The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-05-19
!; Young Lumberman's "Samson. )
By G. A. Stephens. :
--.-------.
By G. A. Stephens.


up in the tree. and making the ground
block fast to another tree a hundred
feet or more away, Oh the south side
When all was ready the pine could be
cut nearly off and a horse or four men
set 70 haul on the tacle rope. In that
f, way the pine might perhaps have been
pulled over IN the right direction.
But many practical difficulties at
4 tended this plan. We should have TO
I purchase five hundred feet of strong
/ rope, and there was the liability that
/ the blocks might be smashed by the
! tree trunk falling on them. Fifteen
dollars worth of extra line would be
required for SO long haul
We did not like to pay out SO much
money. having. indeed. very little OF
our own.
Time passed until the second day
after presidential election and the first
thing | heard in our room that morn
ing was Addison singing out, Gen
| eral Grants elected again-and know
how we can push down Stoss Pond
Pine"
How said I. passing over the
election news, which did not seem to
have much to do with the pine.
IN show you when we get up
there" cried Addison 1--WE got a
Samson that'll push it over"
did you dream it out?" said l.
mo, no." said he 1T came to me
all at once this morning It's with
levers. | know just how we can do
it. See here" and he got little block
Of wood and two sticks, and then pro-
ceeded to illustrate his Samson
against a chairpost.
could see neither head nor tail
to the plan. but was inclined to take
Addison's word for it, since he was
always the mechanical genius of the
family.
That morning. however. after break
fast the old squire set us to bank up
the stable and out-buildings for win
ter. 1t was an all-day job; but the
next forenoon we ground our axes and
started for Stoss Pond Addison ex-
planned a little as we went on.
The first thing wanted IS two
spruce poles" said he Two strong,
stiff spruce poles, one for the lever,
the other for the litter. and the one
for the lever will have to be thirty
feet long"
Higher up the mountainside there
was thick growth of spruce. and
here We cut the two poles The longer
one was fully five inches in diameter,
and very heavy; but as the way was
down hill, we contrived to drag it to
the pine The litter" was not as
large and but twenty feet in length
our axehandles had each a two-foot
measure laid off on them
Directly on the brink of the ravine
and hence about ten feet from the
butt of the pine, stood little horn
beam tree, four or five inches in d.
ameter.
That's good" fsaid Addison. eve
will fell that and cut the stump off
square. 1t will do for the fulcrum Of
the lever"
| now began to understand it all q
little better. The long arm of the
lever was to extend out over the gully
it was to rest on the hornbean stump.
The litter was to stand on the short
arm Of the lever, and have the upper
end of it "toed" in notch cut into the
pine trunk twenty feet from the
ground.
But by this time not a few diff
culties began to arise. We needed
ladder, some bits of rope and several
spike-nails, and were obliged rather
reluctantly to give up the undertake
ing for the time being and return
home-twO miles and a half
We had made beginning, however.
and at the dinner-table the old squire
became so much interested in Addi-
sons account Of the experiment that
he announced his intention of return
ing with us. l now imagine that the
old gentleman had fears lest We
might be injured by cur contriyance.
We did not want him to so, but
said nothing outright. Our cousin Hal
stead, who had been away on a visit
IeLul IeG tHdt lOlelioOu, dIU ne, 100,
went along.
AS there were four Of US. we hitch-
ed up one of, the work-horses ami
drove most of the way by a cart roaG
through the pasture-lands We tool:
a ladder, bits of rope and spikes, and
also strong tive-bushel apple basket
use for which we had begun to fore
see