1 6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



As is customary among farmers in a new coun- 

 try, a barn was built before the second or per- 

 manent dwelling house. Just when my grand- 

 father built the permanent residence I cannot say, 

 but it must have been fully ninety years ago; and 

 it must have been a well-built house, for it is still 

 in good condition. The construction was some- 

 what peculiar as compared with present methods. 

 About every three feet along the outer walls of 

 the house, hewn posts which were at least eight 

 by eight inches, were erected and held together 

 about five feet from their tops by great beams 

 upon which the upper floor was laid. The beams 

 having been planed and the boards also, on both 

 sides, it was not by any means an inartistic struc- 

 ture, seen from the inside. The space eight to 

 ten inches between the inner plastered walls and 

 the outside clap-boarded ones, was filled with clay 

 mortar held in place by thin strips of wood which 

 had been split out of straight grained logs. 



The pioneers had a unique way of mixing mor- 

 tar: they excavated the surface soil, dug up the 

 clay beneath, then threw in straw, and some corn, 

 poured water over all, and turned in a herd of hun- 

 gry swine to do the work of mixing. The eave- 

 troughs of this house were made of a stick of 



