la

WILD NOKTHERN SCENES.

WILD NORTHERN SCENES;

OB

SPORTING ADVENTURES

THE RIFLE AND THE ROD

BY S.v H. HAMMOND.

AUTHOR OF "HILLS, LAKES AND FOREST STREAMS," "SUMMER RAMBLBS," ETC.

NEW YOKK:

DEBBY & JACKSON, 119 NASSAU ST.,
1857.

ENTERIC According to Act of Congress, In the year 1961, by

DERBY * JACKSON,
In the Clerk't Office of the Dirtrlct Court of the United St»to«, for the Southern Dtatrict of New York.

w. H. TmoK, RUEorrrn. ««o. KCMKLL * co., ruimms.

TO JOHN H. REYNOLDS, ESQ.,

OP ALBANY.

You have floated over the beautiful lakes and along the pleasant
rivers of that broad wilderness lying between the majestic St. Law-
rence and Lake Champlain. You have, in seasons of relaxation
from the labors of a profession in which you have achieved such
enviable distinction, indulged in the sports pertaining to that wild
region. You have listened to the glad music of the woods when the
morning was young, and to the solemn night voices of the forest
when darkness enshrouded the earth. You are, therefore, familiar
with the scenery described in the following pages.

Permit me, then, to dedicate this book to you, not because of your
eminence as a lawyer, nor yet on account of your distinguished posi-
tion as a citizen, but as a keen, intelligent sportsman, one who loves
nature in her primeval wildness, and who is at home, with a rifle
and rod, in the old woods.

With sentiments of great respect,

I remain your friend and servant,

THE AUTHOR.

INTRODUCTORY.

THERE is a broad sweep of country lying between
the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain, which civil-
ization with its improvements and its rush of pro-
gress has not yet invaded. It is mountainous, rocky,
and for all agricultural purposes sterile and unpro-
ductive. It is covered with dense forests, and
inhabited by the same wild things, save the red
man alone, that were there thousands of years ago.
It abounds in the most beautiful lakes that the sun
or the stars ever shone upon. I have stood upon the
immense boulder that forms the head or summit of
Baldface Mountain, a lofty, isolated peak, looming
thousands of feet towards the sky, and counted
upwards of twenty of these beautiful lakes — sleep-

Tli

Vlll INTRODUCTORY.

ing in quiet beauty in their forest beds, surrounded
by primeval woods, overlooked by rugged hills, and
their placid waters glowing in the sunlight.

It is a high region, from which numerous rivers
take their rise to wander away through gorges and
narrow valleys, sometimes rushing down rapids,
plunging over precipices, or moving in deep sluggish
currents, some to Ontario, some to the St. Lawrence,
some to Champlain, and some to seek the ocean,
through the valley of the Hudson. The air of this
mountain region in the summer is of the purest,
loaded always with the freshness and the pleasant
odors of the forest. It gives strength to the system,
weakened by labor or reduced by the corrupted and
debilitating atmosphere of the cities. It gives
elasticity and buoyancy to the mind depressed by
continued toil, or the cares and anxieties of business,
and makes the blood course through the veins with
renewed vigor and recuperated vitality.

The invalid, whose health is impaired by excessive
labor, but who is yet able to exercise in the open air,
will find a visit to these beautiful lakes and pleasant
rivers, and a fortnight or a month's stay among them,
vastly more efficacious in restoring strength and tone
to his system than all the remedial agencies of the
most skillful physicians. I can speak understand-

rNTBODTJCTORY. IX

ingly on this subject, and from evidences furnished
by my own personal experience and observation.

To the sportsman, whether of the forest or flood,
who has a taste for nature as God threw it from his
hand, who loves the mountains, the old woods,
romantic lakes, and wild forest streams, this region
is peculiarly inviting. The lakes, the rivers, and the
streams abound in trout, while "abundance of deer
feed on the lily pads and grasses that grow in the
shallow water, or the natural meadows that line the
shore. The fish may be taken at any season, and
during the months of July and August he will find
deer enough feeding along the margins of the lakes
and rivers, and easily to be come at, to satisfy any
reasonable or honorable sportsman. I have been
within fair shooting distance of twenty in a single
afternoon while floating along one of those rivers,
and have counted upwards of forty in view at the
same time, feeding along the margin of one of the
beautiful lakes hid away in the deep forest.

The scenery I have attempted to describe — the
lakes, rivers, mountains, islands, rocks, valleys and
streams, will be found as recorded in this volume.
The game will be found as I have asserted, unless
perchance an army of sportsmen may have thinned
it somewhat on the borders, or driven it deeper into

1*

X INTBODUOTORY.

the broad wilderness spoken of. I was over a por-
tion of that wilderness last summer, and found plenty
of trout and abundance of deer. I heard the howl
of the wolf, the scream of the panther, and the
hoarse bellow of the moose, and though I did not
succeed in taking or even seeing any of these latter
animals, yet I or my companion slew a deer every
day after we entered the forest, and might have
slaughtered half a dozen had we been so disposed.
Though the excursion spoken of in the following
pages was taken four years ago, yet I found, the last
summer, small diminution of the trout even in the
border streams and lakes of the " Saranac and
Rackett woods."

I have visited portions of this wilderness at least
once every summer for the last ten years, and I have
never yet been disappointed with my fortnight's
sport, or failed to meet with a degree of success
which abundantly satisfied me, at least. I have
generally gone into the woods weakened in body
and depressed in mind. I have always come out of
them with renewed health and strength, a perfect
digestion, and a buoyant and cheerful spirit.

For myself, I have come to regard these moun-
tains, these lakes and streams, these old forests, and
all this wild region, as my settled summer resort,

INTEODUCTOET. XI

instead of the discomforts, the jam, the excitement,
and the unrest of the watering-places or the sea
shore. I visit them for their calm seclusion, their
pure air, their natural cheerfulness, their transcend-
ant beauty, their brilliant mornings, their glorious
sunsets, their quiet and repose. I visit them too,
because when among them, I can take off the armor
which one is compelled to wear, and remove the
watch which one must set over himself, in the
crowded thoroughfares of life ; because I can whistle,
sing, shout, hurrah and be jolly, without exciting
the ridicule or provoking the contempt of the world.
In short, because I can go back to the days of old,
and think, and act, and feel like " a boy again."

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAOB

A Great Institution, 19

CHAPTER H.
Hurrah ! for the Country, 27

CHAPTER HI.
The Departure— The Stag Hounds— The Chase — Round Lake, . 85

CHAPTER IV.
The Doctor's Story — A Slippery Fish — A Lawsuit and a Compro-

42

CHAPTER V.
A Frightened Animal — Trolling for Trout — The Boatman's Story, 61

at

xiv CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI.

rial

The Upper Saranac — Spectacle Ponds — The Accusation and the
Defence, _ • *--»-. .64

CHAPTER VII.

Kinks !—" Dirty Dogs" — The Barking Dog that was found Dead
in the Yard — The Dog that Barked himself to Death, . .71

CHAPTER VIII.

Stony Brook — A Good Time with the Trout — Rackett River —
Tupper's Lake — A Question Asked and Answered, . . .79

CHAPTER IX.

Hunting by Torchlight — An Incompetent Judge — A New Sound
in the Forest — Old Sangamo's Donkey, 92

CHAPTER X.

Grindstone Brook — Forest Sounds — A Funny Tree covered with
Snow»Flakes, 100

CHAPTER XI.
A Convention broken up in a Row — The Chairman ejected, . Ill

CHAPTER XII.

The First Chain of Ponds — Shooting by Turns — Sheep Washing
— A Plunge and a Djye— A Roland for an Oliver, . . . 124

CHAPTER XIII.

A. Jolly Time for the Deer — Hunting on the Water by Daylight
— Mud Lake — Funereal Scenery — A New way of Taking Rabbits
— The Negro and the Merino Buck — A Collision, . . .188

CONTENTS. XV

CHAPTER XIV.

PAGE

A Deer Trapped — The Result of a Combat — A Question of Mental
Philosophy Discussed, 152

CHAPTER XV.

Hooking up Trout — The Left Branch — The Rapids — A Fight with
a Buck, 162

CHAPTER XVI.
Round Pond — The Pile Driver — A Theory for Spiritualists, . 174

CHAPTER XVII.

Little Tupper's Lake — A Spike Buck — A Thunder Storm in the
Forest— The Howl of the Wolf, 188

CHAPTER XVIII.

An Exploring Voyage in an Alderswamp — A Beaver Dam — A
Fair Shot and a Miss — Drowning a Bear — an Unpleasant Pas-
senger, 203

CHAPTER XIX.

Spalding's Bear Story — Climbing to avoid a Collision — An Unex-
pected Meeting — A Race, 214

CHAPTER XX.

The Chase on the Island — The Chase on the Lake — The Bear —
Gambling for Glory — Anecdote of Noah and the Gentleman
who offered to Officiate as Pilot on Board the Ark, . . 226

CHAPTER XXI.

The Doctor and his Wife on a Fishing Excursion — The Law of
the Case — Strong-minded Women, 239

XVi CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXII.

PAQB

A Beautiful Flower — A New Lake — A Moose — His Capture — A
Sumptuous Dinner, . . . . .-..*. • 26i

CHAPTER XXIII.

The Cricket in the Wall — The Minister's Illustration — Old Memo-
* ries, 265

CHAPTER XXIV.

The Accidents of Life — "Some Men Achieve Greatness, and
Some have Greatness Thrust Upon Them " — A Slide — Rattle-
snakes at the Top and an Icy Pool at the Bottom — A Fanciful
Story 272

CHAPTER XXV.
Headed Towards Home — The Martin and Sable Hunter — His

Cabin — Autumnal Scenery, 280

-

CHAPTER XXVI.

A Surprise — A Serenade — A Visit from Strangers — An Invita-
tation to Breakfast — A Fashionable Hour and a Bountiful Bill
ofFare, . . , .... 289

CHAPTER XXVn.
Would I were a Boy Again ! 299

CHAPTER XXVIII

Headed Down Stream — Return to Tupper's Lake — The Camp on
the Island, , ."• . „ 806

CONTENTS. XV11

CHAPTER XXIX.

PACK

A Mysterious Sound — Treed by a Moose — Angling for a Powder
Horn — An Unheeded Warning and the Consequences, . . 817

CHAPTER XXX.

Good-bye — Floating Down the Rackett — A Black Fox — A Trick
upon the Martin Trappers and its Consequences, . . . 826

CHAPTER XXXI.

Out of the Woods — The Thousand Islands — Cape Vincent — Bass
Fishing — Home — A Searcher after Truth — An Interruption —
Finis, . 886

CHAPTER I.

A GREAT INSTITUTION.

"!T is a great irritation," I said, or rather thought
aloud, one beautiful summer morning, as my wife was dress-
ing the baby. The little thing lay upon its face across her
lap, paddling and kicking with its little bare arms and legs,
as such little people are very apt to do, while being dressed.
It was not our baby. We have dispensed with that luxury.
And yet it was a sweet little thing, and nestled as closely in
our hearts as if it were our own. It was our first grand-
child, the beginning of a third generation, so that there is
small danger of our name becoming extinct. A friend of
mine, who unfortunately has no voice for song, has a most
excellent wifS and beautiful baby, and cannot therefore be
said to be without music at home. It is his first descendant,
and everybody knows that such are just the things of which

19

20 A GREAT INSTITUTION.

fathers are very apt to be proud. He was spending an
evening with a neighbor, and was asked to sing. He
declined, of course, giving as a reason that he never sang.

" Why, Mr. H ," said a black-eyed little girl, of seven —

" why, Mr. H -, don't you never sing t to the baby ?"

Sure enough ! I wonder if there ever was a civilized, a
human man, who never sang to the baby. I do not believe
that there was ever such a paradox in nature, as a man who
had tossed the baby up and down, ballanced it on his hand,
given it a ride on his foot, and yet never sang to it. I do
not care a fig about melody of voice, or science in quaver-
ing ; I am not talking about sweetness of tone ; what I mean
to say is, that I do not believe there is a man living, even
though he have no more voice than a raven, who is human,
and yet never sang to the baby, always assuming that he
has one.

" A great institution," I repeated, half in soliloquy and
half to my wife.

" What in the world are you talking about ?" said Mrs.

