A DAY OF UNALLOYED PLEASURE.
The boys flattered themselves that they had made all their arrangements
for a good time the next day; but on the way home they met Mr. Seth,
who said that he and Israel were going to junk and pile logs on a burn
the next day, and he must have all of them to nigger off logs.
"We can't to-morrow, Uncle Seth," said Sammy; "'cause we're going to
make a fire-place on the raft, and have a cook, and have the Dutch
oven, and have Scip, and the biggest time we ever did have."
"But you can't have Scip, because he'll have to chop with us; but you
can have a first-rate time niggering logs: you can have a fire in a
stump, and roast potatoes and ears of corn."
"We ought to help Uncle Seth, 'cause he's the goodest man ever was,
'cause he's made us the raft," said Sam.
"So we will help, Uncle Seth," said Will Redmond; "and we'll let you
see what we kin do."
"That's good boys; and we'll have a long nooning; and I'll tell you
about Mr. Honeywood, how, when he was a little bit of a boy, he went to
sea on a tree, and was picked up by a vessel."
"What's a sea, and what's a vessel?" said Bob Holt.
"I'll tell you all about it; and, when we get the piece ready to sow,
I'll ask Israel to let Scip go with you on the raft. But you mustn't
tell him Indian stories, nor say any thing about them; for, if you do,
he won't be good for any thing for a fortnight."
"No, Uncle Seth, we won't, and we won't scare him for fun as we used
to," said Ben Wood.
These frontier boys had never seen a vessel, nor even a tug-boat; all
the craft they were acquainted with was a birch canoe or a dug-out; and
they wondered much what Uncle Seth meant by the sea for though some of
them had read some pieces at school, in which references were made to
vessels and the ocean, yet as they had never seen a map, and could only
read by spelling many of the words, they had no definite conception in
regard to the subject.
The next morning the boys took their guns and provisions with them to
the field. The place was not far from the fort; there was a strong
party on the scout; and the boys were able to persuade Mr. Seth to say,
that, when noon came, he would eat with them in the field.
Mr. Seth, Israel, and Scipio now began to cut into proper lengths the
large logs that the clearing-fire had spared, and the boys went to
niggering. They placed a large stick across a log, put brands and dry
stuff beside it on the log, and set it on fire, in order to burn the
log off, until they had twenty or thirty logs on fire at once, which
kept them running from one to the other tending the fires. In this way
they rendered good service, and niggered off logs faster than the men
could chop them in two; and they liked the work right well.
Mr. Seth had brought bread and butter and some slices of bacon. Scip
brought a jug of milk; and the boys roasted eggs and potatoes in the
ashes, and ears of corn before the fire; and, after dinner, Mr. Seth
told them what happened to Mr. Honeywood; then he described the ocean,
and tried to give them some idea of a vessel by whittling out a
miniature one with his knife.
The next day these scorched and half-burned logs and brands (over which
the fire had run, burning up all the limbs and tops) were to be piled
up and entirely consumed. The men and boys came to the field, dressed
in tow frocks and trousers. Maccoy and Grant came to help with oxen;
and the logs were drawn together, and rolled up in piles, and all the
large brands picked up and flung on top or tucked under the piles,
which occupied the whole day.
The next morning they set all the piles on fire, and tended them, in
order to make a clean burn, throwing in the brands and branches. They
were, every one of them, just as black as a smut-coal; and at night
they went to the river, washed both their persons and clothes, and put
on clean garments.
The lads now entered with new enthusiasm upon preparation for their
postponed expedition on the river.
It is the nature of a well-constructed boy to receive peculiar delight
from any thing of his own contrivance. The rudest plaything of his own
invention or manufacture is dearer to him than a much better one that
is the workmanship of another.
Boys who are possessed of any pluck, and are worth raising, delight in
the development of their own powers, both of brain and muscle: you may
observe it in a little child taking its first steps, and holding the
father's finger.
