Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-02-22
Our aluun9 folks.
Our Old Log House

Father and mother said l cried to 60 home
the night after we moved into the new house,
and mother used to say she did not blame me,
for she felt like doing 50 herself | presume
did cry, for | was only two years old then.
and have found myself so wanting to 60
home that have been ready TO cry many
time since | grew to be a man. After all
we are but grown up children, if the face is
bronzed and wrinkled little in the strife Of
manhood nay, even if the hair is being
silycred a good deal We find ourselves SO
longing for the old home, such a wearied cry
in the heart, at times, TO 20 back TO the old
farmhouse, though we know that and the
surroundings have changed since We left
them
/ suppose there was no reason why ]
should cry to 20 back TO the house that as
family we had left, only that the new one
did not seem like home to me. 1t was
framed one, large, convenient, and being on
higher ground, more pleasantly situated than
the old one 1t had pretty row b. naples
in front OF it. At my earliest recollection
those naples were quite trees. 70 that tile
birds nested in them. and squirrels chatter
ingly run up them T. escape my dog, O.d
Troy. III inseTarahle companion 1T my boy
hood.
The old house we lett was built Of logs
These. Of spruce, long and smooth. were laid
one above the other, httteuei little ga tac
inside. making them oven, s5 that one mi gilt
not seem larger than another And we kept
that old house Is long as we kept the old
farm 30 doubt the place would have looked
better had it been torn down years before,
but its very existence was interviewer with
that If the whole family All 81 my broth
ers and sisters were born in it save the
vouugcst In ii the household gathered iu
many a family reunion, after the older boys
had grown t5 mcn, and hai gone ont into the
world ior themselves. From its doorway the
bodies Of two baby brothers, twins. Ial been
carried at the same time .ud ,u tie grave
yard down by the sehoo,.house they slowed
me a single short grave thicklv -ra--ed over.
close beside which saw them .ag my Oldest
sister. when She lied and Left her tgur-year-
old girl e. become playmate tar my hoy
hood From the doorway gust a- broad .oF
one 70 enter D. as Q 20 ou'' I rama Aao gone
b tile West, and Oliver d. home 81 his
own made with his young bride at A-aerneta 3.
and how could father and mother par, with
the old house. decayins though il was. since
twenty-three OF their best years bad h5en
passed within its rude walls.
And 50 II was not torn down "Aiie we re-
NAMED there lime the relentless destroyer
ct 50 many things we love was however.
buFy at work on tae old house The logs
next the ground rottei, one after the other,
and the whole building settled down until
the doorways became 60 low that person of
medium height had To stoop % enter in. IL
was made commonplace Tor storing things
without number answering at once lor shop
tooi-barn ana wash-house
The fireplace was OF that primitive kind
called il common expression, the - Dutch
fireplace broad, flat stone, taken from
a ledge somewhere about the iarT, answered
we'll for hearth-tono- Notregula- indeed,
IN outline. but worn smooth by 50 many feet
standing or walking about on II. and almost
as white as marble from the many scruboiaE7
1t had received at the hands OF our dHIgent
mother opened oroaimouthed' and high,
the fireplace would hold vast quantity OF
wood. and | myself have seen 1t hcaped with
logs, roaring and cracking as t.e flames
ieaped up the wide chimney with the open
air. Two stout androns to hold the wood
in its place were there a lon. crane where
still hung, when l grew large boy, the
identical hooks on which mother used to
hang. in days gone by, the pots and kettles
to cook food for the large family.
At the east end Of the house, directly over
opposite the fireplace. stood, under the small
window, a formidable carpenters bench,
which one OF the older boys bought and
brought home to aid him in learning the
trade and to use on odd days. Planes, augers,
BITS stout handsaw' hammer and few
other such Things maze up a moderate set OF
tools, which l. the youngest OF the boys, was
at full liberty to use, and good use l made
Of them, too. How many projects proposed
there IN attempts to make some new thing,
which, II they DID start with as ambitious
designs as dId the Flying Machine OF Darius
Green, they came about as near and no nearer
being successes.