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From: "Donna Wall" <>
Subject: [GATAYLOR-L] Fw: [CRISP-L] Cabin Raisin'
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 14:22:43 -0500

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: From:
: To:
: Subject: [CRISP-L] Cabin Raisin'
: Date: Thursday, February 17, 2000 3:28 PM
:
: On the appointed day they came, neighbors and friends, riding or afoot,
to
: their holding - the men with their rifles and axes, the women with their

: pots and kettles. Every child toddled along too, helping to carry the
wooden
: dishes and spoons. These free givers of labor had something of the
Orientals
: notion of the sacred ratification of friendship by a feast.
:
: The usual dimensions of a frontier cabin were sixteen by twenty feet. The

: logs already cut and laying at hand, the builders labored all day. At
noon,
: the ladies had a meal ready, their morning no less busy than the men's.
The
: food was made in sufficient quantities there was enough for supper, when
the
: day was done. The crimson sun sinking into the unknown wilderness beyond
the
: mountains, poured its last glow on the roof of the cabin and on the group

: near it's walls. With unfelt fingers, subtlety, it painted a soft red
touch
: of the west in the faces of the men.
:
: In primitive design, this frontier cabin was, perhaps, after all, the
perfect
: home - a place where the personal life and the work life was united and
: nothing futile found space. Every object in the cabin was practical and
had
: been made by hand on the spot to answer a need. Besides the chairs hewn
from
: hickory blocks, there were others made of slabs set on three legs. A
large
: slab or two with four legs served as a movable table; the permanent table
was
: built against the wall, its outer edge held up by two sticks. The low bed
was
: built into the wall the same way and was softened for slumber by a
mattress
: of pine needles, chaff, or dried moss. In the best light from the greased

: paper window panes stood the spinning wheel and loom, on which the
housewife
: made cloth for the family's garments. Over the fireplace or beside the
: doorway, suspended usually by deer's antlers hung the firearms and yellow

: powder horns, On a shelf or on pegs were the wooden spoons, plates,
bowls
: and noggons. Also near the fireplace, which was made of large flat stones

: with a mud plastered wood chimney, stood the grinding block for making
hominy.
:
: Cooking was done on the open hearth by the women who dressed the skins of

: wild animals and brought water from the springs in crude pails. They
milked
: the cows, cut firewood, spun, wove, knit and washed the clothes, tended
the
: bees, chickens, gardens, and kids while the men and boys worked the
fields
: and hunted the game.
:
: ______________________________

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• [GATAYLOR-L] Fw: [CRISP-L] Cabin Raisin' by "Donna Wall" <>