This turns it over in a long, even, unbroken
strip, some fourteen or sixteen inches wide and three or four
inches thick. We cut this up into pieces two or three feet long,
take them to the place where we are building the house, on a
stone-boat or a sled, and use them in laying up the walls in just
about the same way that bricks are used in making a brick house.
Openings are left for the doors and windows, and either a shingle
or sod roof put on. If it's sod, rough boards are first laid on
poles, and then sods put on them like shingles. I've got a sod
roof on mine, you see."
Ollie was looking at the grass and weeds growing on the top
and sides of the house. They must have made a pretty sight when
they were green and thrifty earlier in the season, but they were
dry and withered now.
"Do you ever have prairie-fires on your roofs?" asked Ollie,
with a smile.
"Oh, they do burn off sometimes," answered the man. "Catch
from the chimney, you know. Did you ever see a hay fire?"
"No."
"Come inside and I'll show you one.
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