He ran along by the lead yoke, watching them so closely
that he did not notice where he was walking, and several times he
stepped off, knee-deep in little air-holes; but he took his load
safely over. As he went up the bank some half-drunken Germans in a
sleigh dashed down on the ice and broke through, but were so near the
shore that they easily got out. But one of father's wagons ever broke
through, and it was driven by a careless hired man. Father was ahead
with another team. He called back to the man to unhitch quickly and
hitch on to the end of the tongue, for fear the team would break
through, too, and running back, he put lumber under the wheels, and
they pulled the wagon out.
Father gave away a great deal of wood over there. In those days coal
was scarce and high, and, consequently, wood was high also. Many
families were so glad to receive the wood as a gift, that they were
willing to haul it twelve or fourteen miles. And, winter after winter,
he also kept two or three poor families supplied with wood from his
timber at home, allowing them to come and help themselves.
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