The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-03-21
DAILY PRESS.
Monday Morning, March 81, 1870.



A correspondent of the Worcester, Mass.
Gazette gives very pleasant sketch of life in
the logging regions of Oxford County:
u IS dlnner time. In large crowds it is GUS
.olnary 10 nave hired cook; but here the,
man VINO can be best spared, for the time. gets
dinner, or the men take turns.
Inc dlnner OF fried pork and potatoes. or
II may De pork, beans and brown bread, or vet
again Deei steak and potatoes, is soon prepar-
| ed. While the men are coming, the cook ,,ro
temp0re almost invariably, in this camp, plans
for steamed bread. In this cold weather tbe
bread is frozen, aud the potatoes are only saw
ed from like fate by literally putting them to
bed. They are sometimes preserved for days,
from Jack Fros'ts inroads by being wrapped
in blankets. But was speaking of steam
ing bread. The potato kettle is rinsed, half
pint OF water poured in, small plate invert-
ed over the water, bread placed upon this
Plate, and the whole closely covered and set
upon the stove. This simple expedient adds
wonderfully to the lOgger's comfort.
The men come in all aglow with exercise in
the sharp, pure air. 1 really believed that
some of these were whiskey drinkers when 1
saw them first; but am sure of my mistake
now.
The men sit down with keenest appetites.
There is no table cloth, no milk, and no cere-
INCdlIy CNCIy dItiClc-pOLdlOcS,D DOrK.
tea, bread, or whatever we have, is as hot as it
can be. Every one drinks tea at every meal. I
was nevcI Wri1l poSsa~ .sr,o Wucic loou " a.
uniformly so comfortable as among the log
gers. Before the close of the meal, the bread
kettle is produced, and we have the gteaming
breed with syrup or butter as one prefers, fol-
lowed with pie and dOughnuts, brought from
home. The days are short and the men soon
hurry off to work again; for here the men are
working by the job.
The table is left just as the men rise from it,
covered with mounds of potato skins and m-
washed plates. Uncle Jeems told his wife
that house work NATURALLY does ITSELF" And
probably we carry out his idea; for it is a rule
among loggers that the plates may not be
washed so long as the individual logger can
tell by inspection what was eaten by him last
from the plate. Often, however, thers is a
general dish washing after supper, but never
at any other time. The housework comes
near doing itself very NATURALLY"
Logging is great trade and the outsid er
must de sharp indeed who will beat an old
hand on his own ground. The old logger
knows thousand things wonderful to the
new conner. He may know next to nothing
Of books, but the trees have revealed their se-
crets to him, which, are locked from the rest
of us. He seems to find the pure nuggets OF
spruce gum by instinct. You see him pass
by a noble spruce tree, and ask why he does
not cut it. "Rotten" he says. You look the
tree all over. 1t appears thrifty, and the foli-
age is as green as any you can saa- You Sc
eHetly douOt It's DeIng rotten, and propose, for
fun, only for fun, you know, to chop into it.
He has sarcastic le0k while you are doing it.
Yes, it is rotten enough. How did he know.
"Conk in the bark" he says, pointing to a
slight imperfection in the tree.
By and by, he rejects another tree. You
ask the reason. "ROttpnO he saws aoain- YOu
look the tree all over. The bark seems sound
and the foliage is green 10 the tip top. You
try it and it is unsound at the heart. How
did he know? He strikes his axe upon it.
"By the sound" You would no more catch
him cutting a rotten tree, than you would
find squirrel laying open an unsound nut
He selects ship timber, and if he cannot
find great branch that comes out at right
angles of which to form knee, he digs up
the root of great yellow birch. He knows
where the great crooked root is. 1t has only
one great root, and that is on the northwest
side. How does he know? "A'most all our
winds are from the northwest" "WelI, /
don't see why that should make such tre-
mendous root on the northwest" He con-
tinueS: "If you use your arm well it becomes
strong. The strong wind blows the tree and
moves the northwest root the most; that
loosens it and throws out any amount of lit
tie fbres, and after little it grows faster and
is strongest of ALL" eyes, see H." "Your
right arm, that serves you more, is the strong
err; and the root that serves the tree most Is
strongest and largest"
The old logger is a skilled workman, and
Traas :."t d;sn,,ta aunn his -th0nr;Os ahnlit the