section of wood so riven was split again and
again until each split was thin enough. The final result was called a
"shake." Shakes were used for shingles, and even--when nailed on
frames--for doors. Sawed lumber was very dear; and, except the sashes
in the windows, every bit of the log-cabin must be got out of the
primitive forest.

The boys were proud of the ample supply which their elders had brought
with them; for even the knowing Younkins, scrutinizing the tools for
woodcraft with a critical eye, remarked, "That's a good outfit, for a
party of green settlers." Six stout wedges of chilled iron, and a
heavy maul to hammer them with, were to be used for the splitting up
of the big trees into smaller sections. Wooden wedges met the wants of
many people in those primitive parts, at times, and the man who had a
good set of iron wedges and a powerful maul was regarded with envy.

"What are these clumsy rings for?" Oscar had asked when he saw the
maul-rings taken out of the wagon on their arrival and unloading.

His uncle smiled, and said, "You will find out what these are for, my
lad, when you undertake to swing the maul. Did you never hear of
splitting rails? Well, these are to split rails and such things from
the log. We chop off a length of a tree, about eight inches thick,
taking the toughest and densest wood we can find. Trim off the bark
from a bit of the trunk, which must be twelve or fourteen inches long;
drive your rings on each end of the block to keep it from splitting;
fit a handle to one end, or into one side of the block; and there you
have your maul."

"Why, that's only a beetle, after all," cried Sandy, who, sitting on a
stump near by, had been a deeply interested listener to his father's
description of the maul.

"Certainly, my son; a maul is what people in the Eastern States would
call a beetle; but you ask Younkins, some day, if he has a beetle over
at his place. He, I am sure, would never use the name beetle."

Log-cabin building was great fun to the boys, although they did not
find it easy work. There was a certain novelty about the raising of
the structure that was to be a home, and an interest in learning the
use of rude tools that lasted until the cabin was finished. The maul
and the wedges, the frow and the little maul intended for it, and all
the other means and appliances of the building, were all new and
strange to these bright lads.

[Illustration: MAKING "SHAKES" WITH A "FROW."]

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