Household words, no. 9, May 25, 1850 : $b A weekly journal — John Shaqi
Household words, no. 9, May 25, 1850 : $b A weekly journal
General
Household words, no. 9, May 25, 1850 : $b A weekly journal
English literature -- Periodicals
they were thrown down within a quarter iv a mile iv my place,—for there
was no road to it then, an’ I had to carry ’em myself for the remainder
of the way. This occupied me till near nightfall; but I remained that
night till I placed two upright posts of fir, one at each corner iv the
front iv the cabin.
“I was detarmined to get the cabin finished as quickly as possible, that
I might be able to live upon the spot, for much time was lost in goin’
and comin’. The next day I was up betimes, an’ finding a track iv stiff
blue clay, I cut a multitude of thick square sods iv it, an’ having set
up two more posts at the remainin’ two corners iv the cabin, I laid four
rows iv one gable, rising it about three feet high. Havin’ laid the
rows, I sharpind three or four straight pine branches, an’ druv them
down through the sods into the earth, to pin the wall in its place. Next
day I had a whole gable up, each three rows iv sods pinned through to
the three benathe. In about eight days I had put up the four walls,
makin’ a door an’ two windows; an’ now my outlay began, for I had to pay
a thatcher to put on the sthraw an’ to assist me in risin’ the rafthers.
In another week it was covered in, an’ it was a pride to see it with the
new thatch, an’ a wicker chimbley daubed with clay, like a pallis
undernathe the rock. I now got some turf that those who had cut ’em had
not removed, an’ they sould ’em for a thrifle, an’ I made a grate fire
an’ slept on the flure of my own house that night. Next day I got
another load iv fir brought, to make the partitions in the winter, an’
in a day or two after I had got the inside so dhry that I was able to
bring poor Biddy to live there for good and all. The Heavens be praised,
there was not a shower iv rain fell from the time I began the cabin till
I ended it, an’ when the rain did fall, not a drop came through,—all was
carried off by my dhrain into the little river before yees. The moment I
was settled in the house I comminced dhraining about an acre iv bog in
front, an’ the very first winter I sowed a shillin’s worth of cabbidge
seed, an’ sold in the spring a pound’s worth of little cabbidge plants
for the gardins in the town below. When spring came—noticin’ how the
early planted praties did the best, I planted my cabbidge ground with
praties, an’ I had a noble crap, while the ground was next year fit for
the corn. In the mane time, every winther I tuk in more and more ground,
an’ in summer I cut my turf for fewel; where the cuttins could answer,
in winther, for a dhrain; an’ findin’ how good the turf were, I got a
little powney an’ carried ’em to the town to sell, when I was able to
buy lime in exchange, an’ put it on my bog, so as to make it produce
double. As things went on, I got assistance, an’ when I marrid, my wife
had two cows that guv me a grate lift.
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