The little thing toddles on demurely enough, so long as led; but the
moment it leaves the father's finger, and strikes out boldly for the
safe harbor of its mother's lap, its eyes are dancing in its head,
hands going up and down in high glee, and, screaming and crowing with
delight, it tumbles into those extended arms breathless but in ecstasy.
That feeling of self-help, so dear to the child, is no less so to the
boy or to the man, of whom the child is the father. Therefore, though
the boys were under great obligations to Mr. Seth for putting the raft
into their hands, and to Mr. Honeywood for teaching them to manage
it, and thus contributing to their amusement, they were under still
greater obligations to them for opening before them such a field for
contrivance, furnishing them with resources, and placing them in a
position that stimulated their own energies.
They commenced operations by boring two holes with an auger into the
cross-tie at the centre of the raft, into which they drove two crotches
some five feet in length. Clay from the frog-pond, and sand from the
river, were mixed together and well worked, and wooden trowels made to
handle it with. Several of the boys made use of the shoulder-blades of
moose, which made very good substitutes for steel trowels. The shell
of the snapping turtle, and pieces of pine and hemlock bark, were used
to carry the mortar on. Plastering the floor of the raft with this
mortar to the depth of a foot, they bedded flat stones in it to form a
hearth, then built up a fireplace with three sides but open in front,
plastering the stones with clay both inside and out.
A stout green stick was laid in the crotches, and a withe fastened to
it to hold the Dutch oven. Leaving their work to dry in the hot sun,
they cut dry hard wood in short pieces, and, going to the burn, brought
from thence in a basket some hard-wood coals and brands to cook with.
The object of cutting the wood fine, and procuring the charcoal,
was that they might have a hot fire without much blaze that would
be likely to burn their crotch pole and withe, which as a further
safeguard they smeared with clay.
It is evident that all this implies forethought, calculation, and
practice.
"Don't let us go home for bowls, plates, or spoons," said Johnnie
Armstrong: "we can make 'em ourselves."
"I and Jim Grant, Dan Mugford, and Johnnie Armstrong can make the
spoons and plates," said Fred Stiefel.
"We can make square trenchers good enough out of a chip," said Archie;
"but we can't bowls: 'twould take all summer."
"I know a better way than that," said Sam. "We don't want but one or
two bowls, one big one to hold the stew; and we can make bowls and
plates out of clay."
"That'll be the best fun that ever was," said Archie. "I'd sooner make
the dishes than eat the vittles."
"I wouldn't: I'd rather do both."
Part of them with axes split blocks of proper wood to make the spoons,
and shaped them rudely with tomahawks, while others prepared clay for
the bowls. They had been accustomed to make marbles of clay, and bake
them on the hearth, though it must be confessed they frequently split
into halves in baking; they had also made moulds of clay in which to
run bullets, and had helped make clay mortar to plaster the chimneys.
They treated this clay in the same manner, mixing sand with it. Thus
they were occupied till the horn blew for dinner, at which time Archie
obtained a crooked knife made to dig out bowls, spoons, and trays,
having a rest for the thumb.
During meal-time the boys were much questioned by the girls; but they
preserved a dignified silence, looking unutterable things, and saying,
as they left home, that, if the girls presumed to come peeking and
prying round, they shouldn't go with them, not one inch.
Fred Stiefel was master workman of the spoon business; and while his
gang were seated in the shade, manufacturing those utensils, Sam and
his fellow-potters began the making of earthen-ware.
They adopted a singular method, originating in the inventive brain
of Sammy. Selecting a level spot in the dry, tough clay ground, they
removed the turf, picked out the grass-roots, smoothed the surface, and
swept off the dust. Upon this surface they laid some of the square
wooden plates or trenchers used by the settlers, and cut into the clay,
then hollowed the centre with a crooked drawing-knife made to hollow
the staves of tubs and pails. This was the mould, and they made numbers
of them. Moulds for bowls were made in the same way; and, when the
draw-shave did not accomplish the purpose, they worked out the bottom
of the moulds, and smoothed them up with the bowl of a horn spoon, the
handle of which had been broken off.
