THE OPEN WOOD FIRE. 51 



find a home again in under the innumerable leaves, 

 or beneath a stump, or in a hollow root. Poor little 

 fellows ! how they are in terror of a dog, and how 

 cruelly a dog snaps them in his jaws and cracks their 

 fragile little ribs! I have even had them crawl up 

 on the outside of my trouser's leg in fear when my 

 dog was after them, and their mute appeal has never 

 failed of a right answer. 



THE WOODSHED. 



It used to be the custom in the early days to build 

 some of the log cabins with fireplaces in them so large 

 that a regular log, or section of an entire prostrate 

 tree, could be used as a backlog. In that case there 

 was a door at each end of the fireplace (which ex- 

 tended, practically, completely across one side of the 

 cabin), and a horse would be driven in dragging the 

 log by a chain ; the chain would be unhooked, the horse 

 would go out by the other door, and the great log, 



