they made it, and 6-ft. walls, instead of 8-ft. walls.
Both were expert axemen. Spruce was plentiful and the cabin rose
quickly. In one day the walls were up. An important thing was
the roof. What should it be? Overlapping basswood troughs, split
shingles, also called shakes, or clay? By far the easiest to
make, the warmest in winter and coolest in summer, is the clay
roof. It has three disadvantages: It leaks in long-continued wet
weather; it drops down dust and dirt in dry weather; and is so
heavy that it usually ends by crushing in the log rafters and
beams, unless they are further supported on posts, which are much
in the way. But its advantages were so obvious that the builders
did not hesitate. A clay roof it was to be.
When the walls were five feet high, the doorway and window were
cut through the logs, but leaving in each case one half of the
log at the bottom of the needed opening. The top log was now
placed, then rolled over bottom up, wlile half of its thickness
was cut away to fit over the door: a similar cut out was made
over the window. Two flat pieces of spruce were prepared for
door jambs and two shorter ones for window jambs.
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