Be sure to have the four sides of the building plumb. Do not let the walls lean one way or another. This item must be borne in mind constantly while building.
When the House is Up,
with the exception of the roof, measure the two sides of the door and window and cut a thin, flat piece of wood—an old
Fig. 400. cigar-box will do—in the desired width and length for jambs. Glue the pieces in place. Fig. 400 shows the first jamb on one side of the doorway. When all the jambs are fastened on measure the space of the doorway and cut a door of the thin wood according to the measurements. Be sure it fits, and see that it moves easily back and forth. The door cannot have a knob, because during those early times there were no door-knobs in this country—people used door-latches, mostly of wood, with a string hanging down on the outside for friends to pull and thereby lift the inside latch, causing the door to open.
Fig. 401.
Fig. 402. If the household did not wish visitors the string was pulled inside the room; then no one outside could open the door, as there would not be anything to catch hold of. This explains the old saying, “The latch-string hangs on the outside of the door.” Bore a hole through the little cabin door with the red-hot end of a hair-pin, for the latch-string; move the hair-pin around and around in order to burn the hole large enough to admit the threading through of a string. Dampen one end of a short string, twist it to a point and pass it through the hole to the other side, turn the door over and make a knot in the end of the string large enough to prevent it