H , as she took a pin from her mouth, and fastened the

band that encircled the waist of the baby. The nurse was
tooking quietly on, quite willing that her work should be
thus taken off her hands. Will somebody tell me, if there
ever was a grandmother, especially one who became such
young, who could sit by, and see the nurse dress her first, or
even her tenth grandchild, while it was a helpless little
thing, say a foot or a foot and a half long ? The nurse is
so unhandy ; she tumbles the baby about so roughly,

A GKEAT INSTITUTION. 21

handles it so awkwardly, she will certainly dress it too
loosely, or too tight, or leave a pin that will prick it, or
some terrible calamity will happen. So she takes posses-
sion of the little thing, and with a hand guided by expe-
rience and the instincts of affection, puts its things on hi a
Christian and comfortable way.

" A great institution 1" I repeated again.

" I do believe the man has lost his wits," remarked Mrs.

H , handing the baby to the nurse. " Who ever heard

of a baby less than three months old being called an insti-
tution ?"

" Never heard of such a thing in my life/7 I replied,
" though a much greater mistake might be made."

" What then, in the name of goodness, have you been
talking about ?" inquired Mrs. H . .

" The COUNTRY of course," I replied.

I had just returned from a business trip to Vermont —
who ever thought that Vermont would be traversed by rail-
roads, or that the echoes which dwell among her precipices
and mountain fastnesses, would ever wake to the snort of
the iron flbrse? Who ever thought that the locomotive
would go screaming and thundering along the base of th»
Green Mountains, hurling its ponderous tram, loaded with
human freight, along the narrow valleys above which moun-
tain peaks hide their heads in the clouds ? How old Ethan
Allen and General Stark, " Old Put," and the other glorious
names that enrich the pages of our revolutionary history,
would open their eyes in astonishment, if they could come

22 A GREAT INSTITUTION.

back from " the other side of Jordan," and sit for a little
while on their own tombstones in sight of the railroads, and
see the trains as they go rushing like a tornado along their
native valleys. -

I had made up my mind that morning, all at once, to go
into the country. It was a sudden resolve, but I acted upon
it. Going into the country is a very different thing from
what it used to be. There is no packing of trunks, or tak-
ing leave of friends. You take your satchel or travelling
bag, kiss your wife in a hurry at the door, and jump aboard
of the cars ; the whistle sounds, the locomotive breathes
hoarsely for a moment, and you a?e off like a shot. In ten
minutes the suburbs are behind you; the fields and,farms are
flying to the rear ; you dash through the woods and see the
trees dodging and. leaping behind and around each other,
performing the dance of the witches " in most admired con-
fusion ;" in three hours you are among the hills of Massa-
chusetts, the mountains of Vermont, on the borders of the
majestic Hudson, in the beautiful valley of the Mohawk, a
hundred miles from the good city of Albany, where you can
tramp among the wild or tame things of nature to your
h^eart's content.

I had for the moment no particular place in view.
What I wanted was, to get outside of the city, among the
hills, where I could see the old woods, the streams, the
mountains, and get a breath of fresh air, such as I used to
breathe. I wanted to be free and comfortable for a month ;
to lay around loose in a promiscuous way among the hills,

A GREAT mSTITUTION. 23

where beautiful lakes lay sleeping in their quiet loveliness ;
where the rivers flow on their everlasting coarse through
primeval forests ; where the moose, the deer, the panther
and the wolf still range, and where the speckled trout sport
in the crystal waters. I had made up my mind to throw
off the cares a,nd anxieties of business, and visit that great
institution spread out all around us by the Almighty, to
make men healthier, wiser, better. I had resolved to go
into the country. That was a fixed fact. But where ?

There stood my rifle in one corner of the room, and my
fishing rods in the other. The sight of these settled the
matter. " I will go to the North," I said.

" Go to the North !" said Mrs. H . " Do tell me if

you've got another of your old hunting and fishing fits ou
you again ?"

" Yes," I replied, " I've felt it coming on for a week, and
I've got it bad."

" Very well," said my wife, " if the fit is on you, there's
no use in remonstrating ; your valise will be ready by the
morning train." And so the matter was settled.

But I must have a companion, somebody to talk to and
with, somebody who could appreciate the beauties of nature ;
who loved" the old woods, the wilderness, and all the wild
things pertaining to them ; to whom the forests, the lakes,
and tall mountains, the rivers and streams, would recall the
long past ; to whom the forest songs and sounds would bring
back the memories of old, and make him " a boy again."
So I sallied out to find him. I had scarcely traversed a

24 A GREAT INSTITUTION.

square, when I met my friend, the doctor, with carpet bag
in hand, on his way to the depot.

" Whither away, my friend ?" I inquired, as we shook
hands.

" Into the country," he replied.

" Very well, but where ?"

" Into the country," he repeated, " don't you comprehend ?
Into the country, by the first' tram ; anywhere, everywhere,
all along shore."

" Go with me," said I, "for a month."

" A month ! Bless your simple soul, every patient I've
got will be well in less than half that time ; but let them,
I'll be avenged on them another time. But where do you
go?"

" To my old haunts in the North," I replied.

" To follow the stag to his slip'ry crag,
And to chase the bounding roe."

" But," said he, " I've no rifle."

" I've got four."

" I've no fishing rod."

" I've half a dozen at your service."

" Give me your hand," said he ; "I'm with you." And
so the doctor was booked.

" Suppose," said the doctor, " we beat up Smith and
Spalding, and take them along. Smith has got one of his
old fits of the hypo. He sent for me to-day, and I pre-

A GREAT INSTITUTION. 25

scribed a frugal diet and the country. Wild game, and
bleeding by the musquitoes, will do him good. Spalding
is entitled to a holiday, for he's working himself into dys-
pepsia in this hot weather."

" Just the thing;" I replied, and we started to find Smith
and Spalding. We found them, and it was settled that
they should go with us for a month among the mountains.
Everybody knows Smith, the good-natured, eccentric Smith;
Smith the bachelor, who has an income greatly beyond his
moderate expenditures, and enough of capital to spoil, as he
says, the orphan children of his sister. By way of saving
them from being thrown upon the cold world with a fortune,
he declares he will spend every dollar of it himself, simply
out of regard for them. But Smith will do no such thing,
and the tenderness with which he is rearing the two beauti-
ful, black-eyed, raven-haired little girls, proves that he will
not. But Smith has no professional calling or business, and
when his digestion troubles him, he has visions of the alms-
house, and the Potters' Field, and of two mendicant little
girls, while his endorsement would be regarded as good at
the bank for a hundred thousand dollars.

Spalding, as everybody within a hundred leagues of the
capitol knows, is a lawyer of eminence, full of good-nature,
always cheerful, always instructive ; a troublesome opponent
at the bar ; a man of genial sympathies and a big heart.
If I have given him, as well as Smith, a nom de plume, it is
out of regard for their modesty. We arranged to meet at

2

26 A GREAT INSTITUTION.

the cars, the next morning at six, each with a rifle and
fishing rod, to be away for a month among the deer and the
trout, floating over lakes the most beautiful, and along
rivers the pleasantest that the sun ever shone upon.

CHAPTER II.
HURRAH! FOR THE COUNTRY!

HURRAH ! hurrah ! We are in the country — the 'glori-
ous country ! Outside of the thronged streets ; away from
piled up bricks and mortar ; outside of the clank of machin-
ery ; the rumbling of carriages ; the roar of the escape
pipe ; the scream of the steam whistle ; the tramp, tramp
of moving thousands on the stone sidewalks ; away from the
heated atmosphere of the city, loaded with the smoke and
dust, and gasses of furnaces,«and the ten thousand manufac-
tories of villainous smells. We are beyond even the mea-
dows and green fields. We are here alone with nature,
surrounded by old primeval things. Tall forest trees, moun-
tain and valley are on the right hand and on the left.
Before us, stretching away for miles, is a beautiful lake, its
waters calm and placid, giving back the bright heavens,
the old woods, the fleecy clouds that drift across the
sky, from away down in its quiet depths. Beyond still,

97

28 HURRAH! FOB THE COUNTRY!

are mountain ranges, whose castellated peaks stand ont
in sharp and bold relief, on whose tops the beams of the
descending sun lie like a mantle of silver and gold. Glad
voices are ringing ; sounds of merriment make the evening
joyous with the music of the wild things around us. Hark !
how from away off over the water, the voice of the loon
comes clear and musical and shrill, like the sound of a
clarion ; and note how it is borne about by the echoes from
hill to hill. Hark 1 again, to that clanking sound away up
in the air ; metallic ringing, like the tones of a bell. It is
the call of the cock of the woods as he flies, rising and fall-
ing, glancing upward and downward in his billowy flight
across the lake. Hark I to that dull sound, like blows
upon some soft, hollow, half sonorous substance, slow and
measured at first, but increasing in rapidity, until it rolls
like the beat of a muffled drum, or the low growl of the far-
off thunder* It is the partridge drumming upon his log
Hark 1 still again, to that quavering note, resembling some-
what the voice of the tree-frog when the storm is gathering,
but not so clear and shrill. It is the call of the raccoon, as
he clambers up some old forest tree, and seats himself
among the lowest of its great limbs. Listen to the almost
human halloo, the "hoo ! hohoo, hoo 1" that comes out
from the clustering foliage of an ancient hemlock. It is the
solemn call of the owl, as he sits among the limbs, looking
out from between the branches with his great round grey
e^es. Listen again and you will hear the voice of the cat-
bird, the brown thrush, the chervink, the little chickadee, the

HURRAH! FOE THE COUNTRY! 29

wood robin, the blue-jay, the wood sparrow, and a hundred
other nameless birds that live and build their nests and sing
among these old woods.

But go a little nearer the lake, and you will have a concert
that will drown all these voices in its tumultuous roar.
Compared to these feeble strains, it is the crashing of Julien's
hundred brazen instruments to the soft and sweet melody
of Ole Bull's violin. Come with me to this rocky promon-
tory ; stand with me on this moss-covered boulder, which
forms the point. On either hand is a little bay, the head of
which is hidden around among the woods. See ! over
against us, on the limb of that dead fir tree, which leans out
over the water, is a bald eagle, straightening with his hooked
beak the feathers of his wings, and pausing now and then to
look out over the water for some careless duck of which to
make prey. See ! he has leaped from his perch, has spread
his broad pinions, and is soaring upward towards the sky.
See ! how he circles round and round, mounting higher and
higher at every gyration. He is like a speck in the air.
But see I he is above the mountains now, and how like an
arrow he goes, straight forward, with no visible motion to
his wings. He has laid his course for some lake, deeper in
the wilderness, beyond that range of hills, and he is there,
even while we are talking of his flight. A swift bird, the
swiftest of all the birds, is the eagle, when he takes his de-
scending stoop from his place away up in the sky. He
cleaves the air like a bullet, and so swift is his career that
the eye can scarcely trace his flight.

30 HURRAH! FOR THE COUNTRY !

But, hark ! all is still now, save the piping notes of the
little peeper along the shore. Wait, however, a moment.
There, hear that venerable podunker off to the right, with his
deep bass, like the sound of a brazen serpent. Listen !
another deep voice on the left has fallen in. There, another
right over against us I another and another still I a dozen I a
hundred 1 a thousand ! ten thousand 1 a million of them !
close by us 1 far off ! on the right hand and on the left !
here ! there ! everywhere ! until above, around us, all
through the woods, all along the shore, all over the lake is
a solid roar, unpenetrable to any other sound, surging and
swaying, rolling and swelling as if all the voices in the
world were concentrated in one stupendous concert.

But, hark ! the roar is dying away ; voice after voice
.drops out ; here and there is one laggard in the song, still
dragging out the chorus. Now all is still again, save the
note of the little peeper along the shore. In two minutes
that band will strike up again. The roar will go bellowing
over the lake through the woods, to be thrown from hill to
hill, to die away into silence again ; and so it will be through
all the long night, and until the sun looks out from among
the tree tops in the morning. Touch that solemn looking
old croaker on yonder broad leaf of that pond lily, with the
end of your fishing rod, while the music is at the highest,
he will send forth a quick discordant and cracked cry, like
that of a greedy dog choked with a bone, as he plunges for
the bottom ; and note how suddenly that sound will be
repeated, and how quick the roar of the frogs will be hushed

HUEKAH! FOB THE COUNTRY! 31

into silence. That is a cry of alarm, a note of danger, and
every frog within hearing understands its import.

