St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-25
A NEW ENGLAND W0ODPiLE.
Distinctive Feature of Country
Winter Landscape,

Sattd!!'.I iOI bsEEuiDII,
When the charita bic mantle Of the
snow had covered the uglness OF the
earth. is ore looks towards the wood.
lands he nay see d distant dark speck
emerge from the blue shadow of the
woods and crawl slowly houseward
If born to the customs of this wintry
land he may guess az once what II
is; If not, speculation, after little,
gives way to certainty. when the in
distinct atom grows into a team Of
quick-steppirg horses or deliberate
oxen hauling sled-load Of wood TO the
farm house.
1t is more than that. It is part of
the woods themselves. with much of
their wildness ciinging to 1t, and with
records. slight and fragmentary, yet
legible of the lives Of trees and birds
and beasts and men, coming to our
door
Before the sounds of the creaking
sled and the answering creak of the
snow are heard, one sees the regular
puffs Of the teams breath jetting out
and climbing the cold air. The head
and shoulders of the muff1ed driver
then appear, as he sticks by narrow
foothold to the hinder part of his sled,
or trots behind it beating his breast
with his numb hands. Prone like
crawling band of scouts endwise like
battering rams. not upright, with green
banners waving. Birnam wood comes
to Dunsnane to King Frost.
AS the Woodpile grows at the farm
house door in huge windrow of sled
length wood or an even wall of cord
patch of uninterrupted daylight. Deep
shade and barred and netted shadow
turn to almost even whiteness as the
AK saps the foundations of summer
homes of birds and the winter fast
nesses of the squirrels and raccoons.
Here are the tracks Of sled and team,
where they wound among rocks and
stumps and over cradle knolls to
make up load; and there are those
stood to fell the tree, and along the
great trough made by it's fall. The
snow is f1ecked with chips, Dark or
pale, according to their kind. just as
they alighted from their short flight,
bark up or down or barkless or edge
wise and with dry twigs and torn
| scraps of shattered moss.
When the chopper comes to his work
in the morning he finds traces of night
have drtfted to its shores out of the
| gray sea of woods. Here Is the print
Of the hare's furry foot, where he came
to nibble the twigs of popular and birch
clouds, but have fallen, manna-like.
from skyward to feed him. A fox has
skirted it's shadowy margin, then VEN
tured to explore it, and in thawy
night raccoon has waddled across
The woodman is apt to kindle fire.
more for company than warmth,
though he sits by it to eat his cold din
ner, casting the crumbs to the chicka,,
| dees that come fearlessly about him at
all times. Blazing or smouldering by
turns as 1t is fed or starved. the fire
! humanizes the woods more than the
man does. Now and then 1t draws to
it a visitor. oftenest fox hunter who
has lost his hound, and stops for
moment to light his pipe at the embers
/ and to ask If his dog has been seen or
| heard. Then he wades off through
the snow, and is presently swallowed
shadows. Orthe hound comes in search
! of his master or lost trail. He halts
for an instant, with a wistful look on
! his sorrowful face. then disappears,
! nosing his way into the NAV of the
| woods.
If the wood is cut .'sled length"
which is a saving of time and also of
chips. that will now be made at the
| door, and will serve to. boil the tea
| kettle in summer, instead of rotting to
slow fertilization of the wood lot. The
| chopper IS one of the regular farm
hands or a. day hand" and helps load
] Tie Sl6O NItI II COIIleS- IL lAie NCOu
is four-foot, he is a professional, chop
ping by the cord, and not likely to pile
his cords too high or long, nor SO close
| ly that the squirrels have much more
trouble in making their way through
them than over them; and the man
| comes and goes according to his ambi-
! ton to earn money.
In which capacity the chopper plies
his AK, he is pretty sure to bring no
sentimentalism to his task. He in
| herits the feeling that was held by the
old pioneers toward trees, who looked
upon the noblest of them as only giant
weeds, encumbering the ground, and
best got rid of by the shortest means.
To him the tree is a foe worthy of no
respect or mercy, and he feels the
trump, of a savage conqueror, when it
comes chashing down and he mounts
| the PROSTATE trunk to diSmember it;
the more year marks encircling its
| heart, the greater his victory. To his
ears, its many tongues tell nothing, or
preach only hereSy. Away with the old
| tree to the flames! To give him his
will compel tree to fall across any
selected stump within its length. If
one could forget the tree, 1t is pretty
sight to watch the easy swing of the
goes to it's mark, knocking out chips
of SPANS breadth. 1t does not look
difficult nor like work but could you
strike twice in a place. or in half
as your body? The wise farmer cuts,
for fuel, only the dead and decaying
trees in his wood lot, leaving saplins
and thrifty old trees to stand up and
grow better" as the Yankee saying is.
There is a prosperous and hospit-
able look in a great wood pile at a
farm house door. Logs with the moss
of a hundred years on them, breathing
the oders of the woods. have come to
warm the inmates and all ir-comers.
The white smoke of these chimneys is
spicy with the smell of seasoned hard
wood. and has a SAVIOR of roasts and
stews that makes one hungry. If you
take the back track on a trail of pitchy
smoke. it is sure to lead you to a
soualid threshold with it's starved heap
of pine roots and half decayed wood.
Thrown down carelessiy beside it is a
dull ak. welded as need requires with
spiteful awkwardEesS by q slatternly
woman. or laboriously uphcaved and
let fall with uncertain stroke by a
small boy.