easily. By striking the flint with the jack-knife sparks would catch in the spunk and fires could be kindled from it.

After phosphorus was discovered, there were experiments with it in lighting tinder, but it was not until 1829 that lucifer matches were invented in England. It was some years after that before they were in use in America. The flint and steel were in use here until then.

' There was plenty of the best hard wood; bird’s-eye maple, white and yellow birch, beech, sugar maple, white maple and many other kinds of wood. The more we burned the better; it was cumbering the ground. Great heaps of this fine wood were burned on the ground. It was a magnificent sight to see these great blazing fires at night; when the heaps of dry brush would catch, the blaze would mount up with a roar and go higher than the trees. Sometimes the standing spruce would be set on fire and in a wild and weird display, light up the woods and the surrounding settlement. It would cast a glow on the sky that could be seen for many miles on land and sea. O‘ld dead trees would come flaming to the ground, or stand blazing all night like light-houses. No such grand display of fireworks could be pro- duced in the city. These scenes, or displays, were so wild they were overawing. The lights and shadows, among the standing trees in the woods appeared like living creatures moving about. Some people thought they were ghosts and were afraid they would come out and do them harm.

The land burned over was cleared and cultivated. Where the green forest stood in the winter there would be a bountiful harvest the next fall. The seed was hoed in among the stumps, and the rich new land yielded magnificent crops. The grain was cut with reaping-hooks, and sickles; the sickle had a smooth sharp edge like a knife, the hook had sharp fine teeth; the blades of both were curved like a new moon. The reaper would drive the hook around a bunch of grain with one hand and grasp the upper part of the bunch with the other hand, and then give the hook a pull and clip the bunch off near the ground. A few of these bunches would make a sheaf; this was tied with a band, or rope, made out of the grain stalks. Twelve sheaves made a stook: six sheaves on each side stood together like the roof of a little house. I could crawl into the space under this roof; it made a nice house for me. Mother would take the cradle to the field with

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. it MUMAMA... .F L . u -.