Is it asked where we are ? I answer, we are on the Lower
Saranac Lake, just on the south point, at the entrance of

•

the romantic little bay, at the head of which stands Martin's
Lake House, the only human dwelling in sight of this beau-
tiful sheet of water. On the point where we now are, long
ago, was the log shanty of a hunter and fisherman, sur-
rounded by an acre or two of cleared land. But its occu-
pant moved deeper into the wilderness, over on the waters
of the Rackett, many years since ; the log shanty has rot-
ted away, and a vigorous growth of brush and small timber,
now covers what once may have been called a field.

But the night shadows are beginning to gather over the
forest, throwing a sort of spectral gloom among the old
woods, giving a distorted look to the trunks of the trees,
the low bushes, the turned up roots, and the boulders scat-
tered over the ground. See what ogre shapes these things
assume as the darkness deepens. Look at that cedar bush,
with its dense foliage 1 It is a crouching lion, and as its
branches wave in the gentle breeze, he seems preparing for
his leap ; and yonder boulder is a huge elephant ! The
root that comes out from the crevice is his trunk, and the
moss and lichens which hang down on either side are his
pendant ears ; and see, he has a great tower on his back,
wherein is seated a warrior in his ancient armor, grasping
battle-axe and spear. Beyond, through that opening upon
the bay, is a castle looming darkly against the sky, with mas-

32 HURRAH! FOE THE COUNTRY!

sive towers and arched gateway. Such are the forms which
fancy gives to these forest things, in the doubtful twilight
of a. summer evening. While we have been looking upon
these unsubstantial shadows, the sunlight has left the moun-
tain peaks, the stars have come out in the sky, and the moon
has started on her course across the heavens.

Let us rest on our oars a moment, here in the bay, to
view the scenery around us, as seen by the mellow moon-
light. So calm, so still, so motionless are both air and water,
that we seem suspended between the sky above, sparkling
and glowing with millions of bright stars, and the moon rid-
ing gloriously on her course, and a sky beneath, sparkling
and glowing with like millions of bright stars, and the same
moon, or its counterpart, floating away down in fathomless
depths below us. See, how the same hillside, the same line
of forest trees, the same ranges and mountain peaks are
reflected back from the stirless bosom of the lake. There,
above, and just on the upper line of that tall peak, looming
darkly and majestically in the distance, hangs a brilliant star,
sparkling and twinkling, like the sheen of a diamond ; and
right beneath, away down just as far below the surface of
the water as mountain peak and star are above it, is another

•

mountain peak and bright star, twinned by the mirrored
waters. See, away down the lake, that little island with its
half dozen spruce trees, clustered together ! How like a
great war vessel it looks, with sails all set, as seen by the
uncertain light of the moon. And that other island, off to
the left, with the dead and barkless trees, how like a tall

HUEBAH! FOB THE COUNTRY! 33

i

ship with bare masts riding at anchor it seems. That other
island, away to the right, with its great boulders and bare
rocks rising straight up out of the water, is a fortification, a
stronghold surrounded by a wall of solid masonry, and
bristling with cannon. We can almost see the sentinel, and
hear his measured tramp as he travels his lonely rounds,
keeping watch out over the waters. See all along the shore,
as you look up the bay towards the Lake House, how the
millions of fireflies flash their tiny torches, upward and down-
ward, this way and that, mingling and crossing, and gyrat-
ing and whirling — a troubled and billowy sea of millions upon
millions of glowing and sparkling gems.

Header, were you and I gifted with the spirit of poetry, what
inspiration would we not gather from the glories which sur-
round us, as we float of a summer evening over these beautiful
lakes, sleeping away out here, in all their virgin loveliness,
among these old primeval things ? But you ask, " what inspi-
ration can there be in a moon and stars, that we see every
night, when the sky is cloudless ; in a desolate wilderness ; the
roar of the frogs ; the hooting of owls ; these useless waters ;
the phosphorescent flash of lightning bugs ; these piled up
rocks and barren mountains ? Can you grow corn on these
hills, or make pastures of these rocky lowlands ? Can you
harness these rivers to great waterwheels, or make reservoirs
of these lakes ? Can you convert these old forests into lum-
ber or cordwood ? Can you quarry these rocks, lay them
up with mortar into houses, mills, churches, public edifices ?
Can you make what you call these 'old prune val things'

2*

34: HURRAH! FOE THE COTTNTKT!

utilitarian ? Can you make them minister to the progress
of civilization, or coin them into dollars ?"

Pshaw ! You have spoiled, with your worldliness, your
greed for progress, your thirst for gain, a pleasant fancy, a
glorious dream, as if everything in the heavens, on the
earth, or in the waters, were to be measured by the dollar
and cent standard, and unless reducible to a representative
of moneyed value, to be thrown, as utterly worthless, away.
Let us row back to the Lake House.

CHAPTER III.

THE DEPARTURE — THE STAG HOUNDS — THE CHASE — ROUND
LAKE.

FROM Martin's Lake House we were to take our depar-
ture in the morning. We had arranged for three boats,
and as many stalwart boatmen. Two of these boats were
for our own conveyance, and one for our luggage and provi-
sions ; the latter to be sent forward with our tents in ad-
vance, so as to have a home ready for us always, at our
coming, when we chose to linger by the way. These boat-
men were all jolly, good-natured and pleasant people, with
a vast deal of practical sense, and a valuable experience in
woodcraft, albeit they were rough and unpolished. Their
hearts were in the right place, and they commanded our
respect always for their kindness and attention to our wants,
while they maintained at all times that sturdy independence
which enters so largely into the character of the border men
of our country. Their boats are constructed of spruce or
cedar boards of a quarter of an inch in thickness, " clap-

36 THE DEPARTURE.

*

boarded," as the expression is, upon " knees " of the natural
crook, and weigh from ninety to one hundred and ten
pounds each. They are carried around rapids, or from river
to river, on the back of the boatman in this wise : A
" yoke " is provided, such as every man in the country,
especially all who have visited a " sugar bush " at the sea-
son of sugar making, has seen. At the end of this yoke is a
round iron projection, made to fit into a socket in the upper
rave of the boat. The craft is turned bottom upwards, the
yoke adjusted to the shoulders, the iron projections fitted
into the sockets, and the boatman marches off with his boat,
like a turtle with his shell upon his back. He will carry it
thus sometimes half a mile before stopping to rest.

With us were to go two staid and sober stag hounds,
grave in aspect and trained and experienced, almost, in wood-
craft, as their masters ; animals that had been reared to-
gether, and who possessed the rare instinct of returning al-
ways to the shanty from which they started, however far the
chase may have led them. It was a glorious sound in the
old forests, the music of those two hounds, as their voices
rang out bold and free, like a bugle, and went ringing
through the forest, echoing among the mountains and dying
away over the lakes. But of that hereafter.

Our little fleet swung out upon the water, while the sun
was yet hanging like a great torch among the tops of the
trees, on the eastern hills. It was a beautiful morning, so
fresh, so genial, so balmy. A pleasant breeze came sweep-
ing lazily over the lake, and went sighing and moaning

THE DEPARTURE. 3V

among the old forest trees. All around us were glad voices.
The partridge drummed upon his log ; the squirrels chat-
tered as they chased each other up and down the great
trunks of the trees; the loon lifted up his clarion voice away
out upon the water ; the eagle and the osprey screamed as
they hovered high above us in the air, while a thousand
merry voices came from out the old woods, all mingling in
the harmony of nature's gladness. A loud and repeated
hurrah I burst from us all as our oars struck the water, and
sent our little boats bounding over the rippled surface of
the beautiful Saranac.

This is a indeed a beautiful sheet of water. The shores
were lined with a dense and unbroken forest, stretching back
to the mountains which surround it. The old wood stood
then in all its primeval grandeur, just as it grew. The axe
had not harmed it, nor had fire marred its beauty. The
islands were covered with a lofty growth of living timber
clothed in the deepest green. There were not then, as now,
upon some of them, great dead trees reaching out their long
bare arms in verdureless desolation above a stinted under-
growth, and piled up trunks charred and blackened by the
fire that had revelled among them, but all were green, and
thrifty, and glorious in their robes of beauty. Thousands
of happy songsters carolled gaily among their branches, or
hid themselves in the dense foliage of their wide-spread-
ing arms. The islands are a marked feature of these north-
ern lakes, lending a peculiar charm to their quiet beauty,
and one day, when the iron horse shall go thundering

38 THE DEPARTURE.

through these mountain gorges, the tourist will pause to
make a record of their loveliness.

Four or five miles down the lake, is a beautiful bay,
stretching for near half a mile around a high promontory,
almost reaching another bay winding around a like pro-
montory beyond, leaving a peninsula of five hundred acres
joined to the mam land, by a narrow neck of some forty
rods in width. Our first sport among the deer was to be
the "driving" of this peninsula. We stationed ourselves on
the narrow isthmus within a few rods of each other, while a
boatman went round to the opposite side to lay on the dogs.
We had been at our posts perhaps half an hour, when we
heard the measured bounds of a deer, as he came crashing
through the forest. We could see his white flag waving
above the undergrowth, as he came bounding towards us.
Neither Smith nor Spalding had ever seen a deer in his
native woods, and they were, by a previous arrangement, to
have the first shot, if circumstances should permit it. The
noble animal came dashing proudly on his way, as if in
contempt of the danger he was leaving behind him. Of the
greater danger into which he was rushing, he was entirely
unconscious, until the crack of Smith's rifle broke upon his
astonished ear. He was unharmed, however, and quick as
thought he wheeled and plunged back in the direction from
which he came ; Spalding's rifle, as it echoed through the
forest, with the whistling of the ball in close proximity to
his head, added energy to his flight.

The rules were scarcely reloaded when the deep baying of

THE STAG-HOUNDS THE CHA8E. 39

the hounds was heard, and two more deer came crashing
across the isthmus where we were stationed. The foremost
one went down before the doctor's unerring rifle and cool
aim, while the other ran the gauntlet of the three other
rifles, horribly frightened, but unharmed, away. The hounds
were called off, and with our game in one of the boats,
we rowed back around the promontory, and passed on
towards the Saranac River, which connects by a tortuous
course of five miles, the Lower Saranac with Round Lake.

Midway between these two lakes, is a fall, or rather
rapids, down which the river descends some ten feet in
five or six rods through a narrow cocky channel, around
which the boats had to be carried. While this was being
done, Smith and Spalding adjusted their rods, eager to
make up in catching trout what they failed to achieve in the
matter of venison. And they succeeded. In twenty minutes
they had fifteen beautiful fish, none weighing less than half
a pound, safely deposited on the broad flat rock at the head
of the rapids. " One throw more," said Smith, " and I've
done ;" and he cast his fly across the still water just above
the fall. Quick as thought it was taken by a two-pound
trout. Landing nets and gaff had been sent forward with
the baggage, and without these it was an exciting and
delicate thing to land that fish. The game was, to prevent
him dashing away down the rapids, or diving beneath the
shelving rock above, the sharp edge of which would have
severed the line like a knife. Skillfully and beautifully
Smith played him for a quarter of an hour, until at last the

40 BOUND LAKE.

fish turned his orange belly to the surface, and ceased to
struggle. He was drowned.

We had in the morning directed the boatman in charge
of the baggage to go on in advance, and erect our tents on
an island in Eound Lake. When we entered this beautiful
sheet of water, about four o'clock, we saw the white tents
standing near the shore of the island, with a column of
smoke curling gracefully up among the tall trees that
overshadowed them. When we arrived, we found every-
thing in order. They were pitched in a pleasant spot,
looking out to the west over the water, while within were
beds of green boughs from the spruce and fir trees, and
bundles of boughs tied up like faggots for pillows. Our
first dinner in the wilderness was a pleasant one, albeit the
cookery was somewhat primitive. With fresh venison and
trout, seasoned with sweet salt pork, we got through with it
uncomplainingly.

This little lake is a gem. It is, as its name purports,
round, some four miles in diameter, surrounded by an
amphitheatre of hills, beneath whose shadows it reposes
in placid and quiet beauty. On the northeast, Ballface
Mountain rears its tall head far above the intervening
ranges, while away off in the east Mount Marcy and Mount
Seward stand out dim and shadowy against the sky.
Nearer are the Keene Ranges, ragged and lofty, their bare
and rocky summits glistening in the sunlight, while nearer
still the hills rise, sometimes with steep and ragged acclivity,
and sometimes gently from the shore. Here and there a

BOUND LAKE. 4:1

valley winds away among the highlands, along which the
mountain streams come bounding down rapids, or moving in
deep and sluggish, but pure currents, towards the lake.
The rugged and sublime, with the placid and beautiful, in
natural scenery, are magnificently mingled in the surround-
ings of this little sheet of water.

