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11. A Close Call

Alphy was not a child to ‘brood’ around very long, and more often then not, his curiosity would get the better of him. Such was the case one sunny fall morning.

Alphy had awakened to the sound of men working. When he looked out from his bedroom window, he could see across the field to the roadside. There were several men with a large team of horses. They were in the process of hauling a large barn to a new location. Alphy saw the barn which had not been there when he went to bed last night. He wanted to find out how the men had moved the barn; he quickly put on his clothes and dashed out towards the road without taking time to eat.

When Alphy reached the men he was fascinated at what was happening. The barn had been raised on to some skids. There were some large cables going from the skids to a capstan; the cable was made to coil around the capstan. The team of horses would pull and make the capstan go around, pulling the cable. Each time the cable went around, the skids would move slowly forward, moving the barn with it.

Alphy spent hours watching the men at work*, and one of the workers explained to Alphy how it all worked. He had also told Alphy that they put a special grease (tallow) on each skid to help it slide better.

At noontime the whole operation came to a halt, as the men went off to eat their dinner. Alphy started home to tell Edmond, but realized that Edmond would still be in school; turned around and came back towards the barn. When he reached the barn, Alphy thought he would go inside it for a closer look.

The barn was huge. When Alphy stepped inside, he could see the sunlight peering through the windows above. The barn also had aloft.

* The barn was moved by Mr. Spurgeon Jeflery who was from St. Lawrence.

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