he lake
and is practically as sound as it was when the last spike was driven,
twenty-seven years ago.

Almost all of the original log cabins that were once sprinkled through the
eastern part of our country disappeared with the advent of the saw-mill,
and the few which still exist in the northern part of the country east of
the Alleghany Mountains would not be recognized as log houses by the
casual observer, for the picturesque log exteriors have been concealed by
a covering of clapboards.

To my surprise I discovered that even among the old mountaineers I could
find none who had ever attended a log-rolling frolic or participated in
the erection of a real log house. Most of these old fellows, however,
could remember living in such houses in their youth, but they could not
understand why any sane man of to-day wanted "to waste so much good
lumber," and in the quaint old American dialect still preserved in these
regions they explained the wastefulness of my plans and pointed out to me
the number of good planks which might be sawed from each log.

Fig. 289.

[Illustration: Wildlands, the author's log house in Pike County, Pa.]

Fig. 290, _B_, shows the plans of the house, which will be seen to be a
modification of the Southern "saddle-bag" cabin--two houses under one
roof. By referring to Fig. 289 it will be seen that above the gallery
there is a portico, which we called the "afterthought" because it did not
appear upon the original plans. We got the hint, as "Jimmy" called it,
when it was noticed that chance had ordained that the two "_A_" logs
should protrude much farther than the others. "Don't saw them off," I
exclaimed; "we will have a balcony"; and so the two "_A_" logs were left,
and this gave us room for a balcony over the gallery, back of which is a
ten-by-ten bedroom, while the two large bedrooms on each side have doors
opening on the six-foot passageway, which is made still broader by the
addition of the balcony.

It will be seen that there is a stairway marked out on the ground plan,
but there was none on the original plan, for, to tell the honest truth, I
did not know where to put the stairs until the logs were in place.
However, it is just such problems that lend charm to the work of building
your own house. An architect or a professional builder would have the
thing all cut and dried beforehand and leave nothing to chance and
inspiration; this takes the whole charm out of the work when one is
building