought central heat to my husband's home when he was about nine, but there was still no ductwork to that chilly third floor, so winters were still colder back then for those boys. It toughened them, he said, but we are both grateful that even when there are power outages in our neighborhood in the winter, we can still depend upon a comforting hiss of warmth from the steam-heat system in this old house.