OLD HOMESTEAD 



that of cutting and hauling wood for the use of the house, and 

 occasionally a little to sell, which had to be drawn six miles to 

 market. This father never cared to do very much of, although 

 many of the neighbors made it quite an industry. 



The mill was run until it "froze up." Then came cutting 

 and drawing of logs to be sawed the next season. The mill, 

 however, was run principally as a custom mill. There was 

 cedar to be cut and drawn from the cedar swamp, five or six 

 miles away, to make fencing and provide material for cooper 

 stock. Private and public roads had to be broken and kept 

 passable; this was no light job, and some winters it seemed to 

 be almost interminable. The cattle had to be cared for and fed 

 and watered three times a day, and in stormy weather their 

 roads and paths must be shoveled to the water-trough or, when 

 it failed, to the drinking-holes in the little brook in the back 

 pasture or to the creek. 



Breaking and opening public roads was and is still done by 

 the combined efforts of neighbors who turned out with teams, 

 men and shovels, and dug and tramped their way through big 

 drifts the whole length of their road beat. When opened so as 

 to enable a team to wallow through, sometimes they were still 

 further improved by being plowed or kettled out. Huge drifts 

 were often formed so that it was necessary to shovel a canal for 

 a long way, making side cuts for turnouts. This was hard 

 work for both men and teams, but in public-spirited neighbor- 

 hoods, of which our old District No. 4 was one, it was always 

 faithfully performed. 



Father always had work indoors when the weather was too 

 rough or cold to be out. In early days, before the advent of the 

 thrashing machine, the winter's barn work was extensive, as all 

 the grain had to be thrashed with a flail. 



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