University of Virginia Library

12. CHAPTER XII.

The log-house, which was to be our temporary home,
was tenanted at this time; and we were obliged to wait
while the incumbent could build a framed one; the
materials for which had been growing in the woods not
long before; I was told it would take but a short time,
as it was already framed.

What was my surprise, on walking that way to
ascertain the progress of things, to find the materials
still scattered on the ground, and the place quite solitary.

“Did not Mr. Ketchum say Green's house was
framed?” said I to the dame du palais, on my return;
“the timbers are all lying on the ground, and nobody
at work.”

“Why, la! so they be all framed, and Green's gone
to—for the sash. They'll be ready to raise tomorrow.”

It took me some time to understand that framing
was nothing more than cutting the tenons and mortices

ready for putting the timbers together, and that these
must be raised before there could be a frame. And
that “sash,” which I in my ignorance supposed could
be but for one window, was a generic term.

The “raising” took place the following afternoon,
and was quite an amusing scene to us cockneys, until
one man's thumb was frightfully mashed, and another
had a severe blow upon the head. A jug of whiskey
was pointed out by those who understood the matter,
as the true cause of these disasters, although the Fates
got the blame.

“Jem White always has such bad luck!” said Mr.
Ketchum, on his return from the raising, “and word
spake never more,” for that night at least; for he disappeared
behind the mysterious curtain, and soon snored
most sonorously.

The many raisings which have been accomplished
at Montacute, without that ruinous ally, strong drink,
since the days of which I speak, have been free from
accidents of any sort; Jem White having carried his
“bad luck” to a distant county, and left his wife and
children to be taken care of by the public.

Our cottage bore about the same proportion to the
articles we had expected to put into it, that the “lytell
hole” did to the fiend whom Virgilius cajoled into its
narrow compass; and the more we reflected, the more
certain we became that without the magic powers of
necromancy, one half of our moveables at least must remain
in the open air. To avoid such necessity, Mr.
Clavers was obliged to return to Detroit and provide
storage for sundry unwieldy boxes which could by no
art of ours be conjured into our cot.

While he was absent, Green had enclosed his new
house; that is to say put on the roof and the siding, and
laid one floor, and forthwith he removed thither without
door, window or chimney, a course by no means unusual
in Michigan.

As I was by this time, truth to speak, very nearly
starved, I was anxious to go as soon as possible to a
place where I could feel a little more at home; and so
completely had my nine days at Ketchum's brought
down my ideas, that I anticipated real satisfaction in a
removal to this hut in the wilderness. I would not
wait for Mr. Clavers's return; but insisted on setting
up for myself at once.

But I should in vain attempt to convey to those who
know nothing of the woods, any idea of the difficulties
in my way. If one's courage did not increase, and one's
invention brighten under the stimulus of such occasions,
I should have given up at the outset, as I have
often done with far less cause.

It was no easy matter to get a “lady” to clean the
place, and ne'er had place more need of the tutelary
aid of the goddess of scrubbing brushes. Then this
lady must be provided with the necessary utensils, and
here arose dilemma upon dilemma. Mrs. Ketchum
rendered what aid she could, but there was little superfluous
in her house.

And then, such racing and chasing, such messages
and requisitions! Mrs. Jennings “could n't do nothin'
without a mop, and I had not thought of such a
thing and was obliged to sacrifice on the spot sundry
nice towels, a necessity which made all the house-keeping
blood in my veins tingle.

After one day's experience of this sort, I decided to
go myself to the scene of action, so as to be at hand
for these trying occasions; and I induced Mr. Ketchum
to procure a waggon and carry to our new home
the various articles which we had piled in a hovel on
his premises.

Behold me then seated on a box, in the midst of as
anomalous a congregation of household goods as ever
met under one roof in the back-woods, engaged in the
seemingly hopeless task of calling order out of chaos,
attempting occasionally to throw out a hint for the instruction
of Mrs. Jennings, who uniformly replied by
requesting me not to fret, as she knew what she was
about.

Mr. Jennings, with the aid of his sons, undertook the
release of the pent up myriads of articles which crammed
the boxes, many of which though ranked when
they were put in as absolutely essential, seemed ridiculously
superfluous when they came out. The many observations
made by the spectators as each new wonder
made its appearance, though at first rather amusing,
became after a while quite vexatious; for the truth began
to dawn upon me that the common sense was all
on their side.

“What on airth's them gimcracks for?” said my
lady, as a nest of delicate japanned tables were set out
upon the uneven floor.

I tried to explain to her the various convenient uses
to which they were applicable; but she looked very
scornfully after all and said “I guess they'll do better
for kindlin's than any thing else, here.” And I began
to cast a disrespectful glance upon them myself, and

forthwith ordered them up stairs, wondering in my
own mind how I could have thought a log house would
afford space for such superfluities.

