ille
on Whitewater, and had paid for it what was then considered a good round
sum--one dollar per acre. They had received a deed for their "eighty"
from no less a person than James Monroe, then President of the United
States. This deed, which is called a patent, was written on sheepskin,
signed by the President's own hand, and is still preserved by the
descendants of Mr. Brent as one of the title-deeds to the land it
conveyed. The house, as I have told you, consisted of two large rooms,
or buildings, separated by a passageway six or eight feet broad which
was roofed over, but open at both ends--on the north and south. The back
room was the kitchen, and the front room was parlor, bedroom, sitting
room and library all in one.

At the time when my story opens Little Balser, as he was called to
distinguish him from his father, was thirteen or fourteen years of age,
and was the happy possessor of a younger brother, Jim, aged nine, and a
little sister one year old, of whom he was very proud indeed.

On the south side of the front room was a large fireplace. The chimney
was built of sticks, thickly covered with clay. The fireplace was almost
as large as a small room in one of our cramped modern houses, and was
broad and deep enough to take in backlogs which were so large and heavy
that they could not be lifted, but were drawn in at the door and rolled
over the floor to the fireplace.

The prudent father usually kept two extra backlogs, one on each side of
the fireplace, ready to be rolled in as the blaze died down; and on
these logs the children would sit at night, with a rough slate made from
a flat stone, and do their "ciphering," as the study of arithmetic was
then called. The fire usually furnished all the light they had, for
candles and "dips," being expensive luxuries, were used only when
company was present.

The fire, however, gave sufficient light, and its blaze upon a cold
night extended halfway up the chimney, sending a ruddy, cozy glow to
every nook and corner of the room.

The back room was the storehouse and kitchen; and from the beams and
along the walls hung rich hams and juicy sidemeat, jerked venison, dried
apples, onions, and other provisions for the winter. There was a
glorious fireplace in this room also, and a crane upon which to hang
pots and cooking utensils.

The floor of the front room was made of logs split in halves with the
flat, hewn side up; but the floor of the kitchen was of clay, packed