Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

92
ANNALS OF OUR ANCESTORS
and as our neighbors hauled hay to market, its spreading
boughs were often in the way, and would snatch flakes of
clover or timothy from their loads, so I conjecture our father
thought it would be better to have the fair tree chopped down.
When it was announced that the sycamore was to be removed
a new interest in forestry was created. A good day
was selected, and father and the man of all work got a new
rope and Anson climbed to the top of the fine tree and made it
fast so we could direct its fall from below, to bring it to the
exact spot where father had elected that it should descend.
Then the two men began to chop it down, while we children
got hold of the rope and ran as far from the tree as it would
allow. When we heard the cracking and snapping of the
old monarch and saw the heavy top swaying and tossing its
plumy head, Anson left father in charge of the tree while he
ran to our aid. A half-dozen strokes from father's axe and
the great sycamore lay before us, a fallen giant. It was fine
fun for us children then. We took possession of the situation
and began to romp over the tree, teetering and climbing from
one limb to another until we were satisfied, while father and
his man began to trim the branches and with crosscut saw to
dismember the prostrate sycamore. When the limbs had
been severed from the trunk it was taken to a near-by sawmill,
and the lumber from it was used by father to make a fence
for the front yard, reaching from the gate to Aunt Isabelle's
corner; this was a great improvement. The wood from the
top did good service as backlogs and stove wood.
Grandfather was an onlooker during the destruction of
the giant tree, and in some of the smoothest round limbs he
saw a future little wagon which he was planning to make for
us children. Father cut off" the suitable limbs and grandfather
carried them down to the workshop in his old house and began
to fashion the wagon, in which we all took an interest until
it was finally completed. Our grandfather had reached the
point when aged people usually consider they are too infirm
to work, but this was not easy for one who through a long
life had loved to be employed. When we recall his loss of
hearing we do not wonder that his mental powers longed for