The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-28
From the Philadelphia Record.

From the Philadelphia Record
 When you see hundred Pennsyl- vania Germans at an old-fashion barn-raising climbing in midair and erecting beams and joists you will no longer wonder why it is that Berks county boys become such excellent sail ors. You can comprehend why they are like cats among the sails.
 barn raising in rural Berks coun- ty is a frolicksome event. While it does not come around so often as does the old fashioned apple butter party and the husking bee, when 1t does come there is nothing that will prevent a hundred more neighbors within radius of three or four miles being on hand and showing their nefghbor the courtesy of helping him out with his great work. Nothing short of illness or a funeral in the immediate family will keep the neighbors away.
 Barn raising is not easy, neither is it all frolic. To erect the timbers of a 100-foot structure, like the Swiss barns nowadays, in those sections where farmers make money like hay, but not al long" Is no sinecure. The preliminary work is done by the coun- try carpenter, and a dozen journeymen, when, weeks in advance, they prepare every beam, purline, and rafter, fitting them together out in an open field and marking each piece, so when the time comes to erect all the tilnbers. the mechanics can direct the hundred or more men expeditiously. Sockets are chiseled into the ends of the beams to fit other places in and wooden pegs or pins are made so as to fit certain h oles at these sockets and to hold the hao me a nd rof in rla O when erected.
 By the time the carpenter and his crew have finish ed an acre more is covered with all kinds of lumber for the barn. raising, and you can be sure that when the last rafter is placed there will remain not single piece on the field.
 By this time everybody is ready for the raising. The farmer has even supplied a keg or two of old Berks coun- ty applejack, gallon of good rye whisky, and the women folks have filled the larder to overflowing. It is o'clock in the morning when the carpenter boss cries out, "Krick dei helm.' (get the poles). The poles are picked up by willing hands and the men walk to the bedeclxed field of lumber, where dozen or more of these poles were placed under a 50-foot beam, and all hands get busy, as 20 or 30 men carry the first piece of lumber to the site for the new barn. The carpenter goes ahead like a great general march, ing his army to victory, feeling proud that not a single neighbor is missing. The marching is kept up for half an hour and the woodwork for the entire first floor IS laid Soon there are others carry ing blanks and boards, and within half an hour more the first floor is laid tem- porary, of course), so they will have room to work ahead erecting the timbers, up, up, up to the very rafters.
 The work of erecting the first band or the end framework of the barn Is under taken slowly First the upright joists arc laid on the temporary floor, then the crosswise sections are fitted into the sock +h -irs tightly driven Then comes the first task. You hear the car pe~ter boss yell "Nuf, huff" Cup, up), a7d with spear-lil<e points 40 men grab the entire closely-ftted framework for one end. and as the boss keeps yelling. .Nuf!' the framework goes up. up. till with outstretched arms the 40 men stand on tiptoe. their brawny muscles contract ed to the utmost. Then comes crash, tre boss cris "Hurrahr' and they all know that every ioist has slipped into the socket of the beam lying on the founda- tion wall There is a aelick of half a dozen hammers. and twice as many wood- en pins are driven. and the first real job is done.
 1OO-foot barn requires at least four or five such operations. and the center ones are even heavier than the others. for they contain the ladders, made of heavy ioists where the farmers climb to the third story, called by them "overden." :" As soon a all the sides are erected the longer and heavier beams have to be placed :slong the length of the structure, and with farmers in midair. with one hand holdsng their balance and with the other pulling with all their might at d rope, while. others below are pushing. pushing, fifty-foot beams are put in ps-