The toll-woman laughed cheerfully as she poured out more tea for
herself, Grandma Padgett having waved back the teapot spout.
"I took the only chance I saw and jumped for that there cave."
Both Robert and his aunt arose from their chairs to look out of the
back door.
The cave was a structure which I believe is peculiar to the West,
being in reality a kind of dug-out. It flourished before people built
substantial houses with cellars under them, and held the same
relation to the family's summer economy as the potato, apple, and
turnip holes did to its winter comfort. Milk, butter, perishable
fruit, lard, meats, and even preserves were kept in the cave. It was
intended for summer coolness and winter warmth. To make a cave, you
lifted the sod and dug out a foot of earth. The bottom was covered
with straw. Over this you made boards meet and brace each other with
the slope of the roof. The ends were boarded up, leaving room for a
door, and the whole outside sodded thickly, so that a cave looked
like a sharp-printed bulge in the sward, excepting at that end where
the heavy padlocked door closed it. It was a temptation to bad boys
and active girls; they always wanted to run over it and hear the
hollow sound of the boards under their feet.
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