CHAPTER IV.

THE DOCTOR'S STORY — A SLIPPERY FISH — A LAWSUIT AND A
COMPROMISE.

THERE seems to be a law, or rather a habit pertaining to
forest life, into which every one falls, while upon excursions
such as ours. Stories occupy the place of books, and tales
of the marvellous furnish a substitute for the evening papers.
Not that there should be any set rule or system, hi regard
to the ordering of the matter, but a sort of spontaneous
movement, an implied understanding, growing out of the
necessities of the position of isolation occupied by those who
are away from the resources of civilization. The doctor
had a genius for story telling, or rather a genius for inven-
tion, which required only a moderate development of the
organ of credulity on the part of his hearers, to render him
unrivalled. There was an appearance of frank earnestness
about his manner of relating his adventures, which, however
improbable or even impossible as matter of fact they might
be, commanded, for the moment, absolute credence.

42

THE DOCTOR'S STOKY. 43

" They've a 'curious fish in the St. Lawrence," said the
doctor, as he knocked the ashes from his meerschaum, and
refilled it, " known among the fishermen of that river as the
LAWYER. I have never seen it among any Bother of the
waters of this country, and never there but once. It never
bites at a hook, and is taken only by gill-nets, or the seine.
Everybody," he continued, " has visited the Thousand Islands,
or if everybody has not, he had better go there at once. He
will find them, in the heat of summer, not only the coolest
and most healthful retreat, and the pleasantest scenery that
the eye ever rested upon, always excepting these beautiful
lakes, but the best river fishing I know of on this continent.
He will not, to be sure, take the speckled trout that we find
in this region, but he will be among the black bass, the
pickerel, muscalunge, and striped bass, in the greatest
abundance, and ready to answer promptly any reasonable
demand which he may make upon them. Think of reeling
in a twenty-pound pickerel, or a forty-pound mnscalunge,
on a line three hundred feet in length, playing him for half
an hour, and landing him safely in your boat at last I
There's excitement for you worth talking about.

" I stopped over night at Cape Vincent, last summer, on
my way to ' the Thousand Islands,' on a fishing excursion of
a week. I was acquainted with an old fisherman of that
place, and agreed to go out with him the next morning, to
see what luck he had with the fish. I don't think much of
that kind of fishing, though it is well enough for those who
make a business of it, for the gill-net works, as the old man

44 THE DOCTOR'S STOEY.

x

said, while the fisherman sleeps, and all he gets in that way
is clear gain.

*' Well, I rose early the next morning to go ont with the
old fisherman to his gill-nets. It would have done you good,
as it did me, to see how merry every living thing was. The
birds, how jolly they were, and how refreshing the breeze
was that came stealing over the water, making one feel as if
he would like to shout and hurrah in the buoyancy, the
brightness, and glory of the morning. But I am not going
to be poetical about the sunrise, and the singing birds. We
went out upon the river just as the sun came up with his
great, round, red face, for there was a. light smoky haze
floating above the eastern horizon, and threw his light like
a stream of crimson flame across the water ; and the mea-
dow lark perched upon his fence stake, the blackbird upon
his alderbush, the brown thrush on the topmost spray of the
wild thorn, and the bob-o'-link, as he leaped from the mea-
dow and poised himself on his fluttering wings in mid air,
all -sent up a shout of gladness as if hailing the god of the
morning.

" We came to the nets and began to draw in. You
ought to have seen the fish. There were pickerel from four
to ten pounds in weight, white fish, black bass, rock bass,
Oswego bass, and pike by the dozen ; and, what was a
stranger to me, a queer looking specimen of the piscatory
tribes, half bull-head, and half eel, with a cross of the
lizard.

" ' What on earth is that ?' said I, to the fisherman.

A SLIPPERY FISH. 45

" ' That,' said he, ' is a species of ling ; we call it in these
parts a LAWYER.'

" ' A lawyer I' said I ; ' why, pray ?'

" ' I don't know,' he replied, ' unless it's because he ain't
of much use, and is the slipriest fish that swims.'

" Mark," continued the doctor, turning to Spalding ; " I
mean no personality. I am simply giving the old fisher-
man's words, not my own."

" Proceed with the case," said Spalding, as he sent a
column of smoke curling upward from his lips, and with a
gravity that was refreshing.

" Well," resumed the doctor, " the LAWYERS were thrown
by themselves, and one old fat fellow, weighing, perhaps,
five or six pounds, fixed his great, round, glassy eyes upon
me, and opened his ugly mouth, and I thought I heard him
say, interrogatively, ' Well,' as if demanding that the case
should proceed at once.

" ' Well,' said I, in reply, ' what's out ?'

" ' What's out I' he answered ; ' I'm out— I'm out of my
element — out of water — out of court — and in this hot, dry
atmosphere, almost out of breath. But what have I been
summoned here for ? I demand a copy of the complaint.'

" ' My dear sir,' said I, ' I'm not a member of the court.
I don't belong to the bar — I'm not the plaintiff — I'm not in
the profession, nor on the bench. I'm neither sheriff, con-
stable, nor juror. I'm only a spectator. In the Eackett
Woods, among the lakes and streams of that wild region,
with a rod and fly, I'm at home' with the trout, but '

46 A LAWSUIT AND A COMPBOMI8E.

" ' Oh ! ho !' he exclaimed with a chuckle, ' you're the
chap I was consulted about down near the mouth of the
Rackett the other day, by a country trout, who was on a
journey to visit his relatives in the streams of Canada. He
showed me a hole in his jaw, made by your hook at the
mouth of the Bog river. I've filed a summons and com-
plaint against you for assault and battery, and beg to notify
you of the fact.'

" ' I plead the general issue,' said I.

" ' There's no such thing known to the code/ he replied.

" ' I deny the fact, then,' I exclaimed.

" ' That won't do,' he rejoined ; " the complaint is put in
under oath, and you must answer by affidavit, of the truth
of your denial.'

" You see my dilemma. I remembered the circumstance of
hooking a noble trout at the place alleged, and as the affair
has been settled, I'll tell you how it was. At the head of
Tupper's Lake, one of the most beautiful sheets of water
that the sun ever shone upon, lying alone among the moun-
tains, surrounded by old primeval forests, walled in by
palisadoes of rocks, and studded with islands, the Bog
River enters ; this river* comes down from the hills away
back in the wilderness, sometimes rushing with a roar over
rocks and through gorges, sometimes plunging down preci-
pices, and sometimes moving with a deep and sluggish cur-
rent across a broad sweep of table land. For several miles
back of the lake, and until a few rods of the shore, it is a
calm, deep river. It then 'rushes down a steep, shelving

A LAWSUIT AND A COMPROMISE. 4:7

rock some twenty feet into a great rocky basin ; then down
again over a shelving rock in a fall of twenty feet into
another rocky basin ; and then again in another fall of
twenty or thirty feet, over a steep, shelving rock, shooting
with a swift current far out into the lake. These falls con-
stitute a beautiful cascade, and their roar may be heard of
a calm, summer evening, for miles out on the placid water.

" At the foot of these falls, in the summer season, the trout
congregate ; beautiful large fellows, from one to three
pounds in weight; and a fly trailed across the current, or
over the eddies, just at its outer edge, is a thing at which
they are tolerably sure to rise. Well, last summer, I was
out that way among the lakes that lie sleeping in beauty,
and along the streams that flow through the old woods,
playing the savage and vagabondizing in a promiscuous
way. The river was low, and a broad rock, smooth and
bare, sloping gently to the water's edge, under which the
stream whirled as it entered the lake, and above which tall
trees towered, casting over it a pleasant shade, presented a
tempting place to throw the fly. I cast over the current,
and trailed along towards the edge of the rock, when a
three-pounder rose from his place down in the deep water.
He didn't come head foremost, nor glancing upward, but
rose square up to the surface, and pausing a single instant,
darted forward like an arrow and seized the fly. Well,
away he plunged with the hook in his jaw, bending my elas-
tic rod like a reed, the reel hissing as the line spun away
eighty or a hundred feet across the current, and far out

4:8 A LAWSUIT AND A COMPEOMI8E.

into the lake; but he was fast, and after straggling for a
time, he partially surrendered, and I reeled him in. Slowly,
and with a sullen struggling, he was drawn towards the
shore, sometimes with his head out of water, and sometimes
diving towards the bottom. At last, he caught sight of me,
and with renewed energy he plunged away again, clear across
the current and out into the lake. But the tension of the
elastic rod working against him steadily, and always, was
too much for his strength, and again I reeled him in, strug-
gling still, though faintly. Slowly, but steadily, I reeled
him to my hand. He was just by the edge of the rock,
almost within reach of my landing net, when, with a last
desperate effort to escape, he plunged towards the bottom,
made a dive under the rock, the line came against its edge,
slipped gratingly for a moment, snapped, and the fish was
gone. He was a beautiful trout, and beautifully he played.
He deserved freedom on account of the energy with which
he struggled for it,

"You will see, therefore, that, as I said, I was in a
dilemma. The action against me was well brought. I
could not deny the truth of the facts charged against me
in the complaint. In this position of affairs, three alterna-
tives presented themselves; first, a denial of the truth of
the complaint, but that involved perjury; secondly, admis-
sion of the facts charged, but that involved conviction;
and, thirdly, a compromise, and the latter one I adopted.

" ' Can't this thing be settled,' said I, to the old lawyer
fish of the St. Lawrence, ' without litigation ?'

A LAWSUIT AND A COMPROMISE. 49

" The old rascal's eyes glistened, for he saw through my
case in a moment. ' Of course it can,' said he j ' throw
me and my four companions overboard, place us in statu
quo, and the action shall be discontinued.'

" ' Agreed,' said I, and I reached down to enter upon the
performance of my part of the contract.

" ' Wait a moment,' said he, curling up his shaky tail,
' the costs — who pays the costs ?'

" ' The costs!' I replied, ' each pays his own, of course.'

"'Not so fast,' he exclaimed, 'not quite so fast. You
must, pay the costs, or the suit goes on.'

" There was something human in the tenacity with which
that old 'lawyer' clung to the idea of costs. There he
was gasping for breath, his life depending upon the result
of the negotiation, and still he insisted upon the payment
of costs as a condition of compromise."

" Probably out of regard for the interest of his client,"
said Spalding, gravely; " but proceed with the case."

" ' Fisherman,' said I," resumed the Doctor, " ' what is the
cost of these five lawyers ? How much for the fee simple of
the lot ?'

" ' They ain't worth but ninepence,' he replied.

" ' Good,' said I, ' here's a shilling, York currency.' .

" ' Agreed,' said he, and threw in a sucker, by way of
change.

" ' Anything more ?' I asked of the old cormorant lawyer.

" ' No,' he replied; ' all right — so toss us overboard, and
oe quick, for my 'breath is getting a little short.'

3

50 A LAWSUIT AND A COMPROMISE.

" I threw them over, one at a time, the old fellow last, and
as he slipped from my hand into the river, he thrust his
ugly face out of the water, and said, coolly, ' Good morn-
ing! When you come our way again, drop in.'

"'No,' said I, Til drop a line.' I remembered how I
'dropped in,' over on Long Lake, one day, and had no
inclination to drop in to the St. Lawrence, especially when
there are old lawyer fishes there to summon me for assault
and battery on a " Shatagee trout.' "

" Doctor," said Hank Martin, one of our boatmen, who
had been listening to the Doctor's narrative, " I don't want
to be considered for'ard or sassy, but I'd like to know how
much of these kinds of stories we hired folks are obligated
to believe ?"

" Well," replied the Doctor, " there are three of you in
all, and between you, you must make up a reasonable case,
as Spalding would say, of faith in everything you. may hear.
This you may do by dividing it up among you."

"Very good," said Martin, with imperturbable gravity;
" I only wanted a fair understanding of the matter on the
start."

CHAPTER V.

A FRIGHTENED ANIMAL TROLLING FOR TROUT — THE BOAT-

MAN'S STORY.

