CHAPTER XI.

HOW TO BUILD AND HOW TO FURNISH A DANIEL BOONE CABIN.

Imagination is a great thing and can do wonders; it can surround the most commonplace objects with an atmosphere of romance, in which nothing is impossible or improbable. A whiff of smoke from the fireplace where wood is burning, means nothing but a faulty chimney; yet, as the smell of burning wood reaches the nostrils, Association sets the wheels of

Imagination’s Mill

whirring, and all unbidden come visions floating through our minds of camps, camp-fires, fish--pickerel, bass, and trout; quail, rabbits, and venison-steaks, broiling over the hot coals. My, it makes a fellow hungry to think of such good things! Roasted ears of sweet-corn, flapjacks, and corn-dodgers, “piping hot,” pass in a procession before us, and, as the sparks fly up the chimney,

The Ghosts of the Fireplace

troop in: and a hale and husky lot of ghosts they are, with their coon-skin caps, buckskin clothes, and beaded moccasins. Each ghost wears a strap slung over his shoulder, from which hang a bullet-pouch and a curiously engraved cow-horn powder-flask; as they file by, with their long single-barrelled flint-lock rifles, we are not surprised to see among them the great Daniel Boone, his friend Simon Kenton, and the unique, dashing, Davy Crockett.

All in vain do the trucks thunder by our windows, and futile are the efforts of the clanging cable-car bells and the roar of the great city to recall us to the present humdrum times. We are under the spell of the king of magicians, and our minds are wandering free in the wild woods; we can even hear the distant wolves howl, and the blood curdling yell of the painted savage. Is it a wonder that we love the generous old-fashioned fireplace? Is it strange that the log-cabin is dear to the hearts of American boys?

The Log-House

saw the birth of our nation; its rude interior sheltered our great men, and beneath its slabbed roof heroes were born. To-day it is still the most practicable, durable, and simply constructed house invented for a forest home, and any boy can build a log-house large enough to form a comfortable camp for vacation days. For muscles unaccustomed to such exercise it is hard work to cut down large trees, and, unless the young woodsman has served an apprenticeship on a farm or in a lumber-camp, it is dangerous work to fell big timber; but any lad may cut down

Trees of a Smaller Growth,

without danger to life or limb. Small-sized logs save much labor in chopping, sawing, rolling, and “snaking” to camp; besides all this, logs of small diameter look best for a house of small dimensions.

Therefore, in selecting the material for your proposed house, choose only such trees as are best suited to the strength of the builders. There is no rule which fixes the diameter of a log or pole, so a log-house is a log-house, no matter whether the diameter of the log from which it is built be four inches or four feet. When a log is hauled by men, horses, or oxen, through the woods, it is called “snaking.”

The “Skid”

is two or more logs laid on the ground, upon and across which the other logs are piled up for use. Common-sense will direct you to select only the timber which comes nearest being straight, and also to cut the logs considerably longer than the length marked on the plan.

Fig. 93 shows the plan of a simple cabin, 6 feet wide by 10 feet long, inside measurement.

Fig. 95 is a rough sketch and plan of two such cabins under one roof, with a hallway, or “gallery,” as they call it in the South, between them. Fig. 96 is a plan of the saddle-bag. In this sketch you will see how your house may be enlarged, at any time, by the addition of a duplicate house, with a roofed space between the two.

First decide upon the exact spot where you intend to

Locate Your Cabin,

then stake out the cabin according to your plans, and clear the ground for the house.

To facilitate rolling the logs as you need them, arrange some skids close by the site of the house, and allow them to slant toward the proposed cabin.

If there are any stones handy,

Build a Foundation

by making a pile of stones a foot or two high, at each of the four corners, in such a manner that the logs resting on these supports will be at the same level at each end, level with each other, and exactly six feet apart.

