Evening Star Newspaper, October 25, 1925, Page 75

ILLUSTRATED FEATURES Part 5—8 Pages MAGAZINE SECTION The Sundiay Stae * WASHINGTON, FICTION AND HUMOR D. €, SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 25, 1925 _————— - Washington Log Cabin Is a Real Mansion of Canadian Cedar BY GEORGE H. DACY. ! The ol log cabin's left alone, deserted now and_ still Nobody “pe ever to care for it, an’ reckon p it fur myse'f. same way it rand-new house, like fine sassioty Hers I coms and sit and think about ths day T al'-time seata i seem to take thar ast then Melindy. she jest ildren romp and talk. the way Wt to do the fire at’s been put out this tw Sta'ts_up pass ago. log provided and 0ot settlers of wd adopted tirst whi nd to build their ¥ s in the vieinity of w hecame the District of Colum With their rvifles close hev wielded later t for hostile re the day: hirsty Anacostan warpath 'he Jamest was settled in A St. Man peake Bay over in Mary > into being 30 years later, s not until the dawn days 1teenth century that set 1bers pen ated to the and began to establish their in Prince William Coun which then mprised rse of country from Dum- steh settlement on Quan- to the Ohfo Valley fron- | homes hat one of Charles 1 to- gton village | Georgetown | cottish Hundred division; f ided the sstan County, ir day is The Ar named ‘Tohos: now d The first white man to that section of the Potor which lends beauty and charm to our National Capital was Henry Fleete, an English fur trader and for- mer captive of the Anacostan Indians After his miracule pe from the redskins Fleete ret i to England. Subsequently, in he revisited | the New World in quest of fur treasure and camped banks of the Po © not far from where | the Was Monument now stands In the pionee lowed log cabins constructed of cedar, pine and fir w the first | habitations in the District of Colum- | bla. As farn were staked out and | plantatio lished tobacco came | 1o be the dominant crop. Hogsheads | »bacco were used as mediums of ange, to pay taxes and church tithes, and for general trade. Dur- ing those eventful log-cabin days flax and cotton were raised and spun into clothing: sheep's wool was combed and carded and made into wearing apparel for Winter use. | Practically everything used in each household W home-produced. It was an era of self-sufficiency. ’ * PUsES of 1oz have been inti mately associated with the White for a number of our Presidents fully completed the diffienlt | y log cabin to Executive At one time or another most our early Presidents lived for | months ¢ rs in simple houses of | Abralizun Lincoln, the Illinois | ruilsplitter, was a son of the log-| u pe \d Gen. U. S. Grant | house during the v wood in St. Louls. fact, is still preserved tate near St. Louis orical relic William Henry Harrison, the hero of Tippecano 1 Whig President from 1841 to . is another log-| cabin dw who won his way to the Whit One of the most &x eiting impaigns on record was waged and the country resounded with erie Tippecanoe and Tyler too.” The opposition ridiculed the id of making such a n s Harr] our Chief Executive, sayving, “Give him & log cabin and a barrel of hard cider, and ne will stay content in Ohio.”” These words became the ral ing cry of the Whig party. They elect- ed the “log-cabin candidate” in spite of strenuous opposition | And thus. from the days of the| white man’s first occupancy of the Po- | tomac the dwelling | place T logs from the ne ! boring played an cpochal | part in our local history. liven today, | more than a cehtury after log cabins | have given away to houses cf frame, brick, stucco and concrete constru tlon, Washington still boasts three at- | tractive homes made of and gpruce logs. And th at tive | houses cannot be dismissed with cursory phrase as the “last stand of | the log cabine In the latitude of Wash- | ington.” For the evidence is that po- | tentially, when our citizens learr about the comfortable. ymmodious | homes which ¢ be built of logs, at | alf to one-third of the cost of a | r sized frame house, more and more of them will revert to rthe type of dwelling which was usey by white | men in their first settlemnts in the New World H Dr. S. 8. Jaffe, a Washington dentist who has lived In Somerset for man) years, could have built any Kind of a home that he wished when he decided | to erect a new house about one and | one-half years ago. He decided to bufld a mansion of cedar logs, hecause his wife and he had become enthusi- astio over this type of construction as a resuit of man tions spent in such houses at Lake Memphremagos, which is midway between Newport, Vt., and Magok, Quebec. They also visited former Representative r rows of Mass who owns one of the b Summer houses made of jogs n New England. The Jaffes ultimatel 2 new home of logs. bring the settings chantment of the Northern woods country right down into the