March. ome folks, Mother liked to say, are too lazy to clear the twigs. off their fireplace hearth. But Pap went at clearing trees off his

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1 S ome folks, Mother liked to say, are too lazy to clear the twigs they were of a size to do some work. cabin and White River to the north was known as the Sugar Flats. Many fine sugar maples grew here. Some were four feet 3 land as if it were no work at all. Ollie, too, liked to work in the make maple sugar. The forested land stretched between the the sugar maples were still growing. Now Pap tapped them, He cut a V-shaped notch about three inches into each tree and then put a small spout in it. The sap trickled down the When the sap began to rise in the sugar-maple trees, Pap der about. the more mouths he had to feed, the more land he needed. To him and the other settlers, children weren t much account until stopped work in the clearing so he could go into the woods and tapped them for sap. The Indians had left these parts now, but thick, and the tallest were almost eighty feet high. Their bark still showed the scars where the Indians had March woods more than anything else. There was always a chance off their fireplace hearth. But Pap went at clearing trees off his he might find a Look-see! something new to look at and won same as the Indians had. Each year Pap added two or three acres to his farm. He said THREE

2 Yes, Pap, Louisa answered. I ll watch out for them too, Ollie offered, paying little attention to Louisa. He knew what Pap was worried about. He recalled a neighbor girl had been badly burned last summer. Her long skirt had brushed against a glowing log when she got too close to the cook fire outside her family s cabin. Pap said it was carelessness caused the trouble. Mother said what happened should be a lesson to them all. When Pap returned to the job of clearing land in March, the school term was ended and Ollie was able to work all day. You re of a size to handle a broadax now, Ollie, Pap said. So you come along and trim the branches off the felled trees. Can I come too, Pap? Luther begged. He wasn t one to move very fast when it came to working, Ollie knew, but he didn t want to be left behind. Pap nodded his head as he left the cabin. Mother called to Luther as he ran after Pap. You stay clear of where your pap fells those trees, Luther, she warned him. Every once in a while she heard tell of a child getting hurt or killed by a falling tree. Just plain carelessness, Pap remarked. But still Mother worried. At the far end of the clearing was a large patch of dead trees. This is called a deadening on account of the trees are dead, Pap explained to Luther as they drew near the patch. I killed these trees three years ago. Pap showed the boys how he had cut through the bark and partway into the sapwood of each tree with his broadax. The cut girdled the tree trunk, which meant it ran all the way around it. This kept the sap from going up to the leaves. Without the sap the leaves died. Then, without the leaves, the tree died. Dead wood was much easier to cut than the green wood of a living tree. And because the wood was dry, it burned well. M A R C H 5

3 came closer he saw it was Luther. His left arm was twisted beneath his body, and his eyes were closed. Luther, you get up from there. I ain t got no time to fuss with you playing possum. I ve got work to do. But Luther didn t move. Ollie was puzzled. Luther couldn t have been hit by the falling tree; he was nowhere near where it lay. He was about to give Luther a shake when he saw his brother s arm was bloody. He must have hurt it, then fainted or been knocked out, Ollie thought. He knew he should fetch Pap, to get Luther home as soon as possible. Mother would know what to do. She was good at doctoring. Ollie ran and fetched Pap as fast as he could. Pap carried Luther home without saying a word. As Pap laid him on the bed Luther opened his eyes. His sisters and little brothers crowded around, curious. Your arm is broken, Luther, Mother explained after taking a look at it. Pap asked Luther how he got himself in such a fix. 7

