Let me say, right here, that the work demanded in the construction of rustic features about the home is just the kind of work I would encourage boys to undertake. It will be found so enjoyable that it will seem more like play than labor. There is the pleasure of planning it—the sense of responsibility and importance which comes to the lad who sets out to do something "all by himself," and the delightful consciousness that what is done may result in making home more home-like, and add to the comfort and pleasure of those whose love and companionship go to make home the best place on earth.
SUMMER HOUSE
In constructing summer-houses, bridges, and other rustic work, there should be a careful plan made before the work is begun. Never work "by guess." Go at the undertaking precisely as the mechanic sets about the construction of a house. Draw a diagram of what the structure is to be. A rough diagram will answer quite as well as any, provided it covers all particulars.
Figure out just how much material the plan calls for. Get this on the ground before anything else is done. The material required will be poles of different sizes and lengths, large and substantial nails, a few planks for floors and benches—possibly tables—and shingles for covering such structures as need roofing in, unless bark is used for this purpose. Of course bark gives more of a "rustic" look to a roof, but it is not an easy matter to obtain a good quality of it, and shingles, stained a mossy-green or dark brown, will harmonize charmingly with the rest of the building, and furnish a much more substantial roof than it is possible to secure with even the best kind of bark.
If possible, use cedar poles in preference to any other, for several reasons: First of all, they are more ornamental, because of their bark, which is more permanent than that of any other wood. They are light, and easy to handle, and take a nail as readily as pine. And then—their aromatic odor makes it a constant delight to work among them to those who like sweet, fresh, wild-woody smells. But all kinds of poles can be substituted for cedar if that is not obtainable. The kind of wood used in the construction of rustic work is not a matter of prime importance, though it may be, and is, largely a matter of taste. But when we cannot do as we would like to we must do the best we can.
Provide yourself with a good saw, a hammer, a square, and a mitre-box. These will be all the tools you will be likely to need. Use spikes to fasten the larger timbers together, and smaller nails for the braces and ornamental work of the design. Speaking of ornamental work reminds me to say that the more crooked, gnarled, and twisted limbs and branches you can secure, the better will be the effect, as a general thing, for formality must be avoided as far as possible. We are not working according to a plan of Nature's but we are using Nature's material, and we must use it as it comes from Nature's hand in order to make it most effective.
Take pains in making joints. If everything is cut to the proper length and angle, it will fit together neatly, and only a neat job will be satisfactory.