Wash- ington vicinity. Their four-acre lot in Somerset was large enough, and well ornamented with a variety of shade trees, to lend the distinctive setting und proper primeval forest background to thelr proposed home. You who have motored the outlying and main-traveled highwavs which ex- tend into Virginia and Maryland have probably noted the scrubby growth of Cedar trees which adorns fence rows und dots pastures and woodlots. Our ocal cedar resources are entirely in- adequate for house building use.” Dr. iaffe was informed that cedar logs 40 eot long and 8 inches in diameter +ould cost him $10 aplece delivered in Washington. He knew he could ge ity W fans h; where ®aze upon | ac River ng era which fol- | s | elected to build They aspired to nd romantic en- | northern_Maine. | fos Centuries Ago in cabins | hearthside | xes while they | ony in Virginta | logs at much lower prices in Canada. He studied our import laws and found that logs were classified as raw ma- terial, which could be brought in from Canada without any duty charges. * X * X R. JAFFE communicated with a friend in Canada, Prof. Dale of the University of Toronto, who owns an extensive tract of native cedar. this man of letters the Washingtonian | purchased two carloads of cedar logs | on the stump at 30 cents apiece. It | cost 50 cents a log to have the trees felled and the logs assembled in raft formation ready for the river trip to the nearest railroad loading station. In brief, Dr. Jaffe delivered his two carloads of logs at Somerset for les: than one-quarter what the mate L\'uuld have cost him on the retail mar- cet. aturally the problem arose of se- ng experienced carpenters who competent to build a modern house of logs. There are no workmen in the Washington zone who are qual- ified for such assignments. Dr. Jaffe solved this problem by importing sev- 2l experienced cabin builders from These men, with a couple of day laborers, built Wash. ington’s latest house of logs, which now qualifies as one of the most com- ble, durable, well p nned and livable homes in’ the latitude of our “apital City. Dr. Jaffe planned and designed the hou: Week after week he burned “‘midnight oil he pored over his cu jdrawing board, sketching, altering and | rearranging home. The finished house is an offspring of remarkable originality. It incorporates clever features which will be found in no other house in the District or Mary land. It combines the essentials of both a formal and informal home, of every convenience and comfort. Most of the rooms are unconven- tional, and so inviting as to fill you with the desire to sit down and admire thelr attractions at your leisure. And to balance these informal rooms are others as orthodox and formal as can be found anywhere. Dr. Jaffe summed up his_archi- tectural ideas in a nutshell when he said: “We tried to bufld a house of which ‘we would never tire. We have tried to eliminate monotony and to em- phasize all points which make for com- plete comfort and relaxation. We have striven to bring the atmosphere and the restful bliss of the northern log cabin down to Washington with us as our permanent property right.” A house of logs illuminated with electricity, heated by an oil-burning furnace, provided with every modern convenience for mankind’s comfort, furnished with well selected furniture, fistures and fixings and ornate with the layout of his new From | the ree-Cax heated gara Potomac River Country. U g/ ge under the cabiu. remarkable art treasures—these are | the marvels which Washington's latest log mansion has to offer. | The bark has not heen removed from the cedar logs. Under Canadian conditions, cedar log houses retain their bark surfaces indefinitely. The evidence is that the logs will respond similarly to the Washington climat The log house is roofed with cedar | shingles. " A layer of fireproofing and insulating material was laid between the roof boards and the shingle: Three hundred pounds of oakum were used ia caulking all the cracks around doors and windows. Metal laths were nailed in place between the cracks in the logs after the frame of the house was in place. Cement, colored with burnt ember to look like the logs, was | plastered over these metal lath strips. | The interior of the house has. been | plastered and_finished in the same way as the finest homes in Wash- | ington. The house has been bullt in two sections and then combined. The wonderful living room is 18 by 30 feet, has a stone-faced fireplace which takes fuel in five-foot lengths, and a ceiling composed of the roof rafters and boards, which have been stained a | cedar-log color. There is a music al- cove on the level of the second floor at one erd of the room, the railing of this balcony being made of rustic logs. The mammoth fireplace, with an | external face 11 feet long, and the huge chimney are built of fleld stone = on the Jaffe property. The main part of 65 feet long and 34 feet wide. tructure contains 10 rooms, which are on the ground floor. the house is The 6 of A din- | ing alcove has been substituted for a formal dining room When guests are entertained the table is spread in the large living room. The tiled kitchen, with its gas range, electric- ity, immaculate cabinet, inclosed iron- ing board and other labor-saving fea- tures, is a culinary department gem, quite’ different from the rooms that were the cooking centers in the old fashioned log cabins. An interesting feature of the ground floor layout is a suite of rooms which is entirely apart from the rest of the house. It consists of two communi- cating_bedchambers with connecting bath. Each sleeping room has an in- dividual rustic porch which overlooks a charming garden inglosed by a rus- tlc fence made of cedar logs. On the second floor are spacious sleeping rooms and a large study, as well as Dr. Jaffe’s “test room,” which has no | duplicate in either the District or Maryland. This room has rough log sides and unfinished ceiling. Neither the door nor window frames are cased up. It is the ‘‘study room,” where its owner is keeping tab on the responses of his log mansion to weather condi- tions and occupancy. If ever he no- tices any important changes occur- ring he will immediately institute con- trol measures. Dr. Jaffe built his house with nefther precedents nor traditions to go by L) s il Camadian cedar. Logs Were Importecl From Canada and Home Was Built by American Workmen From Northern Maine—House Is Warm. Durable and Inexpensive—Can Be Built for About One-Third the Cost of a Frame Structure—Log Houses of Two ERRW IR SRR oo o b s ka8, Tiving vaowm is smaller cabin. He had to face and solve the different problems as they arose. The “test room” is his right-hand assistant in ironing out riddles which may develop in the future. A sixroom cabin was built at the lower part of the spacious tract to be used as a tenant house. People who passed that way inquired so frequent- Iy whether the cabin was for rent that Dr. Jaffe finally shifted his plans and provided servants’ quarters in his home house and leased the second cabin. pancy of a young married couple, and is 8o arranged that the wife can at- tend to all the housework with the minimum of effort. This cabin has not been plastered inside and presents a log-lined interior, replete in the Winter color of the forest. An inviting fireplace of field stone is outstanding in the large liv- ing room, with its lofty log-raftered celling. Two bedrooms, two baths, a dressing room and snug little kitchen complete the room roster in this de- lightful little house, which 1s really It is designed for the occu- | a modern apartment made from aro- matic cedar trees. The lower floor of the cabin provides heated storage for three motor cars. The cabin is heated with hot-water system, and has every other conven- ience which you will find in an up-t date apartment. The two carpentes built the cabin in two weeks, the pa titions as well as the walls being made of logs. Nestling snugly amidst its cover of trees, with a_beautiful outlook that takes you back to the woodland coun- try, this Somerset cabin of cedar logs ranks as Washington's most pic- turesque cottage. The log houses owned by Dr. Jaffe are situated between Cumberland and Dorset avenues in Somerset. The larger house is so designed that its front and rear are interchangeable. By a few simple modifications the rear of the house can be converted into the front of the building, if the owner ever desires to make such a change. The dwelling is centrally located on ihe four-acre lot. Maj. Mettler and his wife became 3 tached to life in the rustic log cabing | which are the most popular habita- tlons of that northlind country of fine hunting and fishin, 1d_superlative Winter sports. They decided to build just such a_lome in un appropriate section of Washington. imately, they purchased the aneacre tract where their home now stands. They imported a_carload of 30-foot spruce | logs_from 2 it their fine {1og house, have never tired afte 13 years’ occupancy. The spruce logs used in struction of thi h larger than the r logs which Dr. Jaffo employed. These spruce logs average ab es in diameter. The bark was re after {the logs were cut. the lightest and grown in North Am light in welght rable and rves all quirements { cabin_construction If the spruce trees are feiled during the period from May to July, when the sap is running a simple mat- ter to strip off the To peel the bark from the log. circles ara rough the 1 L nd the cumfere: I r or five | feet a groove is | ent co the con. me are 1s very du- It well of log- hark two is then inserted 1o 1s easy to remove the b Pine, fir, spruce and cedar are all satisfactory wood o con. struction, while vreh and beech are woods w o0 