Macphail, Sir Andrew (1939) The Master’s Wife. Published by Jeffrey Macphail and Dorothy Lindsay, Montreal. Re—printed (1994) as a facsimile edition by the Institute of Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown.

Strictly speaking, The Master’s Wife by Sir Andrew Macphail lb. 7864, d. 1938), a classic of early twentieth century Canadian and Prince Edward Island literature, is outside the date limit of about 1900 that I originally set when I began the search for material relevant to the forests of the island. However, the forest—related topics described in the book are of a period far earlier than the 19205 when the book was written, or 7939, when it was posthumous/y published. They concern pioneer and post-pioneer life on Prince Edward Island, Macphail’s experience and memory of which goes back at least to his childhood in the 7860s and 78703. I have extracted below descriptions of activities that lhave not found described anywhere else in the early island literature, though in fact they would have been common activities from even the first days of settlement on the island. For example, we have a vivid description of how trees were hewn to four sides, a procedure used not just in making the timbers for a frame house, as he describes, but also in making the ton timber which was the form in which much of the island’s wood was exported to Britain in the first half of the nineteenth century; we also have a description of pit—sawing; of how a pine tree could be converted into cash, and of the saving of the ash from the hardwood fire for the lye to make soap. Macphail was born in Orwell in 7864, and after education in the local school he went to Prince of Wales College and later to McGill University where he studied medicine. He later became a member of the Faculty of Medicine at McG/l/ and also served in the First World War as a medical officer, receiving a knighthood for his services. However, he always retained a close attachment to his family roots and home at Orwell, and after retirement spent the summers there, during which time he wrote the story of his family and of life on a family farm in a small rural community in the late nineteenth century.

REFERENCE: Robertson, l. R. (1994) Introduction. The Master’s Wife. Institute of Island Studies, Charlottetown

pp. xi-xxviii. Building a To build a house in those days was a simple affair. The tools required for a beginning frame/701136" were a chalk—line and black—stick, a narrow ax, a broad‘ax and a whipsaw. A tree

was felled, trimmed of its branches and cut to proper length. A strip of the bark was removed. The line was fixed by a brad-awl or nail at one end. It was blackened by passing it over a black-stick, which was a piece of alder-wood charred in the fire. Then the line was drawn taut along the white strip, lifted in the middle, and let go. A black line was left, by which the log could be hewn to a flat surface. With his ax the workman bit into the log to the line at intervals of a foot. With his broad-ax, which has a short handle set off from the blade for greater freedom, he slashed off the sections between the cuts at a single stroke. The log was turned on the flat, and the process repeated until a squared timber was secured.

He wing timber.

Sills, posts, plates, rafters, joists, studs, were hewn from trees of corresponding size. The boards were ripped from the largest logs. A pit like a long grave was dug and skids were laid across. The log was rolled on these. One boy would enter the pit; the PipsaW/ng. other would stand upon the timber, and with a two-handled saw they would rip off the boards, the top—sawyer guiding the cut, the bottom sawyer doing most of the work. For shingles the log was sawn across in short lengths. The block was splot with a wide iron wedge; the pieces were thinned at the end with a draw knife, and the edges made true with a jack-plane. When the lumber was assembled the building of the house was a mere diversion, and the boys learned their trade as the work progressed. To build a frame house was a long labour, and these two young pioneers [in Victoria West] with their mother were, like their neighbours, content for some

The timbers of a house.

Log houses. , _ years With a house built of unhewn logs. [pp. 1244] This pioneer was capable of great and sudden effort, but he was easily discouraged Killing a bear. in the labour of clearing the land. With a club in his hand he killed a bear that had broken into his farmyard; but his wife must pretend to assist him in the more arduous Clearing land. task of piling and burning logs. [p.17]

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