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Page 11
Now, this pleased Tom so much that he threw his cap in the air and
hurrahed, which made the baby laugh; but little Polly did not laugh,
because she was afraid that she was too small to help. But after a
while the father said: "I shall be away in the great forest cutting down
the trees; Mother will be washing and sewing and baking; Tom will be at
work in the carpenter's shop; and who will take care of the baby?"
"I will, I will!" cried Polly, running to kiss the baby. "And the baby
can be good and sweet!"
So it was all arranged that they would have their dear little home,
which would belong to every one, because each one would help; and the
father made haste to prepare for the Winter. He stored away the firewood
and put up the stoves; and when the wood-choppers went to the great
forest, he was ready to go with them.
Out in the forest the trees were waiting. Nobody knew how many years
they had waited there, growing every year stronger and more beautiful
for the work they had to do. Every one of them had grown from a baby
tree to a giant; and when the choppers came, there stood the giant
trees, so bare and still in the wintry weather that the sound of the
axes rang from one end of the woods to the other. From sunrise to sunset
the men worked steadily; and although it was lonely in the woods when
the snow lay white on the ground and the cold wind blew, the father kept
his heart cheery. At night, when the men sat about the fire in their
great log-house, he would tell them about the mother and children who
were working with him for a home.
Nobody's ax was sharper than his or felled so many trees, and nobody was
gladder when Spring-time came and the logs were hauled down to the
river.
The river had been waiting too, through all the Winter, under its shield
of ice, but now that Spring had come, and the snows were melting, and
all the little mountain streams were tumbling down to help, the river
grew very broad and strong, and dashed along, snatching the logs when
the men pushed them in and carrying them on with a rush and a roar.
The men followed close along the bank of the river, to watch the logs
and keep them moving; but at last there came a time when the logs would
not move, but lay in a jam from shore to shore while the water foamed
about them.
"Who will go out to break the jam?" said the men. They knew that only a
brave man and a nimble man could go, for there was danger that the logs
might crush him and the river sweep him away.
They looked at each other. But the father was not afraid, and he was
surefooted and nimble; so he sprang out in a moment, with his ax, and
began to cut away at the logs.
"Some of these logs may help to build a home," he said; and he found the
very log that was holding the others tight, and as soon as that was
loosened, the logs began to move.
"Jump! Jump!" cried the men, as they ran for their lives; and, just as
the logs dashed on, with a rumble and a jumble and a jar that sent some
of the logs flying up in the air, the father reached the bank safely.
[Illustration: So the House was built; a cozy room for the cooking and
eating.]
The hard work was over now. After the logs had rested in the log "boom,"
they went on their way to the saw mills, where they were sawed into
lumber to build houses; and then the father hurried home.
When he came there, he found that the mother had baked and washed and
sewed and taken care of the children, as only such a precious mother
could have done. Brother Tom had worked so well in the carpenter's shop,
that he knew how to hammer and plane and saw, and had grown as tall and
as stout as a young pine tree. Sister Polly had taken such care of the
baby, that he looked as sweet and clean and happy as a rose in a garden;
and the baby had been so good, that he was a joy to the whole family.
"I must get this dear family into their home," said the father; and he
and Brother Tom went to work with a will. And the home was built, with a
sunny room for Father and Mother and Baby, a wee little room close by
for good Sister Polly, a big airy room for big Brother Tom, a cosy room
for the cooking and eating, and best of all, a room for the dear
grandmother, who came then to live with them all the time.
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