Some of the older children drive the cows which the
settlers are taking along with them.
After reaching the place selected for their settlement, the younger
children are set to clearing away the brush and piling it up in heaps
ready for burning. The father and the elder sons, who are big enough to
wield an axe, lose no time in cutting down trees and making a clearing for
the log cabin. All work with a will, and soon the cabin is ready.
[Illustration: Living-Room of the Early Settler.]
The furniture, like the cabin itself, is rude and simple. A bedstead is
set up in a corner, a washstand is placed near by, and a few three-legged
stools are put here and there; and of course there is a table to eat at.
Places are quickly found for the water bucket, used to bring water from
the stream, the gourd dipper with which to fill it, and other small
utensils; while pegs driven into the wall in convenient places hold
clothes, rifles, skins, and the like.
[Illustration: Grinding Indian Corn.]
If our pioneers are well-to-do, there may be tucked away in some pack a
wool blanket, but usually the chief covering on the bed is the dried skin
of some animal: deer, bear, or perhaps buffalo.
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