Making Bricks

To build a permanent house, as mom and dad called it, they had to make the bricks. It looked so fun, but mom would not let Galilee get into the mud to stomp it around. Galilee wished mom wasn't so worried about her not getting dirty.

One of the men who had come to  help as a missionary had a plan - he made a row of boxes on two long planks.  Small boxes were all formed with divider strips making little boxes all along in a row, with no top or bottom. When the mud was mixed, it was poured it into the boxes. When the mud had set and was firm enough not to lose shape, the box was gently lifted up, leaving the bricks on the ground. None of us were not allowed to touch the wet bricks or play anywhere near where they lay drying.  They made so many, it seemed there were drying bricks everywhere.

Then one morning the men began to carefully pick them up and pile them on top of each other like they were making a wall. It looked like a long house, with an empty tunnel right down the middle. The tunnel was not tall enough to stand in. Four rows of these houses were made. Then the men mixed up mud and spread it all over each house. Galilee again really wanted to help but mom was very careful to keep her away. The comforting part was that none of the kids were allowed to work, only the men.

There were piles of wood that had been  collected for the upcoming fire.  When the houses were all ready, wood was laid down from one end of the tunnel to the other, and a fire was lit on each end of each of the the houses.

Mom and dad called them kilns. Galilee liked that word.  Everyone was fascinated by the fires. Men were hired to tend those fires day and night for ever so long. During the long nights the men carved all kinds of things.  Galilee remembered most the three legged stools they carved, to sit on.  They also carved long stirring spoons for the heavy three legged iron pots that  they cooked in.  They built a fire under the pots and had long metal hooks to lift the lids and stir the food cooking inside and to get the food to eat when it was ready.
　


Beginning to take the cooked bricks out to use

 Then after what seemed like forever, the fires were allowed to die and weeks and weeks later, finally the men began to break the mud off the kilns.

Galilee, who had loved it all, was of course eager to see the cooked bricks. They didn't look like the gray bricks of mud any longer.  Now they were a lovely creamy color.  She loved the smell of the cooked brick.  The smell was quite strong as the mud was removed and the bricks could be seen.  They were still slightly warm so the bricks were lifted off a layer at a time, slowly, so the warm bricks wouldn't break.  She wished she could have that smell all around her every day. It was wonderful.

Laying the corner stone.

A foundation had been made while the bricks were baking. Now, work was started on the house.  Galilee didn’t really enjoy that part much. Maybe being told to move, don’t touch, you are in the way, and go back to the house so often made it not as fun, as she so wished she could help.

For her, the big excitement of making and burning of the bricks, was over.  The building of the house meant when it was done they would move into a brick and stone house.  Galilee liked that but it seemed to take so long she almost forgot that would ever happen.  However, life was so interesting every day she  didn't have time to think about passing time.