WE sat in front of onr tents, enjoying the delightful
breeze that swept quietly over the lake, and watching the
stars as they stole out from the depths. The whippoorwill
piped away in the old forests, and the frogs bellowed like
ten thousand buffaloes along the shore. The roar of their
hoarse voices went rolling over the lake, through the old
woods, and surging up against the mountains to be thrown
back by the echoes that dwell among the hills. We had
knocked the ashes from our pipes, and were about retiring
to our tents for the night, when a long wake in the water
across the line of the moon's reflection, attracted our atten-
tion. It was evidently made by some animal swimming,
and the Doctor and Martin started in pursuit. It proved
to be a deer which was apparently making its way to an
island, midway across the lake. They had no desire to
slaughter it, and they concluded to drive it ashore where

* 61

52 A FRIGHTENED ANIMAL.

we were. They headed it in the proper direction, and
followed the terrified animal as it swam for life towards
the island on which we were encamped. We understood
their purpose, and sat perfectly silent. The deer struck the
island directly in front of our tent, and dashed forward in
wild affright, right through the midst of us, towards the
thicket in our rear, glad to be rid of his pursuers on the
water. As he bounded past us, we sprang up and shouted,
and if ever a dumb animal was astonished it was that deer.
He leaped up a dozen feet into the air, bleated out in the
extremity of his terror, and plunged madly forward, as if a
whole legion of fiends were at his tail; The stag hounds
which were tied to a sapling, by their fierce baying, added
vigor to his flight. We heard his snort at every bound
across the island, and his plunge into the lake on the other
side.

In the morning we sent forward our boatman with the
tents and baggage to an island on the Upper Saranac, and
coasted this pleasant little lake. On the right, as you
approach the head, is a deep bay, skirted by a natural mea-
dow, where the rank wild grass, and the pond lilies that
grow along the shore furnish a rich pasture for the deer.
We saw several feeding quietly like sheep, on the little

•

plain and upon the lily pads in the edge of the water. We
paddled silently to within a dozen rods of them, when, as

M

they discovered us, they dashed snorting and whistling
away.

On the right of this meadow, and among the tall forest

TROLLING FOE TROUT. 53

trees are great boulders which, piled up and partly obscured
by the undergrowth, resemble from the lake the massive
ruins of some ancient fortification. We landed by a spring,
which came bubbling up from beneath one of these great
moss-covered rocks, to lunch. It was a pleasant spot, and
while we sat 'there dozens of small birds, of the size and
general appearance of the cuckoo, save in their hooked
beaks, attracted by the scent of our cold meats, came hop-
ping tamely about on the lower limbs of the forest trees
around us. They were called by our boatmen, " meat
hawks," and have less fear of man than any wild birds that
I have ever seen. .

We crossed the carrying place of a quarter of a mile
around the rapids, in which distance the river falls some
sixty feet, roaring and tumbling down ledges and boiling in
mad fury around boulders. We entered the Upper Saranac
at the hour appointed, and found our tents pitched and a
dinner of venison and trout awaiting us on the island
selected for our encampment.

As the sun sank behind the hills, the breeze died away,
and the lake lay without a ripple around us, so calm, so
smooth, and still, that it seemed to have sunk quietly to
sleep in its forest bed. The fish were jumping in every
direction, and while the rest of us sat smoking our meer-
schaums after dinner, or rather supper, Smith rigged his
trolling rod, and having caught half a dozen minnows, he
with Martin, rowed out upon the water to troll for the
lake trout. These are a very different fish from the

54: TROLLING FOB TROUT.

speckled trout of the streams and rivers. They had none
of the golden specks of the latter, are of a darker hue, and
much larger. They are dotted with brown spots, like
freckles upon the face of a fair-skinned girl. They are
shorter too, in proportion to their weight than the speckled
trout. They are caught in these lakes, weighing from three
to fifteen pounds, and instances have been known of their
attaining to the weight of five and twenty. It is an excit-
ing sport to take one of these large fellows on a line of two
hundred and fifty or three hundred feet in length. They
play beautifully when hooked, and it requires a good deal
of coolness and skill to land them safely in your boat. A
trolling rod for these large fish should be much stiffer, and
stronger than those used for the fly, on the* rivers and
streams ; and the reel should be stronger and higher geared
than the common fly reel. Three hundred feet of line are
necessary, for the fish, if he is a large one, will sometimes
determine upon a long flight, and it will not do to exhaust
your line in his career. In that case, he will snap it like a
pack-thread. An English bass rod is the best, and with
such, and a large triple action reel, the largest fish of these
lakes may be secured.

Smith had trolled scarcely a quarter of a mile, when his
hook was struck by a trout, and then commenced a strug-
gle that was pleasant to witness. No sooner had the fish
discovered that the hook was in his jaw, than away he
dashed towards the middle of the lake. The rod was bent
into- a semicircle, but the game was fast ; with the butt

TROLLING FOB TROUT. 55

firm between his knees and his thumb pressing the reel, the
sportsman gave him a hundred and fifty feet of line, when
his efforts began to relax, and as Smith began to reel him
in, a moment of dead pull, a holding back like an obstinate
mule occurred. The trout was slowly towed in the direc-
tion of the boat. Then, as if maddened by the force which
impelled him, he dashed furiously forward, the reel answer-
ing to his movements and the line always taught, he rose to
the surface leaping clear from the water, shaking his head
furiously as if to throw loose the fastenings from his jaw.
Failing in this, down he plunged fifty feet straight towards
the bottom, making the reel hiss by his mad efforts to
escape. Still the line was taught, pressing always, towing
him towards the boat at every relaxation. At last he rose
to the surface, panting and exhausted, permitting himself to
be towed almost without an effort, to within twenty feet of
his captors. When he saw them, all his fright and all his
energies too seemed to be restored, and away he dashed,
sciving through the water a hundred and fifty feet out into
the lake. But the hook was in his jaw, and he could not
escape. After half an hour of beautiful and exciting play,
he surrendered or was drowned, and Smith lifted him with
his landing net, a splendid ten-pound trout, into his boat.
By this time the shadows of twilight were gathering over
the lake, and he came ashore. A proud man was Smith, as
he lifted that fish from the boat and handed it over to the
cook to be dressed for breakfast, and though we had seen
the whole performance from our tents, yet he gave .us iu

56 THE BOATMAN'S STORY.

glowing and graphic detail the history of his taking that
ten-pound trout.

" Captain," said Hank Wood, who had been quietly whit-
ling out a new set of tent pins, addressing Smith, " you had
a good time of it with that trout, but it was nothing to an
adventer of mine with an old mossy-back, on this lake, five
year ago this summer."

" How was that ?" inquired Smith ; and we all gathered
around to hear Hank Wood's story.

" I don't know how it is," he began, as he seated himself
on the log in front of the tents, with one leg hanging down,
and the other drawn up with the heel of his boot caught
on a projection in the bark, his knee almost even with his
nose, and his fingers locked across his shin, " I don't know
exactly why, but the catching of that trout makes me think
of an adventer I had on this very lake, five year ago this
summer. It is curious how things will lay around in a man's
memory, every now and then startin' up and presentin' them-
selves, ready to be talked about — reeled off — as it were, and
then how quietly they coil themselves away, to lay there,
till some new sight, or sound, or idea, or feelin' stirs 'em
into life, and they come up again fresh and plain as ever.
Some people talk about forgotten things, but I don't believe
that any matter that gets fairly anchored in a man's mind, can
ever be forgotten, until age has broken the power of memory.
It is there, and will stay there, in spite of the ten thousand
other things that get piled in on top of it, and some day it
will come popping out like a cork, just as good and distinct

THE BOATMAN'S STORY. 57

as new. But I was talkin' about an adventer I had with a '
trout, five year ago, here on the the Upper Saranac. I was
livin' over on the Au Sable then, and came over to these
parts to spend a week or so, and lay in a store of jerked
venison and trout for the winter. I broughi^mg a bag of
salt, and two or three kegs that would hold a hundred pound
or so apiece, and filled 'em too with as beautiful orange-
meated fellows as you'd see in a day's drive. The trout were
plentier than they are now. They hadn't been fished by all
the sportin' men in creation, and they had a chance to grow
to their nateral size. You wouldn't in them days row
across any of these lakes in. the trollin' season without
hitchin' on to an eight, or ten, and now and then to a twenty-
pounder.

" Wai, I was on the Upper Saranac, up towards the head
of the lake, ten or twelve miles from here, trollin' with an
old-fashioned line, about as big as a pipe stem, a hundred
and fifty feet long, and a hook to match. Nobody in them
days tho't of sich contrivances as trollin'-rods, reels, and
minny-gangs. You held your lines in your fingers, and when
you hooked a fish, you drew him in, hand over hand, in a
human way. It was in the latter part of June, and the way
the black flies swarmed along the shore, was a thing to set
anybody a scratchin' that happened to be around. It was a
clear still mornin', and the sun as he went up into the
heavens, blazed away, and as he walked across the sky, if
he didn't pour down his heat like a furnace, I wouldn't say
so. I had tolerable good luck in the forenoon, and landed

3*

58 THE BOATMAN'S STOKY.

* on a rocky island to cook dinner. I made such a meal as a
hnngry man makes when he's out all alone fishin' and hunt-
in' about these waters, and started off across the lake, with
my trollin' line to the length of a hundred feet or more,
draggin' tliMpjh the water behind me. The breeze had
freshened a little, and my boat drifted about fast enough
for trollin', and feelin' a little drowsy, I tied the end of the
line to the cleets across the knees of the boat, and lay down
in the bottom with my hand out over the side holdin' the
line. I hadn't laid there long, when I felt a twitch as if
something mighty big was medlin' with the other end of the
string. I started up and undertook to pull in, but you
might as well undertake to drag an elephant with a thread.
I couldn't move him a hair. Pretty soon the boat began to
move up the lake in a way 1 didn't at all like. At first it
went may be three miles an hour, then five, ten, twenty,
forty, sixty miles the hour, round and round the lake, as if
hurled along by a million of locomotives. We went skiving
around among the islands, into the bays, along the shore,
away out across the lake, crossing and re-crossing in every
direction ; and if there's a place about this lake we didn't
visit, I should like to have somebody tell me where it is.
You may think it made my hair stand out some, to find my-
self flyin' about like a strealc of chain lightnin', and to see
the trees and rocks flyin' like mad the other way. I tried
to untie the line, but it was drawn into a knot so hard, that
the old Nick himself couldn't move it. I looked for my knife
to cut it, but it had, somehow, got overboard ia our flight,

THE BOATMAN'S STOBY. 59

besides flyin' about at the rate of sixty mile an hour, kept
a fellow pretty busy holdin' on, keepin' his place in the
boat.

" After an hour or two we came to a pause, and the old
feller that was .towin' me about, walked uivtp the surface,
and stickin' his head out of the water, Mjood morninV
says he, in a very perlite sort of way. ' Good mornin','
says I, back again. ' Haw goes it ?' says he. ' All right,'
says I. ' Step this way and FH take the hod"! out of your
gums.' ' Thank you for nothing,' says he, and he opened
his mouth like the entrance to a railroad tunnel, and blame
me, if he hadn't taken a double hitch of the line around
his eye tooth, while the hook hung harmless beside hia
jaw.

" ' I've a little business down in the lower lake," says he,
1 and must be movin',' and away he bolted like a steam en-
gine, down the lake. When he straightened up, my hat
flew more than sixty yards behind me, and the way I came
down into the bottom of the boat was anything but plea-
sant. Away we tore down towards the outlet, the boat
cuttin' and plowin' through the water, pilin' it up in great
furrows ten feet high on each side. There is, as you know,
sixty feet fall between the Upper Saranac and Eound Lake,
and the river goes boilin' and roarin', tumblin' and heavin'
down the rapids and over the rocks, pitchin' in some places
square down a dozen feet among the boulders. No sensible
man would think of travellin' that road in a little craft like
mine, unless he'd made up his mind to see how it would

60 THE BOATMAN'S STORY.

seem to be drowned, or smashed to pieces agin the rocks.
But right down the rapids we went, swifter than an eagle in
his stoop, down over the boilin' eddies, down over the foam-
in' surge, down the perpendicular falls, as if the old Nick
himself was kickin' us on end. How we got down I won't
undertake to say, but when I got breath and looked out
over the side of the boat I saw the old woods and rocks
along the shore below the falls, rushin' up stream like a race-
horse. *

" Wai, we entered Round Lake, crossed it in five minutes,
and down the river we rushed over the little falls at a bound,
and into the Lower Saranac. I'd got a little used to it by
this time, and though it was mighty hard work to catch my
breath in such a wind as we made by our flight, yet I ma-
naged to sit up and look around me. It was curious to see
how the islands on the Lower Saranac danced about, and
how -the shores ran away behind while I was looking at
'em ; and how the forest trees dodged, and whirled, and
jumped about one another, as we tore along. After tearin'
about the lake a spell, we came to something like a halt,
and old Mossyback stuck his head out of water, and openin'
his great glassy eyes like the moon in a mist, ' How do you
like that ?' said he, in a jeerin' sort of way. ' All right,'
said I ; ' go it while you're young.' I didn't care about
appearin' skeered or uneasy, but I'd have given a couple of
month's wages just then, to have been on dry land. ' Well,'
said he, ' I guess we'll be gittin' towards home.' And away
he started for the Upper Saranac, and up the river, across

THE BOATMAN'S STOET. 61

Kound Lake, and right up over the rapids we went. Two
or three times I made up my mind that I was a goner, as
the water piled up around me along over the falls ; but
somehow our very speed made our boat glance upward at
such tunes, and skim along the surface like a duck. We
went boundin' from hillock to hillock, on the mad waters,
till we entered the broad lake and went skiving about again
among the islands.

