But his father went too fast, straight on to the large wide-roofed, latticed house where the Herders lived. They pushed open the outside door and went into a smoke-stained room like the entrance to their own house. Beyond this was another room, larger than theirs, with a big brick stove in one corner. Here Mr. and Mrs. Herder and three of their children were sitting at a long wooden table at work.

They all got up when John and his father entered. They were glad to see them and had many questions to ask about the health of the family and how the winter was going up on the mountain. Then they sat down, and the Herders took up their work again, while the visitors looked on, and the talk continued. Mr. and Mrs. Herder sat opposite each other, each with a stick of wood clamped to the table in front, against which they held the bit of wood they were cutting, and into which the tool struck when it glanced off.