heas for h purposes abin-buflders | who fell their trees from which the logs are cut a re conservative were in their log- Ivities, They ave come e the significance of the Tt takes ninutes to \d from 30 to 490 vears to grow In bui home Maj skids upon | were raised to tF tion in th | Where the jlarge and h |used to exp | the logs into p The log frarm sprice-timbered 1sed timbers a3 the epruce logs permanent posi- roof or ceiling. commonl are sometimes “skidding” of Mett wt house was and thereafter openings wera between fitted logs 1t out closely not d | were plastered the exterior with | cement. Strips of ordinary quarter- {round were fitted nd nailed into | place to fill these cracks on the | terior of the house. These strips | were then stained the s color a3 | the natural shade of the wood The Mettler « 1t in such vay, on th that It wa rative! avate, by ntial and basemer itchen and cated The per fl living room several bath A wide porch exte of th | the hi of the | Wona { anparer S |front of the The | place is so secluded and screened by {foliage that uestionably many people have that way times innumerable, hout ever realizing |that one Washington's last | cabins stood nearb; 1d make 2 re the i are er room ng the front vated above Atoms and Etherions. K ‘OWING the atom is Ik ing your own autome know its = features tion: but vo new ticularly if you have beer with it for a I way the ph: move like planets about a sun ent_excitement among physicists T to do with the behavior of these p tary electrons. nething is alw deranging their orbits. Ever since Bohr, in Denm vanced the theory that some of thess orbits were more nat: 1 stabla than others the physicists have been busy deranging the orbits, throwing the atom out of gear and seeing what happens. And they can see very well, the atom tries to return to Every time it does, or every time it comes a little nearer, it shoots out a quantum of energ: nd what- ever is struck by that quantum knows it, for it sees the light. Physicists photograph the light, and then thin up the explanation of what happened inside the atom when the electrons tried to get back to thelr normal orbits. We are just beginning to get ac- quainted with “electrons” an ns” and now we are introduced to r minut member of the sam & . MR “etherion,” which Prof. A. P. Math- ews of the University of Cincinnaty says is the ultimate unit of light and electricity. He rejects the prevailing theory that light consists of waves in a jellylike substance called the ether. Light, he holds, not radiated in waves, but in r The ether he concelves as made up of minute spheres—etherions—which are revoly- ing at such high speed that their sur- faces have a velocity of 186,000 miles a second. When one etherion gatns energy of rotation it becomes an elec- tron of positive electricity neighboring etherton that h robbed of this energy becomes a negas tive electron. Prof. Mathews said therefore simply £ light tos small for transmission and golng round and round in one place. Light is then the basis of matter, since the electrons out of which all matter is made are simp risoned light. 1 the pres. s “An electron 1g Next Summer Dr. Jaffe will bufld an outdoor swimming pool and a tennis court. He also plans to extend his gardens and increase his ornamental plantings. Two of the finest speci- mens of the Colorado spruce tree in the District or Maryland adorn the Jaffe grounds. These trees are 35 to | 40 feet high, remarkably symmetr | and beautitally colored. - * Kk x X (UT on the old Georgetown pike, about 134 miles from Bethesda, is ‘Washington’s only which was built 13 years ago by Maj. C. G. Mettler, and which he has since used as a home. Crowning the crest of a pretty little hill, with a fine view of the countryside from the spaclous veranda, the Mettler spruce log cabin is_an_outstanding home set down right in the heart of the great out- |doors. In the Spring the place is a glory of wild blossoms, for the log house is surrounded by a grove of 35 mature dogwood trees. It was as the result of many pleasure trips to the Malne woods that other log_house, al | Barbs Kill Cattle. find it hard to at- ¢ virtue to the terribls cholla cactus, the most spiny and |dreadful of ‘all American plants, Starving cattle in desperation try to plerce the thorny baricade for a mouthful of the tempting green pulp within, only to die slowly from the festering barbs. In extreme dry sei- {sons the ranchmen often set a torch to these. Only the thorns burn and the nourishing joints remain as safe fodder. E would tribute an Concerning the Freckle. RESEARCHES have shawn a sur- prising coincldence oetween the |location of the freckiés and of the points representing the thermic sensa in the skin. Tid freckle may be a biologic defensive process to protect the nerve terminal, at a specially vul- n|enble point, by an extra pigmenta- tion.