CABINWARD CABINS OF NECESSITY 



559 



lanon, and who go to their meals with pure hearts and 

 clean hands as well as good appetites. This is main- 

 taining the old pioneer standard of living, and the same 

 atmosphere imbued with humility still pervades these 



PLAIN AND SEVERE IN LINE 



This cabin was built in a country where necessity compels the 

 use of shingles instead of boards for roofs, and brick instead of 

 rocks or sticks for a chimney. 



humble dwellings of people not extremely poor, but 

 merely with limited means. 



As the long train of automobiles glides past these hum- 

 ble cabins, sincere appreciation of their beauty and sim- 

 ple and rustic architecture is expressed. The large, 

 commodious mansions that stand near the cabins 

 go begging for warm words of admiration, while the 



JUST A CABIN OF NECESSITY 



The closed door indicates no lack of hospitality on the part of 

 the owner, but simply denotes his absence in the fields. 



cabins of necessity are claiming the attention of the close 

 observer. And then, if a halt is made, it must be made 

 at a cabin. To do otherwise would reflect on the 

 fancy of the stranger. The camera man passes all else 

 by, yet finds it difficult to slip past an humble cabin a 

 second time without again halting. He who passed is 

 truly sorry that he has no business that will justify or 

 warrant his making another exposure ! 



The twentieth century occupant of a cabin of necessity 

 finds no life of sentiment in his home, due to the par- 

 ticular structure. He may have peace, contentment, 

 flowers, and a few dogs and cats, and feel the charm of 

 living within a wall made of nature's limbs, but he did 

 not choose this type of building for a home simply be- 

 cause he liked it more than any other. The cabin of 

 necessity was all that was open to him. It was the only 

 solution to the housing problem the owner of the land 

 had the muscle and brain, his land had the timber. Like 

 a chemical action, the combination resulted in a cabin, 

 and he steps "cabinward" with a proud ambition of 

 some day being able to convert his into a modern manse, 

 like the insect that must moult and thus change a skin 

 each time physical growth takes place. 



LONE TREE OF 1849 



nPHERE was an immense Cottonwood tree four feet 



* in diameter and very tall, which stood in Nebraska 



almost in the center of the continent, between New York 



and San Francisco, which was within one mile of that 



center. Under its 

 branches rested 

 thou sands of 

 49'ers en route 

 to the Eldorado 

 of the Pacific 

 coast. It was the 

 best known 

 camping ground 

 on the old Cali- 

 f o r n i a trail. 

 From 1849, when 

 the gold seekers 

 rushed across 

 the great plains 

 down to the 

 c o m p letion of 

 the Union Pa- 

 c i fi c Railroad, 

 the great tree 

 was a guide post 

 to the wagon 

 trains going 

 West. After the 

 railway was completed there was no further use for the 

 old tree and it eventually rotted away and died. A 

 monument has been erected on this spot, representing 

 a trunk of a cottonwood tree, and bearing the inscrip- 

 tion : "On this spot stood the original Lone Tree on 

 the old California trail." H. E. Zimmerman. 



MONUMENT TO THE LONE TREE 



TT AWTHORNE particularly enjoyed planting trees 

 -'--'- on his estate. In the romancer's declining years 

 he spent much time seated under the shade of his trees. 

 It was here that he received his many distinguished visi- 

 tors. And it is said that he never failed to call attention 

 to his wonderful trees. 



