Our Home on the Clinch

During the first two or three days we hardly realized the absence of our fathers, so busy were we all, and so accustomed to their being away from home scouting or hunting. We were not really alone, for only twelve miles away was a settlement of three cabins; therefore we had no reason to feel lonely, especially while there were so many of us under one roof.

In the Boone family were Israel, Susannah, Jemima, Lavinia, Rebecca, Daniel, and little Johnny, while in ours there were only Billy and I. Nine children and two mothers filled the cabin so full that we were really crowded, for the abandoned house we had found was by no means large.

There were two rooms on the ground and two above in the loft, with a window at the back of the building, which could not well be kept open in stormy weather, for we had neither oiled paper nor oil-soaked fawn skin to cover it. At the opposite end was a door made of a double thickness of stout puncheon planks, with bars so large that there was little danger the Indians could break it down, no matter how many might make an attack.

In addition to the knives carried by Israel and Billy, Mrs. Boone had two and mother one, but we had only two kettles,—one for each family, and when hot water was needed, there remained only the single dish for cooking food.

Billy found two of the nicest flat stones I ever saw, on which to bake journey cakes, and Jemima and I whittled out enough laurelwood spoons to supply each of us with one, and to leave a few to replace those that were likely to split when the food or water was too hot.

The man who built the cabin of which we had taken possession had made a long pen seven feet wide, running the entire length of the house, by placing cleft logs in a row ; the space between them and the side of the building served as a bed for all in the house. This we filled with fresh boughs, and we considered ourselves very fortunate in having a grove of pine trees within half a mile of the cabin. Mother says that the person who can make his bed of pine boughs has no right to complain.