St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1895-12-28
BulL HER cWN HOUSE.
1Irs. Ann Caster Says She .sspunked Up.
and Went TO Work.

8Fa Ann gasIsr says She .sSpunked Up9 |
and Went to Work.
Mrs. Ann Caster. of Vashon isfaneis
Wash. built has log house with her own
fair hands, AID anyone who knows
anything abort the building Of log cab
ins will appreciate the performances.
The mystery Of how she did itsshe will
explain, good mai atuTediy, too, for she 10
used to questions, the fame OF her tre-
mendous pluck having spread far and
wide.
stHoyv did Leone to do it p asked
the little woman, who is as plump and
| as brown and as wrinlled as a russet
apple. punk ] guess. 4 drifted UP
| here from I Yoio county and took up Q
claim When ] came to buildsa house,
saving, hewing and fattening the logs
tiwas my greatest trouble. - got them
into place by means ofropes. almost
4 gave II up, when had an idea, ! was
sitting on "a log, holding a crossslog
| by stout rope and too tired to think,
i when all Of d sud- deIiI made up MY mind
4 that something would have tie be done.
4 looked around, bat there was nothing
in sight but trees and ferns. went
i for thetferns. I didn't know hardly
/ why myself, but | know this, that
log win move if it has something slip
perry. To move ON, so I clewed fern tops
i to see what / could do. 1t made pulp
something like slippery-eln bark and
it worked.
4 - \ on see, there was not sign lofany
4 help anyWhes,e. | began on the fern
4 at the first round; just whenI finished
Il the first round a man came along.
What are you trying to dog said he.
i I'm not trying to do anything, said |.
i TIN building my house. You'll never
do eit, said he. Well see,' says /.
That's the way / got my spunk up
ts* On one who does not live on the dense
4 4 lyzgroWn islands of Puget sound much
of the pfth.of Mrs. Casters experience
4 will be lost, while the real hardships of
her undertaking TO one who has seen
these tangled forests will seem more
and more inexplicable the more one
knows of her environments. The Cas-.
Ter ranch is in the middle of Vashon
II island, to which the deep tidal waters
i of Puget sound are the only approach,
and in those days, when Mrs. Ann first
made up her mind to "spunk up, the
place where her cabin stands was the
heart of wild and stubborn wilder
ness.
ST built that house in IA days, and
then / plastered it, throwing on the
plaster with my hands and smoothing
it down with case knife, said she.
The plaster ON the interior of the old
portion of the dwelling has caked and
dropped off, but in the main it still
stands as weather-proof as when twas
first chinked into the windy crannies
by the unique methods of this pluclSy
woman.
by and by" said Mrs. easier, the
man who had dared me came around.
It was all finished by that time. 2
s.And what did he say
t'He threw his hat downs on the
ground and said: We'll, the devil =
Alp around the land has been culti-
waited and acreage sold, at a fair profit,
when the hard and lonely pioneer days
| of Mrs easier with the iron nerves are
considered. Orchards of plums, prunes
and pears reward her somewhat and she
sells enough TO bring her some Injuries
Around the Immediate dooryard giant
frs, spruce and cedar stand. while the
Q grouse lives a life of idle ease undis-
turbed by the hunter in these still al
Q raost tfackless wilds,
t And there it still stands, Ithas been
built on to, tidied up and planted
i around until it would be hard to find
d a spot in all the northwest more full
of good things. Chickens, cows and
E blooming plants with old-fashionee
: names abound, while not the least at
tractive feature is the bright, decisive
. little woman who for all her rs years
: bids fair yet to make her threatenet
: trip to her beloved California and head
!. j the list of new women who already live
there.san Francisco Examiner.