To make the frame for the underground hall or passageway (Fig. 156), first
nail _Q_, _S_ across the door-jambs to form the top to the doorway, after
which put in the supports _Q_, _R_ and _S_, _T_. Next build the frame _U_,
_V_, _X_, _W_ and join it to _Q_, _S_ by the two pieces _Q_, _U_ and _S_,
_V_ and put in the middle frame support marked _ZZZZ_.
The passageway should be about six feet long and the front doorway (_U_,
_V_, _X_, _W_, Figs. 156 and 157) of sufficient size to enable you to
creep through with comfort. The bottom piece _W_, _X_ can be nailed to a
couple of sticks driven in the ground for that purpose. The next thing in
order is the floor, and to make this firm you must lay a number of
two-by-fours parallel to _B_, _D_ and _F_, _H_ and see that they are
level. You will need a number of shorter pieces of the same material to
run parallel to _F_, _H_ and _W_, _X_ for the hall floor, as may be seen
in Fig. 157. Across these nail your floor securely as shown in Fig. 155.
There are no windows shown in the diagram, but if the builders wish one it
can be placed immediately over the entrance or hallway in the frame marked
_I_, _K_, _Q_, _S_ (Fig. 156), in which case the top covering of dirt must
be shovelled away from it to admit the light in the same manner that it is
in the dugout shown in Fig. 142 and also in the small sketch (Fig. 154).
The ventilator shown in Fig. 155 may be replaced, if thought desirable, by
a chimney for an open fire. On account of the need of ventilation a stove
would not be the proper thing for an underground house, but an open fire
would help the ventilation. In the diagram the ventilator is set over a
square hole in the roof; it may be made of a barrel or barrels, with the
heads knocked out, placed over the hole in the roof, or kegs, according to
the size of the roof. When your house is complete fill in the dirt around
the edges, pack it down good and hard by the use of a piece of scantling
two by four or four by four as a rammer, then cover the roof with small
sticks and fine brush and sod it with growing weeds or grass.