For Floor-Joists

take a number of strong poles, and, with a sharp hatchet, give them a flat side for the floor-boards to rest upon, and trim off each end, wedge-shaped, as shown by Fig. 94, the rough sketch at the bottom right-hand corner of Fig. 93.

You understand, of course, that

The Floor-Supports

must be of sufficient length to reach from the front sill-log to the back sill-log. Nail each joist at each end to the sill-logs, and place them about two feet apart. If it is thought that the flooring of the cabin makes too much work, you may build one with a “mud-sill,” by using the hard earth for floor and foundation. Abraham Lincoln lived in a “mud-sill” house, and there are hundreds of such houses in the Southern States.

With the exception of the sill-logs, all the logs are notched at both ends and on both sides (Figs. 97 and 98); the sill-logs are notched at both ends, but only on one side, as shown by Fig. 98. Logs of the same diameter as the sill-logs can be laid between them on the bare ground and used for joists, but the best plan is a stone foundation, and a plank floor at least a foot or two above the earth.

Log-Rolling.

Now is the time to invite all your friends to a grand old-time log-rolling; ask the girls to come and cook the coffee and make the sandwiches.

The two end-logs may first be rolled down from the skids, notched and fitted in place across the ends of sill-logs (Fig. 93), and then the next two side-logs, and so on, alternating until the walls are built; but you must remember to allow for the doors, windows, and fireplace openings. When the walls are so high that it is a difficult task to lift the logs in position, put up a couple of skids and roll the logs up the incline, which is better than wasting your strength in trying to lift such burdens. When the walls have reached the height of the top of the lowest opening, nail some

Door and Window Opening

planks, temporarily, close to the proposed opening on both sides of it, and on the inside and outside of the house; this is to hold the logs in position while the opening is being cut. A, in Fig. 99, shows a binder. After the binders are in place, saw the top log through at the proposed opening, to allow room for the saw, and then proceed to build as before. See Fig. 98, showing opening over door and window; the binders are not shown in this diagram.

A Fireplace

is by no means an absolute necessity for a summer cabin, but an open fire is a great addition to a house, and upon cool evenings, even in the summer-time, its genial warmth is not to be despised. The protruding ends of the logs, at the four corners of the cabin, may be left as they happen to be until the house is finished, no matter how irregular their appearance. With a two-handled saw, and a boy at each end, the ends may be cut off evenly; this will give a finished appearance to the cabin. You can have

Any Sort of a Roof

which suits your fancy; it may be framed, as described in Chapter VII., or, by using round poles, it may be framed as shown by Fig. 98 and roofed with slabs or planks, as shown by Fig. 100, or the roof may be shingled with “clapboards,” a name used for shingles or boards, about three feet long, and laid on as ordinary shingles are--first course at the eaves, second course breaking joints and overlapping the first, and so on, until the roof-tree is reached.

If shingles, clapboards, and planks are out of reach, the roof may be shingled with bark; if birch bark is used, it can be held in place by poles laid upon the outside of the roof, as I have often seen the hand-rived clapboards held in place where they use no nails in the construction of their homes.

The Most Essential Piece of Furniture

for the house, if you are to live in it, is the bed or bunk. This can be made in various simple and effective patterns. At the Sportsmen’s Show in New York there was an elaborately constructed bedstead, made of the rough branches of trees, but however ornamental this style of couch may be, it is not essential to comfort, and requires time and skill to manufacture, neither of which the average boy is willing to lavish on camp furniture.

The Bunks

shown in the plan (Fig. 93), are made with two horizontal poles, flattened at the ends and upon one side, after the manner of the rough sketch at the Fig. 94. These poles extend from side to side of the cabin, and rest upon the logs of the wall, to which they are securely nailed. The ends are further supported by a cross-plank, or pole, fastened to the walls, as a support for the side-rods of the bunk. Slats are made of sticks split in half and nailed to the side-bars, as shown in the plan. One bunk is placed over another, until there is no room for more, and then the three or more bunks are filled with straw, hay, or spruce boughs, over which the blankets are spread, and the bed is made.