" All at once he seemed to take a notion to go down to-
wards the bottom ; so shortenin' the line some fifty foot or
more, he hoisted his great tail straight up towards the sky,
and down he went, the boat standing' up on eend, and some-
how the waters didn't seem to close above us, so rapid was
our descent. It was tight work, as you may guess, to hold on
under such circumstances, but I managed to keep my place.
How deep we went I wont undertake to say, but this much
is quite sartin, we went down so far that I couldn't see out at
the hole we went in at. There are some mighty big fish
away down in them parts, you may bet your life on that ;
trout that it wouldn't be pleasant to handle.

" By-and-bye we started for daylight again. The fish had
to stand out of the way as we rushed like an express train
towards the surface ; them that didn't we made a smash of.
One bull head, I remember, about twice as long as one of
our boats wasn't quick enough ; the bow of the boat struck
him about in the middle and cut him in two like a knife.
One old trout seemed to have made up his mind for a fight,

62 .THE BOATMAN'S BTOBT.

and he chased us more than two miles with his jaws open
like a great pair of clamps, as if he'd a mind to swallow us
boat and all, and from the size of the openin', I'm bold to
say he'd a done it too, if he'd have caught us ; but as we
rounded an island, he run head foremost, jam against a
rock. That kind o' stunned him, and he gave in.

"Wai, after we got to the surface, the trout that was
towin' me, seemed to let on an extra amount of steam for a
mile or so, and let me say the way we went was a caution.
I've travelled on the cars in my day, when they made every
thing gee again, but that kind o'goin' wasn't a circumstance
to the way we tore along. The water rose up on either
hand more than twenty feet, and went roarin', and tumblin',
and hissin', as if everything was goin' to smash. All at
once the line was thrown loose, and the boat went straight
ahead bows on, to one of the small islands up towards the
head of the lake, and when she struck, I went through the
air eend over eend, clear across the island, more than fifteen
rods, ca-splash into the lake on the other side.

" Human nater couldn't stand all that, so startin' up I
found that while I'd been layin' in the bottom of the boat the
wind had ris, and was blowin' a stiff gale. The boat had
drifted across the lake and had struck broadside agin the
shore, and the waves were makin' a clean breach into her at
every surge. I soon got her, head on to the waves, and
feelin' something mighty lively at the other eend of the line,
hauled in a twelve-pounder."

THE BOATMAN'S BTORY. 63

" Pshaw 1" exclaimed one of the audience ; " you've only
been telling a dream, in this long yarn, we've been listen-
ing to."

" Wai," replied the narrator ; " some people that I've
told it to, have suspicioned that it might be so ; but every
thing about it seemed so nateral, that I'm ahnost ready to
make my affidavy that it was sober fact. One thing, how-
ever, I always had my doubts about : I never fully believed,
that I was actually pitched over that island. I've hearn it
said that when a man has eaten a hearty dinner, and goes
to sleep with the hot sun pourin' right down on him, he's
apt to see and hear a good many strange things before he
wakes up. May be it was so with me."

CHAPTER VI.

THE UPPER SARANAC — SPECTACLE PONDS — THE ACCUSATION AND
THE DEFENCE — AN OCTOGENARIAN SMOKER.

WE spent the next day in rowing about the Upper Sara-
nac, exploring its beautiful bays and islands. We took as
many trout in trolling occasionally, as we needed for dinner
and supper. It became an established law among us, that
we should kill no more game or fish than we needed for sup-
plies, whatever their abundance or our temptation might be.
It required some self-denial to observe this law, but we kept
it with tolerable strictness. There were times when we had
a large supply of both venison and fish, but there were seven
men of us in all, and we could despose of a good deal of
flesh and fish in the twenty-four hours. We had sent our
boat with the luggage across the Indian carrying place, a
path of a mile through the forest, to the Spectacle Ponds,
three little lakes, from which a stream, known as Stony
Brook, rises. This stream is navigable for small boats like
ours, five miles to the Rackett River. These lakes contain

64

SPECTACLE PONDS. 65

from a hundred to a hundred and fifty acres each. At the
head of the Upper Pond is a beautiful cold spring,' near
which, upon crossing the carrying place, at evening, we found
our tents pitched. We arrived here about sundown, some-
what wearied with our day's excursion, and with appetites
fully equal to a plentiful supper which was soon in rea-
diness for us.

" You are getting me into a bad habit, spoiling my mo-
rals in a physical sense," said Smith, addressing us as we sat
after supper around our camp-fire ; " I find myself taking to
the pipe out here, in these old woods, with a relish I never
have at home. It seems to agree with me here, and I ex-
pect by the tune I get back to civilization, I shall be as
great a smoker as the Doctor or Spalding. If I do, I shall
have to pay -for it by indigestion and hypochondria, things
that you of the fat kine, know nothing about."

" Well," replied the Doctor, " You will only have to call
on me as you did last month, and then send for Spalding to
draw your will, as you did the next day, when you were as
well as I am, excepting that kink in your head about your
going to die."

" Why, the truth is," retorted Smith, " I had made up my
mind, after twelve hours consideration, to take the medicine

you left, and I appeal to H here, if it was after that,

anything more than a reasonable precaution to be prepared
for any contingency that might happen. Your medicines,
Doctor, and the testamentary disposition of a man's worldly
effects, are very natural associations."

66 THE ACCUSATION AND THE DEFENCE.

" Very well," said the Doctor ; " you'll send for me again
in a month after our return, and in that case, it may be,
that the money you paid Spalding for drawing your will,
will not have been thrown away. But in regard to the use
of the pipe ; I propose that we call upon Spalding, for
a legal opinion, or an argument in its favor. It's his busi-
ness to defend criminals, and I file an accusation against
smoking generally, excepting, however, from the indictments
the use of the pipe, as in some sort a necessity, on all such
excursions as ours."

" I shall not undertake," said Spalding, " to enter into
a labored defence of the use of tobacco in any form. I
only move for a mitigation of punishment, and will state the
circumstances upon which I base my appeal to the clemency
of the court. The exception in the indictment, enables me
to avoid the plea of necessity, which I should have inter-
posed, founded upon a huge forest meal, and the abundance
as well as impertinence of the musquitoes of these woods."

" I called the other day upon a venerable friend and client,
who is travelling the down hill of life quietly, and though
with the present summer he will have accomplished his three
score years and ten, his voice is as cheerful, and his heart
as young, as they were decades ago, when his manhood was
in the glory and strength of its prime. I found him sitting
in his great awn-chair, smoking his accustomed pipe, reading
the evening papers. He seemed to be so calm, and happy,
as the smoke went wreathing up from his lips, that I could
not for the moment refrain from envying the calmness and

AN OCTOGENABIAH BMOKEE. 67

repose which were visible all around him. He has smoked
his morning and evening pipe, in his quiet way, for nearly
half a century. When engaged in the active business of
life, struggling with its cares, and fighting its battles, he
always took half an hour in the morning, and as long at
evening, to smoke his pipe and read the news of the day.
He scarcely ever, when at home, under any pressure of cir-
cumstances omitted these two half hours of repose, or as
his excellent wife used to say, of ' fumigation.' She passed
to her rest years ago, leaving behind her the pleasant
odor of a good name, a memory cherished by all who
knew her.

" Men denounce the use of tobacco, and I do not quarrel
with them for doing so. Say that it is a vile and a filthy
habit ; be it so, I will not now stop to deny it. Say that it
is bad for the constitution, ruinous to the health ; be it so.
I will not gainsay it. Still I never see an old man, seated
in his great arm chair, with his grandchildren playing
around him, smoking his pipe and enjoying its, to him, plea-
sant perfume, its soothing influences, without regarding that
same pipe as an institution which I would hardly be willing
to banish entirely from the world.

" There is a good deal of philosophy, too, in a pipe, if one
will but take the trouble to study it ; great subjects for
moralizing, much food for reflection ; and all this outside of
the physical enjoyment, the soothing influences of a quiet
pipe, when the day is drawing to a close, and its cares
require some gentle force to banish them away. It does not

68 AN OCTOGENARIAN SMOKES.

weaken the power of thought, nor stultify the brain. It
quiets the nerves, makes a man look in charity upon the
world, and to judge with a chastened lenity the short-
comings of his neighbors. It reconciles him to his lot, and
sends him to his pillow, or about his labors, with a calm
deliberate cheerfulness, very desirable to those who come
under the law that requires people to earn their bread by
the sweat of their brow.

" I said there is a good deal of philosophy in a pipe, and
I repeat it. Who can see the smoke go wreathing and curl-
ing upward from his lips in all sorts of fantastic shapes,
spreading out thinner and thinner, till it fades away and is
lost among the invisible things of the air, without saying to
himself, ' Such are the visions of youth ; such the hopes,
the grand schemes of life, looming up in beautiful distinct-
ness before the mind's eye, growing fainter and fainter as
life wears away, and then disappearing forever. Such are
the things of this life, beautiful as they appear, unsubstan-
tial shadows all.' And then, as the fire consumes the weed,
exhausting itself upon the substance which feeds it, burning
lower and lower, till it goes out for lack of aliment, who
will not be reminded of life itself ? the animated form, the
body instinct with vitality, changing and changing as time
sweeps along, till the spirit that gave it vigor and comeli-
ness, and power and beauty, is called away, and it becomes
at last mere dust and ashes. And then again, when the pipe
itself falls from the teeth, or the table, or the mantel, or the
shelf — as fall it surely will, sooner or later — and is broken,

AN OCTOGENARIAN SMOKEK. 69

and the fragments are thrown out of the window, or swept
out at the door, who can fail to see in this, the type of
life's closing scene ? the body broken by disease and death,
carried away and hidden in the earth, to remain among the
useless rubbish of the past, to be seen no more forever ?
Yes, yes 1 there is a great deal of philosophy in a pipe, if
people will take pains to study it.

" I have a pleasant time of it once or twice a year with
an old gentleman, living away in the country ; one whom
memory calls up from the dim and shadowy twilight of my
earliest recollections, as a tall stalwart man, already the
head of a family with little children around him. Those
who were then little children have grown up to be men and
women, and have drifted, away upon the currents of life,
themselves fathers and mothers, with grey hairs gathering
upon their heads. I visit this venerable philosopher in his
hearty and green old age, every summer. I see him now, in
my mind's eye, sitting under the spreading branches of the
trees planted by himself half a century ago, which cast their
shadows upon the pleasant lawn in front of his dwelling —
discussing politics, morals, history, religion, philosophy —
recounting anecdotes of the early settlement of the county
of which he was a pioneer : and I see how calmly and
deliberately he smokes, while he calls up old memories from
the shadowy past, discoursing wisely of the present, or
speaking prophetically of the future. I saw him last in
July of the past year, and he seemed to have changed in
nothing. He had not grown older in outward seeming. His

70 AN OCTOGENANIAN SMOKER.

heart was as warm and genial as it was long, long ago ; and
cheerfulness, calm and chastened, marked as it had for years
the conversation of a man who felt that his mission in life
was accomplished. 'Why,' said he, addressing me, as a new
thought seemed to strike him, ' why, your head is growing
grey I I never noticed it before. It is almost as white as
mine. Well, well !' he continued, as he tapped the thumb
nail of his left hand with the inverted bowl of his pipe, knock-
ing the ashes from it as he spoke, ' well, well I it won't be
Jong until we will have smoked our last pipe. Mine, at
least, will soon be broken. But what of that ? Seventy-
eight years is a long time to live in this world. I have
had my share of life and of the good pertaining to it, and
shall have no right to complain when my pipe is broken
and its ashes scattered.' Such was the philosophy of an
almost Octogenarian smoker."

