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or milled timber was needed for the floors, rafters, and partitions. From their saved money, $300.00 was spent on purchasing undressed lumber from Henry Helvey ’s saw mill on Kimberling which was delivered by horse and wagon. These two managed the hard labor but some skill was required for the masonry. Aunt Pearl Miller’s father, Mr. Beasley , from Dublin performed the beautiful rockwork for the fireplace and chimney in the main living room and bedrooms. Brick chimneys were constructed in the dining room and two adjacent bedrooms. The roof consisted of wide pine boards nailed to the rafters and the final covering consisted of tarpaper, which remained on the house until I was a teenager when green asphalt shingles were added. Of course, the roof leaked and pots and pans adorned the rooms with some disgust on my mother’s part. The gentle rhythmical dripping of the raindrops into the pans offered a gentle tune that helped Dad quickly reach the slumber state. Dad was much easier going than mother and he took this all in stride as part of normal living. These little inconveniences annoyed mother to the point of migraine headaches that plagued her all her life. A roof was over their heads but what would they do about water? Having a well dug with an old churn type drill was too costly. Using their own hard labor a well was dug with a pick and shovel in the west end of the house and lined with rock. Earl, my Dad's brother, helped with this chore. This was a shallow well only about twenty feet deep, which yielded poor quality, water that was tainted with iron. The water rusted everything but it supplied the needed water. A Myers hand pump was installed with twenty feet of pipe and a foot valve. Periodically the pump had to be pulled to repair the foot valve or pipe so a hole was cut in the porch roof in order to raise and lower the pump. When times improved the back porch with the hand pump was enclosed with screen wire thereby making a comfortable dining area in the summer. The brick chimneys were placed to accommodate two rooms at once. Stovepipe fittings were located on each side in such a way each room of the house boasted a stove for heat. In the kitchen was an old iron cook stove with an oven and a side jacket to pour water to have heated. Above the cooking surface were two cabinets that held foods to be kept warm. A wood box sat beside the stove and it was my job as a youngster to keep the wood box full. Three meals a day were cooked on this wood stove and demanded lots of split wood. The attic or upstairs remained unfinished for many years bu t housed Dad’s old army uniforms and trunks full of blankets and various collections of Mother’s . The outside toilet was dug having the dimensions of 5’x5’x6’ deep. A room was built over this with a tin roof and a door with a small glass window for the occupant to view the scenery. On cold wintry nights a “slop jar” rested beneath the bed in the house as an emergency aid. How well I remember that. Once the logs were in place, because of the rough rounded sides, large cracks and spaces existed between each log. This required “chinking” to better insulate the inside. In olden times mud and clay were used for this purpose but now concrete mortar was available at $.25 per 100 lbs. so they mortared the entire house. However, scattered holes were left leaving cold wind to blow and light to escape from within at night. One cold Christmas night Uncle Carl and Aunt Estelle came to cheer up this weary couple. The fireplace was roaring with a great fire and

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