With a mud-sill house you can

Make a Lincoln Bed.

Abraham Lincoln’s father had no bedstead, and no means of getting one but to make it, and no tools but an auger and axe to make it with. A stake was driven in the ground, near the corner of the cabin, about four feet from one of the walls, and six feet from the other. Auger-holes were then bored in the wall opposite, and poles driven into them, the other ends meeting on the stake; across these were laid laths rived from an oak, and upon them rested the straw-bed of our great President.

When Your House is Crowded,

the floor offers space for sleepers, and you may “choose up,” for first choice. As a rule the top berth is first choice, as in it you feel less cramped for breathing-space, for there is nothing but the roof above you. Unless the boys are more than usually expert builders, there will be no lack of fresh air, even when your house is crowded. To prevent too much wind entering, it is well to

Stuff all the Spaces Between the Logs

with mud or clay, mixed with moss, and while some of the boys are in the woods gathering the moss, and others mixing and dampening the clay, the more skilled mechanics can

Make the Door

and hang it in the doorway, which, with the other proposed openings, may be now sawed out and heavy jambs nailed on, before the binders are removed. The wooden hinge of the door can be made of ash, hickory, or oak, and may be simply a straight stick or rod about six and a half feet long and two inches in diameter (Fig. 105). Bore a hole in the upper log over the doorway, about six inches deep; if the log is of less diameter than this, bore the hole through the log. Bore a hole in the lower, or sill-log, but make it only deep enough to securely hold one end of your hinge-rod, and then trim the rod to fit in this hole, making it a trifle shorter than the distance between the end of the top hole and the end of the sill hole. Flatten one side of the hinge-rod, so that it may fit neatly along the edge of the door, but do not fasten it on the door until after the rod is in place. Spring the rod in place by slipping the top end into the top hole as far as it will go, and then pushing the bottom end over the sill hole. When it slips in place set the door up, in the position it would be when wide open, and fasten it to the flattened edge of the hinge-rod, with good strong screws. Close the door and mark the edge on the jamb, then nail a narrow strip of wood along the line, to prevent the door swinging any farther than it is necessary for it to swing when closed; or make it as shown by Fig. 105, and hang it with iron hinges, as doors at home are hung.

If You Have Money to Spend,

and men to work under your directions, you can have the regulation door, floor, and roof; the cracks in the wall calked with mortar, and a stone or brick chimney and fireplace built. In fact, you can make a palace of logs, with plate-glass windows, but _you will not have a log-cabin, and you will miss all the fun to be derived from creating something by your own labor_, which is the highest sort of joy--the joy of the artist! Any “chump,” with money, can hire men to build houses which would be impossible for his stupid brain and clumsy hands to accomplish. Besides which, the men he hired to do the work would be the only ones who derived any real pleasure from the construction of the houses.

You must not understand from this that you are to use

Oiled Paper for Glass, in Your Windows,

if you can obtain real glass, but that in case you cannot, the paper makes a good substitute, and one which was used in many a pioneer’s cabin. In Virginia there are log-houses, still occupied, which have not even a paper window--a hole, closed in bad weather by a wooden shutter, being the only opening besides the doors, and the moonshiners of the mountain districts seldom have windows at all, but depend upon a front and rear door to supply light for the house, and when these doors are closed the fire supplies the illumination.

The Lamps

they use, when they have any, are small pans or saucers filled with melted fat, in which a piece of rag is placed, and furnishes a wick for this primitive light. In 1897 I was given one of these “Betty lights” by a mountain host, to light me to bed.

Every boy’s log-house should be supplied with lanterns and candles, but the candles must be stored in tin boxes, otherwise

The Brownies Will Eat Them.

Brownies are the wild wood-mice and flying-squirrels which will use your house during your absence, and not only eat the candles, but anything else you may leave unprotected. They ate up my soap, and then, for dessert, went to the kitchen and ate up the stove-polish. In small houses you will probably not have stove-polish, or stoves.