"I move for a suspension of sentence," said Smith,
" Spalding's defence of the weed, induces me to withdraw
the indictment against it, leaving punishment only for the
excessive use of it."

The motion was carried unanimously, and by way of con-
firming the decision, we all refilled our pipes and smoked
till the stars looked down in their brightness from the
fathomless depths of the sky.

CHAPTEE VII.

KINKS ! — " DIRTY DOGS " — THE BARKING DOG THAT WAS FOUND
DEAD IN THE YARD — THE DOG THAT BARKED HIMSELF TO
DEATH.

" THE hallucinations of Smith," said Spalding, after we
had settled the matter of the pipes, and were enjoying a
fresh pull at the weed, " as described by the Doctor, remind
me of a slight attack of fever which I had some months ago,
and from which I recovered partly through the aid of the
Doctor's medicine, and partly through the kindness of a
young friend of mine ; and of the strange ' kinks/ as you
call them, which got into my head between the fever and
the Doctor's opiates. Things were strangely mixed up, the
real and the unreal grouped and mingled in a manner that
gave to all the just proportions and appearance of sober
actualities. I remember them as distinctly, and they made
as deep and abiding impression upon my mind as if I had
seen them all. They are impressed as palpably and indeli-
bly upon my memory now as any actual events of my life."

Tl

72 KINKS! — "DEBTY DOGS."

" Well," said the Doctor, " suppose you give us one of
these ' kinks/ while our pipes are being smoked out, as an
' opiate ' to send us all to sleep."

"Be it understood, then," Spalding began, "that I like
dogs in a general way. They are plain dealing, honest,
trusty folk in the aggregate, albeit, there are what Tom
Benton calls, 'dirty dogs.' These, however, are mostly
human canines, dogs that walk on two legs, and wear clothes.
Such curs I don't like. But there are such, and they may be
seen and heard, barking, and snarling, and snapping in their
envy, at honest peoples' heels every day. Let them bark.
Mr. Benton was right. They are ' dirty dogs.' But a dog
that looks you honestly and frankly in the face, that stands
by his master and friend, in all times of trial, in sorrow as
in joy, in adversity as in prosperity, in dark days as in bright
days, always cheerful, always sincere, earnest, and truthful,
and so that his kindness be met, always happy, I like. He is
your true nobility of nature below the human. But there
are ' curs of low degree ;' dogs of neither genial instinct nor
breeding ; senseless animals, that belie the noble nature of
their species, are living libels upon their kind. There was
one of these over against my rooms, at the tune of the sick-
ness I speak of. I say was for thanks to the fates, he is
among the things that have been ; he belongs to history,
has been wiped out.

" He was a barking dog. When the moon was in the sky,
he barked at the moon. When only the stars shone out, he
barked at the stars ; when clouds shut in both moon and

THE BARKING DOG. 73

stars, he barked at the clouds ; and when the darkness was
so deep and black as to obscure even the clouds, he barked
at the darkness. Through all the long night he barked,
barked, barked ! It was not a bark of defiance, nor of alarm,
nor of astonishment, nor of warning. It was not a note of
danger, breaking the hush of midnight, saying that thieves
were abroad, that murder was on its stealthy mission,
or that the wolf was on the walk. It was a senseless,
monotonous, idiotic bow, wow I Nothing more, nothing
less.

- " All Monday night, as I lay tossing upon a bed of pain,
when fever was coursing through my veins, and every pulse
went plunging like a steam engine from the gorged heart
to every extremity, and my brain was like molten lead, I
heard that terrible bark ! It was my evil genius, my des-
tiny. It mingled in every feverish dream, became the
embodiment of every vision. I measured the periods of its
recurrence by the clock that stands in the corner of our
room. I counted the tickings of its silence, and I counted
the tickings of its continuance. Every swing of the pendu-
lum became a distinct period of existence. Minutes, hours,
were nothing. Forty-four tickings, I said, and that bow,
wow ! will be heard again 1 Fifteen tickings, I said, and
it will cease ; and so I went on until the hours seemed to
spread out into a boundless ocean of time. That dog some-
how became mixed up with that old family clock that stood
in the corner. I heard him scratching and climbing up
among the weights, writhing and twisting his way among

4

74: THE BARKING DOG.

the machinery, till there, looking out through the face of
that old family clock, distinct and palpable as the sun at
noonday, or the moon in a cloudless night, I saw the ogre
head of that 'dog ; his great glassy, fishy eyes, his half
drooping, half erect ears, his slavering jaws, and as he gazed
in a stupid meaningless stare upon me, uttered his everlast-
ing bow, wow ! Tell me that the room was dark ; that
not a ray of light penetrated the closed doors or the cur-
tained windows. What of that ? That dog's head, I repeat,
was there ; I saw it, if I ever saw the sun, the moon or the
bright stars. I saw it staring at me through all the gloom,
all the thick darkness, and I heard its terrible bow, wow !
' Get out !' I shouted in horror.

" ' What's the matter T cried my wife, springing up hi an
ecstasy of terror.

" ' Drive out that dog/ I replied.

" ' What dog ?' she inquired.

" ' There,' I replied, ' that dog there, in the clock with his
great staring, glassy eyes ; drive him out !'

" She lighted the gas, and as it flashed up, there stood
the old clock, the pendulum swung back and forth, the tick-
ing went on, and its white old-fashioned face, looked out in
calm serenity; but the dog was gone. It was all natural as
life. The lighting of the gas had frightened the cur back
to his yard, and as the forty-fourth tick ceased, his bow,
wow ! was heard again, and it lasted while the pendulum
swung back and forth just fifteen times. I took a cooling
draft, and counted in feverish agony forty-four, and fifteen,

THE BARKING DOG. 75

till the daylight came creeping in at the windows, filling
with sepulchral greyness the room. The barking ceased,
and I slept only to dream of snarling curs and ' dirty dogs '
for an hour.

" Through all Tuesday I lay tossing with pain. Fever
was in every pulse ; my brain was seething, burning lava.
I thought and dreamed of nothing but mangy curs and
' dirty dogs.' The night gathered again, and the rumbling
of the carriages and the thousand voices that break the
stillness of a thronged city, died away into silence. The
lights were extinguished, but again that horrible bark !
bark ! broke the hush of midnight, and worse than all, the
quickened senses of fever heard it answered from away over
on Arbor Hill ; and again away up in State street ; and
yet again over in Lydius, and still again away down by the
river. The East, the North, the West and the South had
a voice, and it was all concentrated in a ceaseless, senseless,
idiotic bark. I counted again the tickings of the clock, and
each swing of the pendulum ended in a bark ! As I lay
there in the silence and desolation, the restless, tossing
anguish of fever, those dogs gathered together in State at
the crossing of Eagle, just above my boarding-house, and
barked ! They came under my windows, and barked !
They looked in between the curtains, and barked ! They
came into my room, and there on the sofa, on the rocking-
chair, on the table, on the mantelpiece, on the ottoman, on
the stove, and on the top of the old clock, was a dog ; and
each barked ! and barked 1 I saw them all through the dark-

76 THE BAKKING DOG.

ness, plain as if it were noonday. They were ' dirty dogs/
filthy brutes, ill-favored mangy curs all, and there they sat
and barked at the clock, barked at the mirror, at the store,
barked at one another and at me, with the same monotonous^,
meaningless, idiotic bow, wow ! as of old.

I had two rifles and a double-barrelled fowling-piece,
sitting in the corner of the parlor adjoining our sleeping-
room, the gifts of valued friends. My wife, wearied with
the day's watching, had sunk into slumber on the bed beside
me. I woke her gently.

" ' Make no noise,' I said, ' but bring me the guns ; do it
carefully.'

" ' What on earth do you want of the guns ?' she inquired
in alarm.

" ' Don't you see those infernal dogs ?' I answered, ' bring
me the guns, and I'll make short work with the howling
curs.'

" ' Why, husband,' said she, ' there are no dogs here,'
and as she lighted the gas the curs vanished away. Bat
I saw them in the darkness. It was only when the light
flashed through the room, that they fled from it, and I heard
them barking in response to each other through all the
long night, till the dawn crept over the world again.

" Years ago, I saved a boy from the meshes of the law, in
which his evil ways had involved him. I admonished him
of the end towards which he was hastening. I showed him
that the path he was treading led to destruction, and he
left it, as he said, forever. He apprenticed himself to a use-

» THE BASKING DOG. 77

ful trade, and is now an intelligent mechanic. Out of his
time, an industrious, sober youth of two and twenty, sup-
porting by his industry, his mother and sister in comfort
and respectability. He heard of my sickness, and on Wed-
nesday morning called to see me, proffering his services as a
nurse and watchman, prompted by gratitude for the past.
I declined his kindness for the present, as I told him casually
of the dog whose midnight barking was killing me. He
called again on Thursday morning. The barking had
ceased. He inquired if I had been troubled with the yelp-
ing of that senseless cur, and I answered truly that I had
not, that I had slept soundly, and woke with a softened
pulse and a cooled brain.

" ' Well/ said he, ' I thought you would rest easier. I
looked into the yard as I came along, and saw a dead dog
lying there. I thought may be he had barked himself to
death.'

" I did not at the time take in the full meaning, the hidden
import of his words. I dropped away into slumber, and
dreamed of the dog that barked himself to death. I saw
him vanish by piecemeal at each successive bark, until
nothing but his jaws were left, and as his last bark was
uttered, these, too, vanished away, and then all was still.

" I awoke, and thought that a dose of ' dog-buttons/ or
a taste of strychnine, administered with a tempting bit of
cold steak, or a piece of fresh lamb, or a bone of mutton
carefully dropped in his way, might have aided the oper-

78 THE DEAD DOG.

ation. Be that as it may, whatever of debt may have
existed between my young friend and myself for past kind-
ness, it is all wiped out by the news he brought me, that a
' dead dog lay in the yard over the way.' "

CHAPTER VIII.

STONY BROOK A GOOD TIME WITH THE TROUT — RACKETT RIVER

— TUPPER'S LAKE — A QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED.

THE next morning we started down Stony Brook, towards
the Rackett River, intending to pitch our tents at night on
the banks of Tapper's Lake, twenty-three miles distant.
Before leaving the Spectacle Ponds, we visited a littte island
at the north end .of the middle pond, containing perhaps
half an acre. This island has a few Norway pines upon it,
is of a loose sandy soil, and at the highest portion is some
twenty feet above the level of the water. It is a great resort
for turtle in the season of depositing their eggs. We found
thousands of their eggs, some on the surface and some
buried in the sand, and if one in a dozen of them brings
forth a turtle, there will be no lack of the animal in the
neighborhood. Stony Brook is a sluggish, tortuous stream,
large enough to float our little boats, and goes meandering
most of the way for five miles among natural meadows,
overflowed at high water, or thinly timbered prairie, when

19

80 STONY BROOK.

k •

it enters the Rackett. I discovered on a former yisit to this
wilderness, when the water was very low, a spring that came
boiling up near the centre of the stream, with a volume
large enough almost to carry a mill. It was at a point
where a high sandy bluff, along which the stream swept,
terminated. As we approached this spot, I suggested to
Spalding, who was in the bow of the boat, to prepare his rod
and fly. We approached carefully along the willows on
the opposite shore, until in a position from which he could
throw in the direction I indicated. In the then stage of the
water, there was no appearance of a spring, or any indica-
tion marking it as a spot where the trout would be at all
likely to congregate, and Spalding was half inclined to
believe that I was practising upon his want of knowledge of
the habits of the fish of this region. I had said nothing
about the spring, or the habit of the trout in gathering
wherever a cold stream enters a river, or a spring comes
gushing up in its bed.

" I don't believe there's a trout within half a mile of us,"
he said, as he adjusted his rod and fly.

" Never mind," I replied, " throw your fly across towards
that boulder on the bank, and trail it home, and you'll
see."

" Well," said he, " here goes ;" and he threw in the direc-
tion indicated.

The .fly had scarcely touched the water when a trout,
weighing a pound or over, struck it with a rush that carried
him clear out of the water. After a little play he was

A GOOD TIME WITH THE TBOTJT. 81

landed safely in the boat, and another, and another, fol-
lowed at almost every throw. Not once did the fly touch
the water that it was not risen to by a fish.

" By Jove 1" said Spalding, as he handed me the landing-
net to take in his third or fourth trout, "this is sport.
You use the net, and I'll trail them to you. Let us make
hay while the sun shines. The other boat will soon be
along, and Smith will be for dipping his spoon into my dish.
I want to astonish him when he comes."

