OLD HOMESTEAD 



different as cows. There are good, bad and indifferent ones, 

 and in scattering buckets knowledge of each one's habits was 

 required, so as to put only large buckets to good trees and the 

 small ones to the poor yielders. I remember one tree in the 

 ''Over-Jordan" route to which we always placed a half-barrel 

 dash-churn and tapped it with two spiles instead of one. This 

 churn was as often full as common buckets at other trees. She 

 was a Holstein. Sometimes, when badly crowded for storage, 

 we used to go around and take from the buckets of the good 

 trees and fill into those of the poor ones, which we called 

 ''evening-up," so that when that particular run held up we 

 would have every store-tub and nearly every bucket in the bush 

 chock full, or at least well filled, with some running over. 



Sometimes we left the fire to run itself while we went to 

 gather a route, but it was unwise and unsafe to do so, as it 

 would go down and the pans not do their best, or the boiling 

 sap was quite likely to rise and run over, particularly toward 

 the end of the season, when the buds were swelling or some of 

 the utensils had soured. When a great rush was on, some one 

 had to stay by and tend the fires, and this was occasionally done 

 by some of the girls. 



Although boiling all night was by the boys considered good 

 sport, I cannot now see where the fun came in. Then it was 

 counted funny enough so that the neighbors' boys wanted to be in 

 it, one reason for which I will give further on. We would get in 

 a half-cord of wood and close the door, play games and tell 

 stories. We had buffalo-robes and blankets and a rude bunk 

 on which two could sleep. We sugared-off in an old long- 

 legged spider and ate wax until we were thirsty, and then drank 

 sap to quench our thirst, which made us still ''drier." We ate 

 our midnight luncheon probably before nine o'clock, as we had 



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