4 garden tended, and the crops cared for. Ollie were on their way back to the deadening. Though it was a Before Mother finished bandaging Luther s arm, Pap and 9 Even Louisa had to agree with him. Oh, it is pretty! But for supper. just before they left the deadening, Pap set the huge day, while he and Ollie were there. The smoke would surely to the forest. stacks of brush on fire. It wouldn t do to burn them during the was finished. this chopping and carrying, his arms ached before the day s work It was almost dark when he and Pap went back to the cabin Against the black night the brush heaps flamed and smol golden light. deadening began to look as if it belonged more to the farm than clung to the blackened limbs and gray ashes in the deadening, each day s work. Then for days afterward all Ollie could smell in Night after night the fires glowed and flared at the end of chilly March day, Ollie kept warm cutting and stacking armload make their eyes sting and their lungs ache. dered. Sometimes they sent sparks shooting up high into the after armload of brush and limbs to be burned. What with all moonless sky with lively snapping and popping noises. From the cabin doorway Ollie called to the others to come look. Louisa and the younger children hurried to see. Out in the deadening the big fires turned the dark night into a blazing, dancing show of Lucinda said it scared her. Ain t something? Ollie cried excitedly. and Ollie wondered if it would ever go away. But day by day the the clearing was the trace of the sweet-pungent wood smoke, It the only way to get through a bad spell, Mother said. Some times whole families would be down sick with one thing or another. But the animals still had to be fed and given water, the 1.1 A R C H

5 The clearing echoed with the early-morning cooing of who came, Pap would have to work one day for them in return. A P R L It was the custom. sunny. Just right for a gathering, Mother remarked. When the day of the logrolling arrived, it was warm and 21 pigeons and the chirping chatter of robins and tiny finches. the woods had a sweet, damp smell Ollie loved. There aren t many old folks in the neighborhood, Mother The women especially wore out fast faster than the men. Soon kinfolk and neighbors, men and boys, women and edged the clearing were the fresh pale green of spring. And blue, white, and purple flowers. The young leaves of the trees children began to arrive. There were Mother s brother Ben; Pap s brothers Tom, Jerry, and Milt and their wives; and neighbors about forty altogether. A few old folks, like Grandma and noted to Pap. Folks knew a settler s life was hard on a body. a spell. Where the land had not been plowed, there were patches of small Grandpa Johnson, showed up, too, just to watch and eat and sit was careful not to invite too many to help, because for every man invited all the aunts and uncles and the closest neighbors. He

6 The men set to work away. Uncle Milt, the tail on his old coonskin cap from side to side, drove the ox team. The oxen and the men Uncle Milt moved the logs were too heavy for the teams to lift. These heavy logs were rolled to the heaps, or log piles. There was one heap for each squad. Ollie s job was to water to the men when they thirsty. Lifting the logs the handspikes became a test of In between trips to the well watched Pap and his men work. the squad reached the heap, the men on the inside, nearest the pile, ends of the spikes down and stepped out of the way. the men on the lifted ends of the spikes. A good squad like Pap s could roll a log down the spikes and onto the heap exactly where they wanted it to go. Sometimes, just to show off, one man would try to lift a log on the by himself. Skill and good common sense were needed to a pile would down all the way. The men had been working only a short when Uncle strength. bobbing together started When handspike build right working with handspike bring with start put their Then Ollie burn outside time got their right APRIL S - 23

7 To Ollie s way of Pap was the best captain and best man there was. one hereabouts could beat Ollie was sure. But he had to after he looked at each heap, they seemed almost the same size. A PR I L They look the same, I reckon, Ollie slowly. But I d guess the logs in Pap s heap are heavier! he added quickly. Uncle Ben threw his head back and to laugh. Pap and the others laughed too. Pap gave Ollie a friendly on the back and sent him off to fetch of water, and the men again. For Mother the was the main feature of the day. Each woman a basket filled she had made from her favorite recipe. Your looks good, Sarah, said Polly as she lifted an apple pie from her basket and set it alongside the It did out well, Polly, answered. She believe in false modesty. She was known to be one of the best cooks in the But she was careful not to give out the secrets of her recipes. She to keep her as a cook. It seemed to Ollie the women were as busy to one as the men were. Instead of handspikes, tools were the bake oven, and fry pans called threelegged spiders. There was the meat to watch as roasted over the fire, the johnnycakes to be and the potatoes to see if they were fully cooked. the women and girls back and forth, in and out of the cabin, there was a lot of liveliness to ready. By early afternoon the food was spread out for the roast, venison, corn bread with handspike thump drinking Aunt outdo With ing pork brought... thinking dinner No admit, Then persimmon pudding pudding. turn neighborhood. another rabbit, started admitted him, another bucket started working kettles, with something Mother intended turned, hurrying mighty it didn t high standing trying their pinched getting dinner tak pumpkin 25