Second in a series of Tales from the Bush.
A cord of wood is a stack of timber, pices of cut loga , called bolt, piled in a stack 8ft long, 4 ft high by dour feet wide. Weight about 30cwt depending on the type of wood..

The Mall was a large wooden mallet used to drive the wedges into to ;arge logs to split them apart

Father.

My father was an axeman, nearly all his life,
His skill at cutting timber, helped him support his wife,
He really was an expert in the art of falling trees
The sound of his axe was heard far and wide,
carried on the breeze,

He worked along the ridges and down along the glen,
It was all solid labour, no fancy chain saws then,
Just his axe sharp as a razor,a mall and wedges too,
One man out in the forest, he'd show what he could do.
,
Often cutting cord word, he'd be there all on his own,
Two cord a day for not much pay, little money he'd bring home,
Just enough to keep the wolf away , he'd oft say with a grin
Working there in the heat of day , we could all depend on him,


Stringy bark and box gum were his favorite trees,
He'd drop them oh so esily, exactly where he pleased,
Trimming all the branches into a tidy heap,
Measured lengths of timber stacked in a cord so neat,

Six days a week he laboured thus, to keep the family fed
He often said 'twas the only thing that kept a
roof above our heads,
Times were tough in depression years work was hard to get
At least he made a living, the bills were always met.

In latter years we often pondered about the early days,
Life seemed so much simpler then, despite the tougher ways,
The work was hard , but we had our health, to the Lord we gave our praise
For the Blessings we were thankful, for, in those early days

John W 17/11/03