"Ain't you seen a house built in the country when they were clearing up
and wanted to put up somethin' for the men to live in while they were
working? They'd cut down a tree. Then they'd line it--fasten a piece of
twine to each end and whiten it and pull it up and let it fly down and
mark the log. Then they'd score it with axes. Then the hewers would come
along and hew the log. Sometimes they could hew it so straight you
couldn't put a line on it and find any difference. Where they didn't
take time with the logs, it would be where they were just putting up a
little shack for the men to sleep in.
"Just like you box timber in the sawmill, the men would straighten out a
log.
"To make the log house, you would saw your blocks, set em up, then you
put the sills on the blocks, then you put the sleepers. When you get
them in, lay the planks to walk on. Then they put on the first log. You
notch it. To make the roof, you would keep on cutting the logs in half
first one way and then the other until you got the blocks small enough
for shingles. Then you would saw the shingles off. They had plenty of
time.