IN THE CATSKILLS 



man who was especially useful at "raisin's." He 

 was bold and strong and quick. He helped guide 

 and superintend the work. He was the first one 

 up on the bent, catching a pin or a brace and put- 

 ting it in place. He walked the lofty and perilous 

 plate with the great beetle in hand, put the pins 

 in the holes, and, swinging the heavy instrument 

 through the air, drove the pins home. He was as 

 much at home up there as a squirrel. 



Now that balloon frames are mainly used for 

 houses, and lighter sawed timbers for barns, the 

 old-fashioned raising is rarely witnessed. 



Then the moving was an event, too. A farmer 

 had a barn to move, or wanted to build a new 

 house on the site of the old one, and the latter must 

 be drawn to one side. Now this work is done with 

 pulleys and rollers by a few men and a horse; then 

 the building was drawn by sheer bovine strength. 

 Every man that had a yoke of cattle in the country 

 round about was invited to assist. The barn or 

 house was pried up and great runners, cut in the 

 woods, placed under it, and under the runners were 

 placed skids. To these runners it was securely 

 chained and pinned ; then the cattle stags, steers, 

 and oxen, in two long lines, one at each runner 

 were hitched fast, and, while men and boys aided 

 with great levers, the word to go was given. Slowly 

 the two lines of bulky cattle straightened and set- 

 tled into their bows; the big chains that wrapped 

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