Kindred said immediately, “We want to look at how you built your cabin and outhouses, since this is our greatest need right now.”

Ethan said, “You’re welcome to look at our house. It’s not much, but it keeps us dry and was simple to build. We corrected some of the mistakes we made on our first cabin in North Carolina. I thought I heard your ax a few times, and we were fixing to come over in a day or two, but didn’t want to bother y’all.”

The men began discussing, in general terms, some of the difficulties Ethan had to overcome in building the cabin there and in North Carolina, while the two women went inside. Mavis still held the child as she politely admired the furniture, the spinning wheel and loom, the churn, and the fireplace fixtures, but after a few minutes she gave little Henry back to Epsey, excused herself, and went back out into the yard. She joined the men as they examined the solid rock foundation under the squared sills, and the logs, flattened on top and bottom, that made the walls. Ethan explained, step by step, how he had built the house, while Kindred and Mavis asked questions. It was obvious that she considered herself an equal participant in shaping plans for her home, and she did not hesitate in questioning some of the decisions Ethan had made in building his own. Their main discussion was how to notch the logs at the corners, and Kindred agreed with Ethan’s rounding out a notch in each log to fit the contour of the one below.

They started to move on, but Mavis said, “Kindred, I think it would be better if the log ends were dovetailed, like in a cabin that Dr. Bartram built on his farm near Philadelphia.”

Kindred was embarrassed by the implied criticism of Ethan’s technique, and said, “But this is a simple method. Dovetails are much more complicated.”

“No, in this way every curve is different, depending on the size of the log, and it’s not easy to carve out a round shape with an ax. With dovetails, you can make a pattern, cut them all out on the ground exactly the same with nothing but straight ax strokes, and then just stack them in place. I liked the way Dr. Bartram had it done and made some sketches for him, which I still remember. The best thing is that it didn’t take much trimming to make them all fit when they lifted the logs up. Here, let me show you.”

She went to the wagon and got a notebook and pencil and quickly drew a sketch. Kindred didn’t say anything, but Ethan examined the drawing and finally said, “I believe this would be better, and the logs would be locked in both directions.”