The hot stove joke was a common one in the Gilded Age.
Harry James Brown and Frederick D. Williams (eds), The Diary of James A. Garfield. 4 volumes (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1967-1981), Dec. 7, 1873, 2: 256.
H. K. Thomas Diary, 1870-71, Sept. 23, 29, 1870, Beinecke Library, Yale Univ.
H.K. Thomas Diary, April 19, 1871.
H.K. Thomas, Diary, May 5, 1871.
H.K. Thomas, Diary, May 3, 1871, Aug. 22, 1871.