Pull up a chair beside the heat
Or stand and warm your back and seat
And come with me down memory lane
When saws lacked motors or a chain
When all our fuel was cut from logs
For cooling, heating and scalding hogs
From early youth we understood
The many warms there were in wood
First we took a crosscut saw
Cut down a tree and watched with awe
As slowly gaining speed it fell
We sawed off logs, got warm as well.
With horses sweating and teamster too
The logs were skidded a mile or two
And when old Maud balked as she used to do
The air around turned a smoky blue.
A horse powered saw sat near our home
But it wouldn't do the work alone
Someone had to drive the team
Going around and around soon raised some steam.
Blocks of wood had to be carried away
Stored in the shed for another day
A warming job when your weight you pull
But satisfying when it was full.
Then every day before it was night
A sweat was raised splitting it right
The wood box had to be filled to the top
That chore sure kept you on the hop
If the wood in the boxes ever ran out
You'd hear Ma yell "Where is that lout?
I'm out of wood" you'd hear her holler
Sure made her hot under the collar
By the old woodstove of a winters morn
We clustered around to get warm
In evening again as the cold crept in
It was the centre of warmth for friends and kin
Now all these warms as sure as fate
Has caused the wood to dissipate
For the woodshed empty so it is plain
We'll have to get more wood again.