It was a vast amount of labor, thus
to roll up the heavy logs in the form of a square until a pen or
box had been made as high as a man's head, and then over that was
built a roof of logs fastened together with wooden pins, or pegs,
for iron nails were all too scarce and costly to be used for such
purpose.
When the house had been built thus far, the roof was formed of no
more than four or five logs on which a thatching of grass was to
be laid later, and the ends, in what might be called the "peak of
the roof," were open to the weather. Then it was that roughly hewn
planks, or logs split into three or four strips, called puncheons,
were pegged with wooden nails on the sides, or ends, where doors
or windows were to be made.
Then the space inside this framework was sawed out, and behold
you had a doorway, or the opening for a window, to be filled in
afterward as time and material with which to work might permit.
After this had been done, the ends under the roof were covered
with yet more logs, sawn to the proper length and pegged together,
until, save for the crevices between the timbers, the whole gave
protection against the weather.
Pages:
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61