s necessary work, and that at high wages--six-
and-sixpence per day. Well, the boards were at length down, but of
course of unseasoned timber: this was unavoidable; so as they could not
be planed we were obliged to put up with their rough unsightly
appearance, for no better were to be had. I began to recall to mind the
observation of the old gentleman with whom we travelled from Cobourg to
Rice Lake. We console ourselves with the prospect that by next summer
the boards will all be seasoned, and then the house is to be turned
topsy-turvy, by having the floors all relaid, jointed, and smoothed.

The next misfortune that happened, was, that the mixture of clay and
lime that was to plaster the inside and outside of the house between the
chinks of the logs was one night frozen to stone. Just as the work was
about half completed, the frost suddenly setting in, put a stop to our
proceeding for some time, as the frozen plaster yielded neither to fire
nor to hot water, the latter freezing before it had any effect on the
mass, and rather making bad worse. Then the workman that was hewing the
inside walls to make them smooth, wounded himself with the broad axe,
and was unable to resume his work for some time.

I state these things merely to show the difficulties that attend us in
the fulfilment of our plans, and this accounts in a great measure for
the humble dwellings that settlers of the most respectable description
are obliged to content themselves with at first coming to this country,
--not, you may be assured, from inclination, but necessity: I could give
you such narratives of this kind as would astonish you. After all, it
serves to make us more satisfied than we should be on casting our eyes
around to see few better off than we are, and many not half so
comfortable, yet of equal, and, in some instances, superior pretensions
as to station and fortune.

Every man in this country is his own glazier; this you will laugh at:
but if he does not wish to see and feel the discomfort of broken panes,
he must learn to put them in his windows with his own hands. Workmen are
not easily to be had in the backwoods when you want them, and it would
be preposterous to hire a man at high wages to make two days' journey to
and from the nearest town to mend your windows. Boxes of glass of
several different sizes are to be bought at a very cheap rate in the
stores. My husband amused himself by glazing the windows of the house
preparatory to th