"Och! By All Manner Of Manes, And Welcome; The Dhevil A Foot Of The
Way But I Know As Well
As my own clearing; but come into the house,
and get a dhrink of milk, an' a bite of bread
An' butther, for
sorrow a dhrop of the whiskey has crossed my teeth for the last
month; an' it's but poor intertainment for man or baste I can offer
you, but shure you're heartily welcome."
The precincts of the homestead were divided and subdivided into an
infinity of enclosures, of all shapes and sizes. The outer enclosure
was a bush fence, formed of trees felled on each other in a row, and
the gaps filled up with brushwood. There was a large gate, swung
with wooden hinges, and a wooden latch to fasten it; the smaller
enclosures were made with round poles, tied together with bark.
The house was of the rudest description of "shanty," with hollowed
basswood logs, fitting into each other somewhat in the manner of
tiles for a roof, instead of shingles. No iron was to be seen, in
the absence of which there was plenty of leathern hinges, wooden
latches for locks, and bark-strings instead of nails. There was
a large fireplace at one end of the shanty, with a chimney,
constructed of split laths, plastered with a mixture of clay and
cowdung. As for windows, these were luxuries which could well be
dispensed with; the open door was an excellent substitute for them
in the daytime, and at night none were required.
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Page 413 of 670
Words from 112083 to 112340
of 181664