Into these moulds they put the clay, plastering it on the sides and
bottom to a proper thickness, and, removing all superfluous clay with
wooden scrapers and the spoon-bowl, pressed and smoothed it with their
fingers and a bunch of wet moss, that left the surface smooth and
shining.
They became more and more interested in their work, and endeavored to
excel each other in the shape and ornamentation of their vessels, for
they even aspired to that. The square trenchers with their large margin
afforded ample space for designs.
Archie made a row of sharp points round the edge of his plate, and
between each two a round dot by pressing a buckshot into the clay; and
also cut his name on the bottom.
Ike Proctor made a vine; and outside of that he made quite a pretty
figure by pressing beechnuts and the upper surface of acorn-cups into
the clay.
Sammy Sumerford excelled all the others. In the first place, he traced
a vine round the outer edge, and did it quite well; having found in the
house the wheel or rowel of a spur he printed it in the clay inside the
vine; not satisfied with this he obtained some garnets, and, pressing
them into the clay, left them there.
"How did you cut that vine so true, Sam?" said Bob Holt, who was
admiring the work.
"I laid a little small spruce-root, not so large as a knitting-needle,
all round the edge, and made all the turns as I wanted to have 'em, and
put thorn spikes to keep 'em from moving while I pressed 'em into the
clay."
It was now time to drive up the cattle; and, dusting their work with
sand, they covered it with boughs to keep off the dew.
The next morning the plates and bowls were carefully dug out of the
moulds, and placed in the sun to dry the outside; then they were put in
the fireplace, the top of which was covered with flat stones and clay
to keep in the heat; and they were burned as red as a brick. Some of
them fell to pieces. All of them were full of small cracks; but they
would hold water some time, though it soaked out gradually.
The remainder of the day was spent in killing and plucking pigeons, and
making preparations for the morrow.
Early next morning came the girls and Scip, bringing with them whatever
other articles of food or seasoning were needed.
The girls were much pleased with the fireplace, and especially with
the bowls, spoons, and platters; and the boys were the recipients of
compliments that put them in excellent humor.
Shoving off, they went up to a part of the stream that was wider, in
order to have a better opportunity to sail. They now discovered, that,
to all his other accomplishments, Scip added that of an excellent
oarsman. He was a Baltimore negro, and was purchased in that place (as
most of our readers know) by Israel Blanchard, on his way to settle at
Wolf Run; and had been accustomed to go in boats, and scull rafts of
lumber on the Patapsco River. He disdained the use of pins or a notch
to keep his oar in place, but would scull right on the side of the raft
anywhere, shoving his oar perpendicularly into the water and keeping
it so, which afforded him a greater leverage in sculling against the
stream.
With Scip at the oars, and the boys at the setting-poles, they went
along lively when returning from a trip and against the wind and
current.
When tired of sailing, they fished; and then, bringing the raft under
the branches of a leaning hemlock, the boys went on shore to pick
berries for a dessert, while Scip and the girls were getting dinner.
The fireplace worked to a charm, and the dinner proved to be all that
could be desired. They enjoyed the pleasure of eating afloat, something
new to them, and, with no mishap to mar the pleasure of the day, had
the best time imaginable. They also had berries to carry home.
On arriving home that night, the boys were told that they had enjoyed a
good long play-spell, and that the next morning they must go sprouting.
In clearing land the stumps of the trees send up a great many sprouts:
these the boys were set to beat off, or cut with hatchets, in order to
kill the stumps. When the sprouts become dry they are piled up around
the stumps, and burned, which tends still more to kill them; and by
doing this a few times the roots are exhausted.
The next employment was to cut down the fire and pigeon weed among the
corn, and to pull the pease and beans. Then there was flax to pull;
and, though only the men and largest boys could do that, yet any of
them could carry it off the piece, and spread it on the grass to rot
the stalk, and make it separate from the outside skin or fibre, which
is the part used to make thread.
One thing coming thus after another, it was a long time before they
were given another holiday.