Henry Builds a Cabin by D.B. Johnson

Author:D.B. Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

And he led her to the front of the cabin, where a path curved down to the pond.

"When it's finished, this will be the ballroom with a grand stairway."

On the Fourth of July Henry moved into his cabin.

He ate beans in his dining room.

He read in his library.

And he danced down the grand stairway to the pond.

When it started to rain, Henry ran back to his cabin.

"It's bigger than it looks," he said.

"This is just the room I wear when it's raining!"

About Henry's Cabin

Henry David Thoreau was a real person who lived in Concord, Massachusetts, more than 150 years ago. In the woods beside Walden Pond he built a cabin. It was 10 feet wide and 15 feet long, just big enough for his bed, a writing desk, a table, and three chairs. Henry wanted his cabin to be small so it wouldn't cost much money. He bought used windows and old boards and bricks that cost less than new ones. And he built the cabin himself (with the help of his friends) instead of paying someone to build it for him. Altogether, the cabin cost only $28.12½.

Henry moved into his cabin on July 4, 1845. Before the snow came he built a fireplace and chimney and plastered the walls to keep out the cold air. He lived at the pond for two years.

The people of Concord wondered: Why would Henry move to the woods away from town? Henry wanted a quiet place to write a book about what he loved, the wild outdoors. He kept a journal to tell about what he saw in the woods and the pond: how plants and animals changed with the seasons, when flowers bloomed and berries ripened. And his life in the woods showed people how to live happily without spending all their time earning money. The book Henry wrote about this time is called Walden. In it he says:

"Most men appear never to have considered what a house is, and are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they think they must have such a one as their neighbors have."

Boards $8.03½

Used shingles 4.00

Laths 1.25

Two second-hand windows 2.43

One thousand old bricks 4.00

Two casks of Lime* 2.40

Hair* 0.31

Mantle-tree iron 0.15

Nails 3.90

Hinges and screws 0.14

Latch 0.10

Chalk 0.01

Transportation 1.40

$28.12½

*lime and hair were used to make plaster

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