THE GIANT HEARTHSTONE 221 



A ramp connecting veranda and belvedere was easier to climb 

 and far safer at dusk than steps, danger of slipping being eliminated 

 by tiling with hard, rough cast, square bricks. 



The Log Cabin. 



At one time it was humorously suggested that we give up the 

 modern semi-Dutch kitchen and duplicate that of my grandsire, 

 Robert Stewart of Gloucester, Massachusetts, with its hewn beams, 

 wide fireplace, crane, trammels, turnspit, and a brick oven in which 

 to bake the Beverly beans. The scheme was finally relegated to the 

 log cabin built on one of the outlying crags of Pinnacle. Motoring 

 to Haverhill, we took the measurements of the kitchen in the old 

 Whittier homestead, practically a duplicate of grandfather Stewart's. 



And "lest we forget," just a word about that log cabin built in 

 Brobdignagian proportions. There we reveled in old-fashioned what- 

 nots, lowboys and tallboys, bouldered stone fireplaces, and "sich." 

 For an armoire we used the trunk of horse hair with drawers in 

 the front and brass nails on top, proclaiming the fact that my great- 

 great grandfather labeled it in 1708 probably just before some 

 momentous and much-talked of thirty-mile stage trip to Boston town. 



On the hand-wrought nails in rough-hewn beams of this log 

 cabin hung seed popcorn and red peppers, matchlock and powder 

 horn. Where the logs of which it was built showed on the interior 

 they were peeled and varnished a vandal act, I grant, but worms 

 and woodtick intruders must be banished. For a door-step we took 

 from the house of this same forbear the stone threshold on which 

 the Indians once sharpened their scalping knives. Needless to say the 

 massacre did not materialize, or Pinnacle might never have been built. 



The Dutch door had a big clumsy ten inch keyed lock, in size 

 rivaling that of the Bastile, and mid-way in the upper half a welcom- 

 ing, bright, brass knocker, just below an antique bull's eye. 



The Giant Hearthstone. 



That hearthstone was the pride of our hearts. We once built 

 a house simply to specialize big bouldered stone twin chimneys, and 

 the log cabin was located to specialize the biggest hearthstone in the 

 State. Glacial action had worn fairly smooth a rock eighteen feet 

 wide and twelve feet across, and our Jimmy, as constant as the 

 "Northern Star," jimmied off with w r edge and sledge all protuber- 

 ances and smoothed its edges until the cabin floor fitted closely against 

 it. We relinquished a finer view to capture that hearthstone, placed 

 for us by Dame Nature when the world was young. A dozen modern 

 flre-\vorshippers could easily half-circle the blazing logs. 



The well hole over the big living room extended to the roof 

 and a half dozen bedrooms led from a gallery. Each side of the 

 big chimney, the corridor being closed at this end, were roughly 

 made iron banded shutters that generally stood open, and gave a 



