Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-03-23
The Story of a Log
Cabin
Alice e. Allen.

strength and abeauty of tree. They
had seen little leaves, green or golden
or crimson, against the sky. They
had taken into their hearts the heat
Of the sun, the caress Of the rain.
They had known frost and cold and
snow and the sweep OF mighty storms.
When they were cut down and car
led from the forest, all these things
helped to make them strong and
sweet and full of endurance, ready to
do their part in making house.
A young man sawed the tree-trunks
into logs, making them the right
length. Then he began to build his
house. He placed the logs. one over
another, making four walls. These
walls he dove-tailed together, making
a square. Then he fashioned rude
towering for them. AS he daubed the
chinks between the logs with clay, he
sang and whistled.
The log house was a strong, sturdy
little building. It wasn't handsome.
We wouldn't have found it comforta BILE
to live in, but it was like many houses
Of century ago.
It stood in beautiful spot in Ken
lucky. The land about it rolled and
dipped into hollows and rounded into
hills. In places it was wild and bare:
in others it was covered with dark
green forests. Some Of the hills had
names of their own. One that caught
and held the sunshine on its slope
was called "Shiny Mountain" An
other, a soft blue curve against the
sky, was "Blue Ball." From the top
Of Blue Ball one could see simmer
ing mist twenty miles away, where
the beautiful Ohio flowed.
Not far from the house stream
sang on it's way to the river. The
house and the stream grew to be great
friends. The house loved, too, a clear
sparkling spring that gushed out of
the rocks near its door.
To this forestclearing, one day, the
young man brought his bride. She
smiled at her husband. proud of the
rude house he had made for her. The
house was happy, indeed, to shelter
anything so sweet and tender and
flowerlike as the girl.
Soon the log house had become a
home. When the young man and his
wife went into it, they took with
them love and work and other blessed
things which can make homes OF even
the poorest houses. AS years went
by came little girl and little boy.
Another baby came, but not to stay
long. After 1t died, the mothers
face, always sad in its sweetness,
grew more white and wistful than
ever.
Those were happy years for the log
cabin. The boy and girl were spe-
cially dear to it. The boy was an
eager, dark-eyed little chap. He
worked with his father. He played
with his sister. Together the two
little folks sat before the fire in the
long evenings and listened with shin
ing eyes to the stories their mother
told them.
But by and by the father sold the
little home and went away with his
family. 1t was sorry day for the
log hut when it watched them go. The
boy, glad like boy to take a long
journey and see new things, must
have turned once or twice to look
back. Perhaps he even ran back for
one more drink Of the COOL clear
spring-water.
After that, for many years, the log
cabin was owned by the same family.
1t saw many changes. It knew many
but always in its heart it held mem.
DRY of father, frail little mother, a
girl, and dark-eyed boy.
One day, seventy years after the
family it had loved had left it, the
log cabin was bought by a stranger. !
He wanted to make for it a beautiful |
public park, but for lack Of money
this mans dreams faded and failed.
BY this time the farm was most for.
lorn. The caretaker had it for what |
he could get out Of it after paying its
taxes, so little it was scarcely enough |
to reward him for his work In those |
hard days, if it had not been for its ,
precious memories, the little home ,
would have been only an empty house.
AT last, for small sum, travel .
ing Snowman bought the log cabin I
Like the stranger who had wanted to
where would be interested in it. It
stood so far from great railroads and
cities that the Snowman decided to !
take IL with MIN. so away with the
man went the little log cabin. 1t
travelled from place to place. 1t saw
many towns and cities. People came
and gazed upon it. Then, for some
reason, it's travels stopped. Battered |
and desolate, it was stored in a dark
cellar.
1t seemed now to the little home
that it was quite forsaken and for
gotten, but it was not A well-known
man found out where it was He !
bought the showman's rights to it. /
After some trouble about titles, he I
purchased the little Kentucky farm at i
auction. Soon. back TO its quiet woods !
and hills, it's radiant stream and its
spring, came the little
log cabin.
Many people all over this great
country now began to think about that |
log cabin in Kentucky. A great asso-
citation was formed. Among its mem
bers were the best-known men in the
land From north and south, from
east and west, from rich and poor,
from old and young. came offerings,
marked "For the home" Great sums,