trees from the forest, as the blackened and half-burned trunks, which
lay about his clearing, were of course unsuitable for such a work.
They selected the tallest and straightest trees, and after felling
them and cutting them to the proper length, they hauled them to
the spot by means of oxen. The ground served for a floor, and the
fire-place was made of stones. The roof was formed of sheets of
hemlock bark, laid, like slates upon rafters made of the stems of
slender trees. Albert promised Mary Erskine that, as soon as the snow
came, in the winter, to make a road, so that he could get through the
woods with a load of boards upon a sled, he would make her a floor.

From this time forward, although Mary Erskine was more diligent and
faithful than ever in performing all her duties at Mrs. Bell's, her
imagination was incessantly occupied with pictures and images of the
new scenes into which she was about to be ushered as the mistress of
her own independent household and home. She made out lists, mentally,
for she could not write, of the articles which it would be best to
purchase. She formed and matured in her own mind all her house-keeping
plans. She pictured to herself the scene which the interior of her
dwelling would present in cold and stormy winter evenings, while she
was knitting at one side of the fire, and Albert was busy at some
ingenious workmanship, on the other; or thought of the beautiful
prospect which she should enjoy in the spring and summer following;
when fields of waving grain, rich with promises of plenty and of
wealth, would extend in every direction around her dwelling. She
cherished, in a word, the brightest anticipations of happiness.

[Illustration: THE LOG HOUSE.]

The house at length was finished. The necessary furniture which Albert