wanted, and is frequently used for a
lodging place for the younger branches of the family. A ladder planted
in the corner behind the door answers the purpose of stairs.

The necessary table and kitchen furniture are a few pewter dishes and
spoons, knives and forks, (for which however, the common hunting knife
is often a substitute,) tin cups for coffee or milk, a water pail and a
small gourd or calabash for water, with a pot and iron Dutch oven,
constitute the chief articles. Add to these a tray for wetting up meal
for corn bread, a coffee pot and set of cups and saucers, a set of
common plates, and the cabin is furnished. The hominy mortar and hand
mill are in use in all frontier settlements. The first consists of a
block of wood with an excavation burned at one end and scraped out with
an iron tool, wide at top and narrow at the bottom that the action of
the pestle may operate to the best advantage. Sometimes a stump of a
large tree is excavated while in its natural position. An elastic pole,
20 or 30 feet in length, with the large end fastened under the ground
log of the cabin, and the other elevated 10 or 15 feet and supported by
two forks, to which a pestle 5 or 6 inches in diameter and 8 or 10 feet
long is fixed on the elevated end by a large mortice, and a pin put
through its lower end so that two persons can work it in conjunction.
This is much used for pounding corn. A very simple instrument to answer
the same purpose, is a circular piece of tin, perforated, and attached
to a piece of wood like a grater, on which the ears of corn are rubbed
for meal. The hand mill is in the same form as that used in Judea in the
time of our Savior. Two circular stones, about 18 inches in diameter
constructed like ordinary mill stones, with a staff let into the runner
or upper stone near its outer edge, with the upper end inserted in a
joist or board over head, and turned by the hands of two persons while
one feeds it with corn. Horse mills follow the mortar and hand mill in
the scale of improvement. They are constructed variously. A _hand_ mill
is the most simple. A large upright post is placed on a gudgeon, with
shafts extending horizontally 15 or 20 feet. Around the ends of these is
a band of raw hide twisted, which passes around the trundle head and
turns the spindle and communicates motion to the stone. A _cog_ mill is
formed by constructing a rim with cogs upon the shafts, and a trundle
head to correspond. Each person furn