All this time there was a blazing fire in the chimney
to accommodate Mrs. Jennings in her operations,
and while the doors and windows were open we were
not sensible of much discomfort from it. Supper was
prepared and eaten—beds spread on the floor, and the
children stowed away. Mrs. Jennings and our
other “helps” had departed, and I prepared to rest
from my unutterable weariness, when I began to be
sensible of the suffocating heat of the place. I tried to
think it would grow cooler in a little while, but it was
absolutely insufferable to the children as well as myself,
and I was fain to set both doors open, and in this exposed
situation passed the first night in my western
home, alone with my children and far from any neighbour.

If I could live a century, I think, that night will
never fade from my memory. Excessive fatigue
made it impossible to avoid falling asleep, yet the fear
of being devoured by wild beasts, or poisoned by rattle-snakes,
caused me to start up after every nap with sensations
of horror and alarm, which could hardly have
been increased by the actual occurrence of all I dreaded.
Many wretched hours passed in this manner. At
length sleep fairly overcame fear, and we were awakened
only by a wild storm of wind and rain which drove
in upon us and completely wetted every thing within
reach.

A doleful morning was this—no fire on the hearth—
streams of water on the floor, and three hungry children

to get breakfast for. I tried to kindle a blaze
with matches, but alas! even the straw from the packing-boxes
was soaked with the cruel rain; and I was
distributing bread to the hungry, hopeless of anything
more, when Mr. Jennings made his appearance.

“I was thinking you'd begin to be sick o' your
bargain by this time,” said the good man, “and so I
thought I'd come and help you a spell. I reckon
you'd ha' done better to have waited till the old man
got back.”

“What old man?” asked I, in perfect astonishment.

“Why, your old man to be sure,” said he laughing.
I had yet to learn that in Michigan, as soon as a man
marries he becomes “th' old man,” though he may be
yet in his minority. Not long since I gave a young
bride the how d' ye do in passing, and the reply was,
“I'm pretty well, but my old man's sick a-bed.”

But to return, Mr. Jennings kindled a fire which I
took care should be a very moderate one; and I managed
to make a cup of tea to dip our bread in, and then
proceeded to find places for the various articles which
strewed the floor. Some auger-holes bored in the logs
received large and long pegs, and these served to support
boards which were to answer the purpose of shelves.
It was soon found that the multiplicity of articles which
were to be accommodated on these shelves would fill
them a dozen times.

“Now to my thinkin',” said my good genius, Mr.
Jennings, “that'ere soup-t'reen, as you call it, and
them little ones, and these here great glass-dishes, and
all sich, might jist as well go up chamber for all the good
they'll ever do you here.”

This could not be gainsaid; and the good man proceeded
to exalt them to another set of extempore
shelves in the upper story; and so many articles were
included in the same category, that I began to congratulate
myself on the increase of clear space below, and
to fancy we should soon begin to look very comfortable.

My ideas of comfort were by this time narrowed
down to a well-swept room with a bed in one corner,
and cooking-apparatus in another—and this in some
fourteen days from the city! I can scarcely, myself,
credit the reality of the change.

It was not till I had occasion to mount the ladder
that I realized that all I had gained on the confusion
below was most hopelessly added to the confusion
above, and I came down with such a sad and thoughtful
brow, that my good aid-de-camp perceived my
perplexity.

“Had n't I better go and try to get one of the
neighbour's gals to come and help you for a few days?”
said he.

I was delighted with the offer, and gave him carte-blanche
as to terms, which I afterwards found was a
mistake, for, where sharp bargains are the grand aim
of every body, those who express anything like indifference
on the subject, are set down at once as having
more money than they know what to do with; and as
this was far from being my case, I found reason to
regret having given room for the conclusion.

The damsel made her appearance before a great
while—a neat looking girl with “scarlet hair and belt
to match;” and she immediately set about “reconciling”

as she called it, with a good degree of energy
and ingenuity. I was forced to confess that she knew
much better than I how to make a log-house comfortable.

She began by turning out of doors the tall cup-board,
which had puzzled me all the morning, observing very
justly, “Where there ain't no room for a thing, why,
there ain't;” and this decision cut the Gordian knot
of all my plans and failures in the disposal of the ungainly
convenience. It did yeoman's service long
afterwards as a corn-crib.

When the bedsteads were to be put up, the key was
among the missing; and after we had sent far and
wide and borrowed a key, or the substitute for one, no
screws could be found, and we were reduced to the dire
necessity of trying to keep the refractory posts in their
places by means of ropes. Then there were candles,
but no candle-sticks. This seemed at first rather inconvenient,
but when Mr. Jennings had furnished
blocks of wood with auger-holes bored in them for
sockets, we could do nothing but praise the ingenuity
of the substitute.

My rosy-haired Phillida who rejoiced in the euphonius
appellation of Angeline, made herself entirely at
home, looking into my trunks, &c., and asking the
price of various parts of my dress. She wondered
why I had not my hair cut off, and said she reckoned I
would before long, as it was all the fashion about here.

“When d' ye expect Him?” said the damsel, with
an air of sisterly sympathy, and ere I could reply becomingly,
a shout of “tiny joy” told me that Papa had
come.

I did not cry for sorrow this time.