Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-21
CHAPTER TX.
THE LOG HOME.

CHAPTER TX.
THE LOG HOME.
Into all the intricacies of land titles,
reservations, town lots and farm lots, which
occupied the politics of the Titcomb family
for the next weeks, this little story must not
go. There are conveyancers who would
make the ins and outs of that narrative as
attractive as ever Dickens made tale of
London slums. But our story runs for the
present on other lines, and we must leave it
to one of our Ohio friends to work out as he
chooses those delicate rootlets of the title.
Suffice it to say that to Cephas Titcomb's
experienced eye it was soon clear that the
very best spots in the neighborhood of Ma
rietta had been taken up. He determined
to accompany the surveying party up the
Muskingum river, and before a fortnight
was over he and his, by the aid of good
stiff south gale, much hauling and polling
and infinite work on the part of all con-
cerned, had succeeded in bringing their ark
some 10 or Is miles from Marietta, where he
had taken for himself new claim, more
distant from the town than Mrs. Titcomb
would have liked, but on the edge of a grove
so beautiful that the Titcomb's of this gen.
Grafton bless him with all their hearts for
the choice of that summer day when he
planted them there. Perhaps he would
have said that the choice was Hobson's
choice-that he went as far as he could, and
that he stopped because he could 60 no
farther.
1t was already late in the summer and
little enough could be done in the way of
farming, although the provident man did
choose to break up some acres OF prairie
land, that he might try some experiments
before the winter.
And yet another novelist of the archi-
tectural or constructive vein, would make
for us a story of the history of those two log
cabins as they rose. Most of Mr.. Titcomb's
companions had determined ''on the
whole" to remain with him through the
winter, though to people who understood
the New Englander it may be said that no
man had bound himself, no, not for an hour,
to do anything or to be anywhere in the
future. But ''on the whole again, it
seemed as if'' they might as well'' stay
with him. And the sturdy men who had
helped build the ark began the work of
erecting the cabins. None of them were
afraid of work-not man, woman or child
The women did not ply the ak, except to
split wood, but the men did and the boys
did. Hobson's choice and Titcomb's
choice together had resulted in their being
near one of the groves which distinguish
the Ohio prairies from those farther west
And it was not long before logs enough
were cut to make the walls of these
cabins high enough for any man who would
enter through the door. "We'n make 'em
seven foot in the clear, said Cephas Tit
comb, with grim humor, "lest any of them
big Virginny men they tell on, want to
come in and make us visit. They shan't
have to duck their heads because they come
spAo ha
the river was heavily pressed by the differ
ent settlers, but still a few planks were
foated up for use in the floor and for max
ing doors and tables. Cephas went so far
as to rig sawpit, much to the grief of the
boys and young men who occasionally had
TO work in it, but this work was avoided by
every device, and the simpler power of the
stream was made to take its place. The
days were growing shorter, and at the
very best they seemed only too short to the
industrious workmen and workwomen.
You're all as hungry as bears three times
a day." said Mrs. Ttcomb good naturedly,
as her working, party came into her cabin
after it was finished. The reader under
stands, of course, that one and the same
room was hall of entrance, kitchen, sitting
room, best room and bedroom. At one end
an immense fireplace of logs, covered thick
with clay, opened an immense chimney to
the sky. 1t never really happened
that logs were hauled into the kitch-
en- by the horses, but they were
rolled up by crowbars, and lifted to their
places by the Joined force of two or three
men. A fire once made held to its work
through the day and evening, never went
out, indeed, and, as the great logs burned,
the women threw in light stuff enough to
give the blaze or special heat which they
required when pot was to be brought to
boil' or when turkey was to be roasted.
For food there was constant stock of what
we call prairie hens, until the family tired
of the frequent luxury; there were as many
turkeys as people would eat. The gardens
of Marietta, as autumn drew on, furnished
already the white beans which replaced
those which Mrs. Titcomb had taken from
the barrels SO carefully brought from New
England. The Marietta farms had also
produced enough Indian meal to carry them
through the winter. They ground this in
hand-mills from time to time as they needed
it. If anybody complained of salt pork, he
was told to take his gun into the woods and
bring in deer or bear, and there was no
difficulty in supplying the demand. 1t was
clear enough that they were not to die of
hunger that winter.
At first there was no lack of society. Al
most every day there would be messenger
sent down to the town for this or that, which
had been forgotten, or which was needed in
the building. But this changed as autumn
came on. They were themselves almost the
last of the settlers of that summer who came
up the Muskingum. At first from time to
time one or another adventurer going far
ther, or one or another surveyor returning,
stopped for their hospitality at night, or at
breakfast, at dinner, or at supper. But
such occasions became more and more rare
as October closed in, and now it would hap
pen that for week at time no one spoke
to them from outside their own company.
It might be that an Indian tramp came to
the door, and gave an unintelligible indica-
ton that he was present and wanted some
thing to eat. They already knew that the
presence Of an Indian meant that BE was