MR. PITMAN'S WOOD

IT was noised around that Mr. Pitman was ill. It was in the fall and they were out of wood.

The Pitman only son was married and away from home, and the small grandson, whom they were bringing up, was entirely too young to be of any help. Mrs. Pitman was a frail morsel of a woman, not strong enough to cope with the situation, so the family was really in a sorry plight.

Pioneers did not at that time hire help, nor did people wait to be asked to help when a friend was in distress.

By "grape vine" a day was set on which we were to meet. Men brought their teams and wagons. Women brought food enough to feed the hungry wood haulers, and little girls brought their fav dolls. They met at the Pitman home as early in the morning as chores, at home, could be taken care of. All day those men hauled and split wood for their sick neighbor. All day the women visited and cooked. All day the children ran and played, getting in their mothers way, and begging a bite of food which they particularly craved.

At noon a hearty meal was ready, and all ate from an im table in the kitchen. By night there was wood enough hauled up and split, to last the family through the winter months.

Through the silver twilight, the kind hearted farmers drove their wagons, loaded now, not with wood, but with wives and children, to their several homes, feeling that the day had been well spent.