HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 75 



were comfortably housed. A storm blew that 

 night, with a driving snow that drifted and 

 curled about the house. The ground was white 

 in the morning when we looked out of the win- 

 dows across the swelling hills. Oh, it was a 

 great Christmas! 



Our builder had done his work with rare 

 judgment and skill, as no man of hidebound 

 understanding could have done it. It was not 

 a case for following traditions of the trade; 

 our plans violated more traditions than they 

 kept. A man without understanding might 

 easily have ruined us in trying to carry them 

 out ; but as it was we had kept within our limit 

 of cost, and we had got exactly what we 

 wanted. 



The logs for the walls had been squared on 

 the saw to a uniform size of six by eight inches. 

 Three sides had been surfaced on the planer, 

 leaving the fourth side rough. With simple 

 framing and strong mortising at the corners 

 the logs were laid in tiers with "broken joints," 

 each tier being tied to the one below it with 

 twelve-inch spikes driven through. The chinks 

 between the logs were filled with cement, so 

 that when the walls were completed they were 

 as one solid piece. Two huge stone chimneys 