After the opening in the wall of the cabin for the fireplace is sawed out, you may build up a good, strong wall, on the three outer sides of

The Fireplace

(Figs. 106 and 107). Build these walls as you did the cabin walls, and fit the ends of the logs neatly against the cabin logs, and put “chunks” in between the logs at the cabin end, to level them. When the walls are as high as the opening in the cabin, you are ready to begin the work of building the inside clay-lining.

It will take a considerable quantity of clay to finish your fireplace and chimney, and a rough box, like the mortar-box used by builders, will be found most convenient for mixing the clay.

Saw off the ends of some sticks of wood and make some

Wooden Hammers, or Mauls,

of them, by boring holes through the pieces you have sawed off and putting handles in the holes. These mauls may vary from three to five inches in diameter, and will be found to be the most convenient sort of tool for breaking the dry clay before it is dampened, and they will also be of great service in beating the clay down, for the fireplace and hearth. Make the floor to the fireplace and the hearth by spreading the damp clay over the space and hammering it down until it is hard; add more clay, and beat it until the hearth and fire-floor (Figs. 107 and 108) are level and firm. You may then put on enough water to make the surface slippery, and smooth it off with a trowel made of a shingle and a branch, after the manner of the one shown in the foreground of Fig. 98.

Next Build Your Clay Walls

on the inside, against the log outside walls, and extending to the inside of the cabin wall. Make the clay into the form of bricks and build up the jambs and lining, about one foot thick, to the top of the fireplace, using wet clay for mortar.

For the Chimney

split some sticks and make them about one inch wide by one and one-half inch thick, and with clay for mortar build the chimney, log-cabin style (Fig. 106), to the required height, leaving a space between the chimney and outside wall of the house. Plaster it well with clay, especially upon the inside, and be careful to keep it plumb.

A short time ago, while on a sketching trip through the mountains of East Tennessee and Kentucky, I saw hundreds of these

Stick Chimneys

which have done service for years. Some of them were beautiful specimens of skill, while others had a decided list to port or starboard, as a sailor would say, and were apparently carelessly made.

In the mountains the fireplaces are lined with stones, in place of clay, but in Illinois, where stones are scarce and mud plenty, the old-time log-cabin hearth and fireplace were always made of clay.

Besides the berths or bunks already described, a table and some benches, or three-legged stools, will be found very useful articles of furniture. In a small house a

Table Takes Up Needed Room,

and as it is principally used at meal-time, a contrivance that may be put away when not in use is most desirable; such a table can be made of two wooden horses, with boards laid across them. When the weather is fair the table may be set out-doors, and when the weather is foul it can be placed in-doors. The horses and boards may be kept on the porch, if you have one, or in a shed or on the rafters overhead.

Three-Legged Stools.

A piece of two-inch plank, with three oak, ash, or hickory sticks driven into three holes bored for the purpose, makes a stool which will last a lifetime. Two such stools have been in use for twelve or thirteen years in my Pike County (Pa.) cabin, and are just as good as new to-day.

Now, when your work is done and you balance yourself on a three-legged stool, and rest from your labors, remember you are sitting on what has before now proved to be the incipient Presidential chair.

General Camp Notes for Old Boys.

If the boys suppose that their parents are not interested in out-door life, they are mistaken, for the author never fails to receive a batch of letters from grown-up people, whenever he publishes an out-door article for the boys. That the boys may answer the questions put to the author by the parents, and incidentally profit themselves by the information, the following suggestions to campers are given.

It will be observed that, when talking to the old people, the question of having sufficient funds is not taken as strictly into account as it is in all the plans for the boys themselves.

When You Start for Camp

leave artificialities and fripperies behind, packed up in camphor, and bring only your free, untrammelled self with you, and ho! for a frolic, for flapjacks and coffee, sweet-scented spruce boughs, camp-fires, and the fireside song, and the music of the banjo. Let your first care be to secure cheerful, happy companions, as the most important articles for your camping outfit.

