Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1921-11-18

q carried anu pc6ltu IL anu AHhrSN
its lower end on a cross timber. Then
they marked it with a chalk line anu
sliced it into inch boards with a whip
saw, Abe standing on top of the log
and Samson beneath it. Suddenly the
saw stopped. A clear, beautiful voice
flung the music of Sweet Nightln-
gale" into the timbered hollow. 1t
halted the workers and set the wood
land ringing. The men stood silent
like those hearing a benediction. The
! singing ceased. Still they listened for
half a moment. 1t was as if a spirit
had passed and touched them.
"Its Bim-the little vixen!" said
Abe tenderly. "She's an d child
and as pretty as a spotted fawn, and
aboue as wild. She's a kind of a first
cousin to the bobolink."
When they were getting ready to go
home that afternoon Joe got into a
great hurry to see his mother. 1t
seemed to him that ages had elapsed
since he had seen her-a conviction
which led to noisy tears.
Abe knelt before him and comforted
the boy. Then he wrapped him In his
Jacket and swung him in the air ana
started for home with Joe astride his
neck.
Samson says in his diary: Hi ten
der play with the little lad gave me
another look at the man Lincoln"
"Some one proposed once that we
should call that stream the Mime
haha," said Abe as he walked along.
after this Joe and I are going to call
it the Minneboohoo."
The women of the little village had
met at a quilting party at ten o'clock
with Mrs. Martin Waddell. There
Sarah had had a seat at the frame
and heard all the gossip Of the coun-
tryside. The nimble-fingered Ann Rut-
ledge-a daughter of the tavern folk
had sat beside her. Ann was a
slender, ~good-looking girl of 'seventeen
with blue eyes and a rich crown OF
auburn hair and a fair skin well
Drowned by the sunlight. She was
the most dexterous needle worker Ill
New Salem.
John Mcneil, whom the Traylors
had met on the road near Niagara
Falls and who had shared their camp
with them, arrived IN the stage that
evening. He was dressed in a new
butternut suit and clean linen and
looked very handsome. Samson writes
that he resembled the pictures of Rob
ert Emmett. With fine, dark eyes, a
smooth skin, well-moulded features
and black hair neatly brushed on a
shapely head he was not at all like
the rugged Abe. In a low tone and
very modestly, with a slight brogue
on his tongue he told of his adventures
on the long shore road to Michigan.
Ann sat listening and looking into his
face as he talked. Abe came In, soon
after eight o'clock, and was introduced
to the stranger. All noted the con-
trast between the two young men as
they greeted each other. Abe sat
down for a few minutes and looked
sadly into the fire but said nothing
He rose presently, excused himself
and went away.
The logs for the new house were
ready two days after the cutting be-
gan. Martin Waddell and Samuel Hill
sent teams to haul them. John Cam
eron and Peter Lukins had brought
the window sash and some clapboards
from Beardstown in a small fiatboat.
Then came the day Of the %raising--a
clear, warm day early in September
All the men from the village and the
neal farms gathered to help make 9
home for the newcomers. Samson
and Jack Kelso went out for a hunt
after the cutting and brought in
fat buck and many grouse for the bee
dinner, to which every woman of the
neighborhood made a contribution o.
cake or pie or cookies or doughnuts
"What will be my part?" Samson
had inquired Of Kelso.
Nothing but a jug of whisky and 6
kind word and a house warming
Kelso had answered.
They notched and bored the log!
and made pins to bind them and Gu
those that were to go around the fire
place and window spaces. Strong
willing and w%ell-trained hands hewet
and fitted the logs together. Alexan
der Ferguson lined the fireplace with
curious mortar made of clay in whicl
he mixed grass for a binder. This NOR
tar he rolled into layers called "cats,
each eight INCHES long and three inche
thick. Then he laid them against TIL
logs and held them in place with
woven network of stocks. The frs
hre-a slow 6ne-baked the clay int
a rigid stone-like sheath inside tn
logs and presently the sticks wer
burned away. The women had cooke'
the meats by an open fire and sprea'
the dinner on a table Of rough board
resting on poles set in crotches. A
noon one of them sounded a concl
! shell. Then with shouts OF JOY tn