Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-01-23
GRlNpFA1HER's WINTERS WOOD"


the pancakes and sausage ready or
arose to milk a COW or two and feed
he horses or to hike for the factory
or the store you have all the ad-
rantages over Your fathers hoyhood
that the later years have gained in
comfort and convenience. For in
that elder day the furnaces were chunk
stoves and cook stoves and every one
burned wood and neither scarcity nor
price of coal received much notice.
1t was along about this time of year
that your grandfather began to get
up the winters wood Your grand
father, and pretty we'll every one
else's grandfather had a timber lot
down in the grove which might be
and usually was some miles away. The
owners OF land in the grove used to
have timber sales Of acre lots. Mostly
they sold only the trees with a speci-
fed time ranging from one year to ten
in which to remove the timber tho
sometimes they sold land and all which
accounts for the multitude Of small
land holdings in sections where the
grove used TO be. Everyone owned
a timber lot. So about this time of
Year the grinding Of double bitted"
axes and the filing of cross cut saws
began, the wood rack took the place
Of the wagon box on the bobsleds and
the annual plsrimages to the woods
commenced. The gang, grandfather. the
! boys and perhaps the hired man. if
! he had one, got 10 the woods by break
Of day after four mile drive. Grand
| father picked out the trees \ big
white oak for the fence posts needed
| TO repair the six board pasture fence.
4 red oak or TWO for winter firewoud
next year. some big basswoods for the
summer firing. Grandfather took one
side Of a big three foot Eastwood and
Your father the other. He cut a mar
row cash sl0ntingly across the hole
great white chip fell away the size
Vt The kerr Your father tried 10
initial" him but =randfather's AK hit
| into the wood to is head. the next
stroke extended the cash as tho he
| had followed drawn line. the great
| white chips flew ont ana the stump
whence the tree was being severed
/ was smooth as tho saw had run
where the AK fell He finished your
side and then went back to make the
| few strokes on his side which should
not only fell the tree hut direct its
! fall to the exact line he had marked
! out. line that missing the other
! standing trees would prevent "lodg
I ing" the falling tree and avoid injury
to the standing timber II fell pre-
cisely as he directed it. Then the
helpers trimmed" while grandfather
stood on the fallen giant and "kerfed
out" the boil al log lengths. The cross
cut came into play and followed the
| kerfs separating the tree into log
! lengths Alas there are no axmen like
grandfather nowadays. They went
with the forests and few there are who
can run a cross cut without riding"
| IT,
Al noon they ate their cold dinner.
, Perhaps somebody built a fire and
warmed coffee and Drowned the bread
Of the fat pork sandwiches. But grand
father required no fire. He munched
his sandwiches and grabbed an ak and
called the laggards. BY the middle of
the afternoon many piles of small
| branches had risen here and therefor
grandfather insisted on piling the
brush, and dozens Of logs lay half
buried in the powdery snow. Then
the bobsled was brought up to the side
OF the biggest log somebody cut a
pair Of skids, the log chain was fast
around the log, the team hitched to
the free end of the chain and the
log rolled up to It's place for it's trip
TO the, home wood yard. One after an
| Othef the logs were lOaueu ana bOuHu
with chains, the limb wood piled above
that and then for home. Then chores
and after that supper, big slices OF
ham or juicy cuts Of beef, hashed
brown potatoes, perhaps, srandmoth-
ers bread and grandmother's pre-
serves Later q rousing fire in the big
sitting room stove filled with chunks
and cobs until it blushed red and rosy.
, an apple or two-Romanites were get
ting good about that time Of year and
Sheepnoses and Russets were still in
season-then drowsiness blankets and
oblivion until grandfather's clarion
call at 80 and another day And so
, the fuel supply came home.
But that wasn't all. When the logs
had been piled high on the chipyard
the stovewood campaign began. The
cross cuts we're busy all day, the axes
and the buck saws attacked the limb
wood" and two stacks Of stovewood
grew tall, one OF soft wood, the other
of hard wood The woodhouse was
filled cord upon cord and high and
; ornate pile built outside, carefully
ranked ard peaked to 2 point Ike .
grainstack. That's the way grand
3 father "got up his winters wood
, Seems like a tough job nowadays