of cornering the logs--one is
simply flattening the logs where they touch. This, as well as the
first one, is known in the backwoods of Canada as hog-pen finish. The
really skilful woodsmen of the North always dovetail the comers and
saw them flush: (Fig. 10)

Sometimes it is desirable to make a higher gable than that which one
ridge log can make. Then it is made thus: (Fig. 11.) This is as much
slope as a clay roof should have; with any more, the clay would wash
off.

This is the simplest way to build a log-cabin, but it illustrates all
the main principles of log building. Shingle roofs and gables, broad
piazzas outside, and modern fitting inside, are often added nowadays in
summer camps, but it must be clear that the more towny you make the
cabin, the less woodsy it is, and less likely to be the complete rest
and change that is desired.

For fuller instructions, see "Log-Cabins and Cottages." By. Wm. S.
Wicks, 1900. (Pub. Forest and Stream, N. Y.) {64} Also, "The Jack of
All Trades." By Dan C. Beard, Scribner's; and "Field and Forest Handy
Book."

Measuring Distances
(See "Two Little Savages," 1903.)

The height of a tree is easily measured when on a level, open place,
by measuring the length of its shadow, then comparing that with your
own shadow, or that of a ten-foot pole.

Thus, the ten-foot pole is casting a fifteen-foot shadow, and the
tree's shadow is one hundred and fifty feet long, apply the simple
rule of three.

15 : 150 :: 10 : x = 100

But it is seldom so easy, and the good old rule of the triangle can be
safely counted on: Get a hundred or more feet from your tree, on open
ground, as nearly as possible on the level of its base. Set up a
ten-foot pole (A B, page 65). Then mark the spot where the exact line
from the top of the tree over the top of the pole touches the ground
(C). Now measure the distance from that spot (C) to the foot of the
ten-foot pole (B); suppose it is twenty feet. Measure also the
distance from that spot (C) to the base of the tree (D); suppose it is
one hundred and twenty feet, then your problem is:

20 : 10 :: 120 : x = 60

i.e., if at that angle twenty feet from the eye gives ten feet
elevation, one hundred and twenty feet must give sixty.

_To make a right angle_, make a triangle whose sides are exactly six,
eight, and ten feet or inches each (or multiples of these). The angle
opposite the ten must be a true right angle.

[Illustration: To make a right ang