to his far-off
home;--but how is this conduct of the oxen to be accounted for? They
returned home through the mazes of interminable forests, where man, with
all his reason and knowledge, would have been bewildered and lost.

It was the latter end of October before even the walls of our house were
up. To effect this we called "a bee." Sixteen of our neighbours
cheerfully obeyed our summons; and though the day was far from
favourable, so faithfully did our hive perform their tasks, that by
night the outer walls were raised.

The work went merrily on with the help of plenty of Canadian nectar
(whiskey), the honey that our _bees_ are solaced with. Some huge joints
of salt pork, a peck of potatoes, with a rice-pudding, and a loaf as big
as an enormous Cheshire cheese, formed the feast that was to regale them
during the raising. This was spread out in the shanty, in a _very rural
style_. In short, we laughed, and called it a _pic-nic in the
backwoods_; and rude as was the fare, I can assure you, great was the
satisfaction expressed by all the guests of every degree, our "_bee_"
being considered as very well conducted. In spite of the difference of
rank among those that assisted at the bee, the greatest possible harmony
prevailed, and the party separated well pleased with the day's work and
entertainment.

The following day I went to survey the newly-raised edifice, but was
sorely puzzled, as it presented very little appearance of a house. It
was merely an oblong square of logs raised one above the other, with
open spaces between every row of logs. The spaces for the doors and
windows were not then chopped out, and the rafters were not up. In
short, it looked a very queer sort of a place, and I returned home a
little disappointed, and wondering that my husband should be so well
pleased with the progress that had been made. A day or two after this I
again visited it. The _sleepers_ were laid to support the floors, and
the places for the doors and windows cut out of the solid timbers, so
that it had not quite so much the look of a bird-cage as before.

After the roof was shingled, we were again at a stand, as no boards
could be procured nearer than Peterborough, a long day's journey through
horrible roads. At that time no saw-mill was in progress; now there is a
fine one building within a little distance of us. Our flooring-boards
were all to be sawn by hand, and it was some time before any one could
be found to perform thi