White flannel trousers and blazers are for the seaside and summer resorts, not for camp. You go to camp for health and fun, not for display; therefore leave your good clothes in your trunk at the last railroad station, to be called for when you quit the woods and once more enter the land of creased trousers and starched shirts, of stocks, long skirts, and ties.

How the Women Should Dress.

A woman’s camp-dress should consist of a scant, short skirt, bloomers, leggings, and stout, broad-soled shoes, loose shirt-waist, and Norfolk jacket, the latter plentifully supplied with pockets. Whatever prejudice a woman may have against short skirts and bloomers is soon overcome after she has tried to climb fallen trees and rocks, or made her way through thick underbrush, encumbered with the absurd long skirts of the house or street, or after she has tramped to camp with a wet and bedrabbled skirt flapping around her ankles, caused by a walk in the dewy morning, or a paddle in a leaky boat. Women should have their dresses made of strong material, with “lots of pockets,” like a man’s hunting-clothes. They will find their capabilities for enjoyment greatly enhanced by this, and the men, at least, will think them just as bewitching and far better companions than they would be if they were dressed in city gowns, hats and feathers, and low shoes.

The Requirements for a Camp.

Each person in camp should be supplied with a good, big-bladed jack-knife; a woodsman, or, what is about the same thing, a person with good common-sense, can supply himself with food and shelter, with no other ready-made tool than a good strong knife.

Salt, pepper, and sugar, must be put on the list; then flour in sack, oatmeal, cornmeal, rice, and lard; crackers, beans, coffee in tin, tea in bag, cocoa, condensed milk in cans, evaporated cream in cans, butter in pail, pickles, dried fruit in bags, a bag of potatoes, molasses, pork, boneless bacon, and, if you are fond of it, a few jars of orange marmalade; sal-soda for sweetening “dubs,” and ginger for medicinal purposes; several cakes of common soap for dish-washing, some dish-towels, and some soap for toilet purposes; also a tin coffee-pot, a long-handled frying-pan, a small griddle, a nest of tin pails, the smallest capable of holding a quart or less, and the largest a gallon or more; two or three paper pails or water-buckets, two or three iron kitchen spoons and forks, and a camp boiler, a firkin and a wooden spoon, also a strong axe and a hatchet.

From the Stand-point of Health.

It is presupposed that people who intend to spend their vacation in camp are lovers of the beautiful; consequently, in selecting a camping-place, a spot should be chosen which gives the finest possible view of mountains, lakes, or rivers, even if some inconvenience must be suffered in the selection. The camp must be dry and well-drained, so that in case of sudden storms there will be no danger of the water flooding the tents, wetting the bedding or spoiling the food. A gentle sloping ground is best. Avoid locating in the track or below the mouths of innocent-looking gullies or ravines, that may, in case of rain, be developed into torrents of muddy water, and sweep the camp like a cloudburst.

A supply of pure water contributes as much to the enjoyment of the campers as to the preservation of health. Common-sense will direct that the camp be selected within easy reach of some bubbling spring or fresh, uncontaminated brook of running water, but there is another thing of paramount importance, and that is a handy supply of fuel. The latter is of even more importance than that of water. With a wooden man-yoke, water is easily transported for quite a distance, but no one who has not tried it can realize the difficulty of carrying fuel even a short distance.

Making the Shack or Shelter.

