1 1 2 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



One day, after we had been driven thirty miles 

 across country in a two-horse lumber wagon, we 

 began framing the house which was to take the 

 place of a log shanty. The old shanty, which was 

 still occupied by a family, was built of poles rather 

 than logs, about sixteen by eighteen feet in length 

 and was low at the eaves; a " grecian-bend " door- 

 way and a floor of wide, unmatched boards rested 

 directly on the wet ground. Sometime before our 

 arrival the chimney and the fire-place had fallen 

 down leaving a hole about five by six feet in the 

 side of the house which was covered with some- 

 thing resembling a blanket. One day at dinner we 

 were much startled by a squeal " too dread for any 

 earthly throat:" the pot of hot, boiled potatoes 

 had been set aside and a hog had slipped inside be- 

 hind this curtain and sampled them. 



Between the low door and the stove there was a 

 low pile of corncobs which served for fuel in the 

 day-time and as a warm lounging place in the 

 evening for the smaller children. The proverbial 

 latchstring had long since vanished and the latch 

 with it; an angling auger hole for receiving a pin 

 had been bored into the end of one of the door 

 logs and whenever anyone wished to enter someone 

 on the inside had to unloose the pin. Some of the 



