The Log Cabin 21 



served as kitchen, living-room and bedroom, all 

 in one. Here the men sat in hours of leisure, 

 while their wives and daughters worked over 

 spinning-wheel and loom. In the evening the 

 room was lighted by blazing pine knots or strips 

 of hickory bark fed judiciously to the flames. On 

 cold nights the fireplace was piled high with logs, 

 and the warmth and light therefrom made the 

 rough house a pleasant home to the pioneers. 



As for furniture, the settler had little that he 

 did not make himself, for he could not bring 

 many chairs and tables with him in the small 

 wagon or crowded ship in which he had journeyed 

 from his old home. Sometimes the chairs were 

 rough, and must have been far from comfortable. 

 The beds were only platforms or benches along 

 one side of the cabin, with posts at the edges to 

 hold them up. They were fastened to the wall, 

 and unlike those of to-day, could not be moved 

 from place to place. Hemlock boughs, dried 

 grass, or corn husks helped to soften this rough 

 couch, and balsam twigs often made the settler's 

 pillow. 



The log cabins, warm and comfortable as they 

 were when well made, were really only temporary 