The Adirondack camp is made from the materials furnished by the forest, and it is put together in the form of a shack or shelter, by the woodsmen or guides. Spruce-trees, eight or nine inches in diameter, are cut down, quickly stripped of their bark, and one of them suspended between two trees eight or ten feet from the ground, or is supported by forked sticks. Others are then laid standing up to it, and the incline is shingled with the bark, to keep out the rain. Your bed is on the ground beneath the bark roof. Put a log at the head, and a smaller one at the foot, and cover the intervening space with a thick layer of flat spruce boughs, neatly laid, with all the unnecessary sticks thrown out; chop down some young balsams and strip them of all their twigs; selecting all those of about twelve inches in length, begin at the foot of the bed and work up, sticking the butt-ends of the balsam twigs into the spruce boughs. Place them as close together as possible, with their tops slightly inclining to the foot of the couch. After all the balsam is planted scatter the fine tips of some hemlock boughs over the balsam, and spread your blanket over all. Any bag or pillow-case, filled with hemlock and balsam tips, makes a good, sweet-scented pillow. All that then remains to be done is to fill up the ends of the shack with brush, roll a back-log in front of your camp, and start the fire. At night spread your blankets on the spruce twigs, stretch yourself out and watch the dying embers of the fire until you gradually drift into the sweet slumber of the camper.

The Brush-Covered Lean-to

is a triangular tent, open in front, made of one piece of canvas fastened to a horizontal pole in front, to the ground in the rear, and hanging down at the sides. Over this a rude, shack-like Adirondack camp is built, not to keep out rain but to protect the canvas, with the green brush, from sparks from the camp-fire. In no case must the brush touch the cloth, for during a rain the canvas will leak wherever any object is resting against it, either from the inside or outside.

A tent is the favorite abode of all campers. They are transported with much greater ease than the most simply-constructed portable house. A tent may be erected with the expenditure of less labor than any of the preceding camps, and furnishes a comfortable shelter all the year round. Even in the bleak mountains of Alaska tents are often used by miners, wintering near their mines. A good wall-tent, with a fly and a wooden floor, is protection enough for the most delicate of persons.

Standard drills and yacht twills are better adapted to the camper’s purposes than heavier materials, and besides are less expensive. The list prices of wall-tents, from nine by nine feet to sixteen and a half by fourteen feet, are from $14 to $26. The flies are listed at from $4.50 to $9.70.

In Tents with Roofed Verandas.

The Amazon tents are in the form of a lean-to, with a roofed veranda, so to speak, in front.

Shanties are small houses of plank, roofed with plank, and are built by the natives, at costs varying with the price and accessibility of the lumber. A good, water-tight shanty ought to be erected in most sections for about $25. Bunks of planks are built in the shanties, one above the other, and, when filled with straw and covered with a blanket, make comfortable sleeping-quarters.

Portable houses are now manufactured of all forms and sizes, from a child’s small playhouse to a two-story frame store. These buildings are made in sections; all parts are numbered and labelled, and may be put together and taken apart at will. Many of these houses are designed especially for camps, and may be shipped to the camping-ground with little trouble and erected with little loss of time. At the same factory may be purchased terra-cotta chimneys, in sections, ready to be stacked up for use. Some people prefer to build a chimney of stone or brick and leave it standing when the house is moved, others making stovepipe serve for a chimney.

What is Needed for Table and Larder.

For table furniture select white blue-rimmed cups and saucers, and plates of granite-ware. The gray enamelled ware is not as good, for many reasons. These enamelled or granite-ware dishes are as easily cleaned as china, but, unlike china, they will not break. Nickel-plated teaspoons are in every way as good as silver for camp purposes, and should not cost more than three cents apiece. Knives and forks to match can easily be found. Be sure they are modern ones with three tines.

Lay in a supply of candles, and two or three common stable lanterns. You may add to these items as many luxuries as your baggage will supply room for, or your purse or taste dictate. Fruit syrups, such as are used at reputable soda-water fountains, make very pleasant and healthful drinks when combined with good, cold spring-water. Lemons will keep in a cool, dry place for two weeks, and as a garnish for fish or soup not only give an appetizing look, which, as a rule, is unnecessary in camp food, but they add to the taste and relish, which is a property that persons blessed with good appetites appreciate, even when on a camping expedition.