We had secured eight beautiful fish when the Doctor and
Smith rounded the point above us. We motioned them
back, and their boat lay upon its oars. Spalding kept on
throwing his fly and trailing the trout to me to secure with
the landing-net."

" Hallo I" shouted Smith, " hold on there ; fair play, my
friends, give me a hand in," and he fell to adjusting his rod
and flies.

" Keep back, you lubber," replied Spalding ; " what do
you know about trout-fishing ? You'll frighten them all
away by your awkwardness."

" No you don't 1" shouted Smith, his rod now adjusted.
" Drop down, boatman, and we'll see who is the lubber.
Wait, Spalding ! Don't throw, if you are a true man, until
we can take a fair start, and then the one that comes out
second best pays the piper."

The boat dropped down to the proper position, and the
Doctor, who was seated in the stern, held it in place by

4*

82 RA.CKETT KIVEE.

pressing his paddle into the sand at the bottom, while the
boatman handled the landing net.

" Now 1" exclaimed Smith, as the flies dropped upon the
water together above the cold spring. There was no lack
of trout, for one rose to the fly at every cast.

" I say," said the Doctor, " how many have you in your
boat ?"

" Sixteen," I replied, after counting them.

" We've got eight, and I bar a,ny more fishing. The law
has reached its limit. No wanton waste of the good things
of God, you know."

The rods were unjointed and laid away, and such a string
of trout as we had, is rarely seen outside of the Saranac
woods. We procured fresh grass in which to lay our
fish, and green boughs to cover them, and floated on down
the stream, entering the Rackett at nine o'clock. The
Rackett is a most beautiful river. To me at least it is so,
for it flows on its tortuous and winding way for a hundred
or more miles through an unbroken forest, with all the
old things standing in their primeval grandeur along its
banks. The woodman's axe has not marred the loveliness
of its surroundings, and no human hand has for all that
distance been laid upon its mane, or harnessed it to the
great wheel, making it a slave, compelling it to be utili-
tarian, to grind corn or throw the shuttle and spin. It
moves on towards the mighty St. Lawrence as wild,
and halterless, and free, as when the Great Spirit sent it

BACK-KIT EIVEB. 83

forward on its everlasting flow. The same scenery, and the
same voices are seen and heard along its banks now as then;
and, while man, in his restlessness, has changed almost
everything else, the Kackett and the things that pertained
to it when the earth was yonng, remain unchanged. Bnt
this will not be so long. Civilization is pushing its way
even towards this wild and, for all agricultural purposes,
sterile region, and before many years even the Rackett will
be within its ever-extending circle. When that time shall
have arrived, where shall we go to find the woods, the wild
things, the old forests, and hear the sounds which belong
to nature in its primeval state ? Whither shall we flee from
civilization, to take off the harness and be free, for a season,
from the restraints, the conventionalities of society, and
rest from the hard struggles, the cares and toils, the strifes
and competitions of life ? Had I my way, I would mark out
a circle of a hundred miles hi diameter, and throw around it
the protecting segis of the constitution. I would make it a
forest forever. It should be a misdemeanor to chop down a
tree, and a felony to clear an acre within its boundaries.
The old woods should stand here always as God made
them, growing on until the earthworm ate away their roots,
and the strong winds hurled them to the ground, and new
woods should be permitted to supply the place of the old so
long as the earth remained. There is room enough for
civilization in regions better fitted for it. It has no business
among these mountains, these rivers and lakes, these gigan-
tic boulders, these tangled valleys and dark mountain gorges.

81 TOPPER'S T.ATTR.

Let it go where labor will garner a richer harvest, and
industry reap a better reward for its toil. It will be of
stinted growth at best here.

" I like these old woods," said a gentleman, whom I met
on the Rackett last year ; " I like them, because one can do
here just what he pleases. He can wear a shirt a week,
have holes in his pantaloons, and be out at elbows, go with
his boots unblacked, drink whisky in the raw, chew plug
tobacco, and smoke a black pipe, and not lose his position
in society. Now," continued he, " tho' I don't choose to do
any of these things, yet I love the freedom, now and then,
of doing just all of them if I choose, without human
accountability. The truth is, that it is natural as well
as necessary for every man to be a vagabond occasionally, to
throw off the restraints imposed upon him by the necessities
and conventionalities of civilization, and turn savage for a
season, and what place is left for such transformation, save
these northern forests ?"

The idea was somewhat quaint, but to me it smacked
of philosophy, and I yielded it a hearty assent. I would
consecrate these old forests, these rivers and lakes, these
mountains and valleys to the Vagabond Spirit, and make
them a plaqe wherein a man could turn savage and rest, for
a fortnight or a month, from the toils and cares of life.

We entered TOPPER'S LAKE towards six o'clock, and saw
our white tents pitched upon the left bank, some half a mile
above the outlet, where a little stream, cold almost as
jcewater, comes down from a spring a short way back in the

TUPPEK'S LAKE. 85

forest. This lake, some tea miles long, and from one to
three in width, is one of the most beautiful sheets of water
that the eye of man ever looked upon. The scenery about
it is less bold than that of some of the other lakes of
this region. The hills rise with a gentle acclivity from the
shore ; behind them and far off rise rugged mountain
ranges ; and further still, the lofty peaks of the Adiron-
dacks loom up in dim and shadowy outline against the sky.
From every point and in every direction, are views of placid
and quiet beauty rarely equalled ; valleys stretching away
among the highlands ; gaps in the hills, through which the
sunlight pours long after the shadows of the forest have
elsewhere thrown themselves across the lake ; islands, some
bold and rocky, rising in barren desolation, right up from
the deep water ; some covered with a dense and thrifty
growth of evergreen trees, with a soil matchless in fertility ;
and some partaking of both the sterile and productive ;
beautiful bays stealing around bold promontories, and
hiding away among the old woods. These are the features
of this beautiful sheet of water, which none see but to
admire, none visit but to praise ; and it lies here all alone,
surrounded by the old hills and forests, bold bluff's, and
rocky shores, all as God made them, with no mark of the
hand of man about it, save in a single spot on a secluded
bay, where lives a solitary family in a log house, surrounded
by an acre or two, from which the forest has been cleared
away.

" Will somebody tell me," said Smith, as we sat 011

86 A QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED.

the logs in front of onr tent after supper, smudging away
the musquitoes with our pipes, " will somebody tell me what
we came into this wilderness among these musquitoes, and
frogs, and owls for ? Mind you, I am not discontented ;
I enjoy it hugely ; but what I want to know is why I do so ?
I desire to understand the philosophy of the thing."

" As the question involves, in some sense, a physiological
fact," replied the Doctor, " it comes within the range of my
professional duties to understand and be able to answer it,
for you must know that the enjoyments of this region
are primarily physical. Now I've a theory which is this —
that every man has a certain amount of vagabondism
in his composition that will be pretty certain to break out
in spots occasionally. At all events it is so with me, and
from my observation of men, I am strong in the faith that
it is so with every one who is neither more nor less than
human. It is all a mistake to suppose that I come off here,
enduring a heap of hardship and toil, simply for the love of
fishing and hunting, though I confess to a weakness to a
certain extent that way. The charm of this regjon consists
in the fact, that it is the best place to play the vagabond,
and in which to do the savage for a season, that I know of.
You can go bareheaded or barefooted, without a coat or
neckerchief, get as ragged and untidy as you please, without
subjecting yourself to remark, or offending the nice sense of
propriety pertaining to conventional life. You are not
responsible for what you say or do, provided always that
you do not offend against the abstract rules of decency,

LONESOME ROCK. 87

or the requirements of natural decorum. You can lay
around loose ; the lazier you are the better the boatman
in your employ likes it. If you choose to drift leisurely and
quietly under the shadow of the hills along the shore,
examining the rocks that lie there like a ruined wall, or
explore the beautiful and secluded bays that hide around
behind the bluffs, or lay off under the shade of the fir trees
on the islands, or smoke your cigar or pipe by the beautiful
spring that comes bubbling up by the side of some moss-
covered boulder, or from beneath the tangled roots of some
gnarled birch or maple, you can do any or all of these, and
have a man to help you for twelve shillings a day and board,
or you can do it just about as well alone.

" You remember LONESOME KOCK, in the Lower Saranac, a
great boulder that lifts its head some ten or fifteen feet above
the surface, away out near the middle of the lake, around
which the water is of unknown depth. This rock, which is
always dark and* bare, is, as you will remember, of conical
shape, sharp pointed at the top, and stands up about the
size of a small hay-stack, in the midst of the waters. Do
you remember the account that somebody gives in a ragged
but terse kind of verse, of the ' gentleman in black/ who,
as he walked about,

' Backward and forward he switched his long tail,
As a gentleman switches his cane?'

And of whose dress it was facetiously said :

' His coat was red and his breeches were blue,
With a hole behind for his tail to stick through.'

88 LONESOME BOCK.

Well, if you remember all this, you will remember how
another author said of hirn on one of his fishing excursions,
that

' His rod, it was a sturdy mountain oak,
His line, a cable which no storm e'er broke,
His hook he baited with a dragon's tail,
And sat upon a rock and bob'd for whale 1'

Well, like the ebony gentleman, you can, if you choose,
sit upon Lonesome Rock enjoying your meditations, and
bobbing, not for whale, for whatever other fish may be
found in the Lower Saranac, I believe there are no whale ;
but you can bob for trout ; whether you will catch any or
not will depend very much on circumstances. It is a capi-
tal place to cast the fly from, or to sink your hook with a
bait, and if the trout do not choose to bite, whose fault is
that, I should like to know ?

" And this reminds me of an anecdote told me by a gentle-
man I met in June of last year, on the Rackett River among
the black flies, of an adventure he met with on Lonesome
Rock last season. He had been trolling around the lake in
a boat alone, without much success, and concluded he would
try deep fishing from this rock, as he had heard that the
trout were in the habit of congregating around its base. So
he rowed to the rock, and, as he supposed, secured his boat,
and climbing up its side seated himself on his boat cushion,
on the top. He caught one fine fish at the first throw, and
took it for granted that he was going to have a good time
of it among the trout. When he mounted the rock, about

LONESOME BOOK. 89

eleven o'clock, the sky was overcast, and he caught three or
four trout of good size in the course of half an hour ; but
the sun coming out bright and clear, the fish altered their
minds, and refused to have anything more to do with his hook.
He finally concluded to give up the business, and seek the
cooling shadows of the forest trees along the shore. But
his boat was gone ; and upon looking around he saw it drift-
ing before a light breeze a quarter of a mile distant. Now
when you remember that all around the lake was a wilder-
ness, save a single spot at the head of the bay, where Mar-
tin's house stands, three or four miles distant, and when you
remember also that no boat might be passing during the
next twenty-four hours, you will comprehend that his posi-
tion was none of the pleasantest. There he sat upon the top
of his rock, with scarcely room to turn around, with a wide
sweep of deep water between him and the nearest land,
the fish utterly refusing to bite, and the sun blazing down
upon him with heat like a furnace, as it crept with its
snail's pace across the sky. At first he was inclined to smile
at his ridiculous situation, all alone there on the rock ; but
as the wind died away, and the sun poured his burning rays
right down upon him, and he panted and sweat under
its sweltering influences, he began to feel a little more
serious. Hours glided away, and the sun crept slowly
along down the heavens, but still no boat made its appear-
ance.

"The sun hid itself behind the hills on the West, and still
he was alone. The shadows crept up the mountain peaks

90 LONESOME BOOK.

that stand up like grim giants away off in the East, and
twilight began to throw its grey mantle over the lake ; still
he was alone. The darkness began to gather around him ;
the forests along the shore to lose their distinctness and to
stand in sombre and shadowy outline above the water ; still
no prospect of relief presented itself. The twilight faded
from the West, the stars stole out in the heavens, the milky
way stretched its belt of light across the sky, and there he
sat alone still on his rock, the night dews falling around
him, and the night voices of the forest coming solemnly
out over the water. Things had now assumed a serious
aspect. He could not stretch his limbs save by stand-
ing erect, and it seemed inevitable that he must watch
the stars during the night, as he had watched the sun dur-
ing the day. To sleep there was out of the question
There was no room for a sleeping posture, and the danger
of rolling down the rock into the water kept him wide
awake. At length the pleasant sound of oars, and voices
in jolly converse, fell upon his ear, and he shouted. Two
sportsmen were returning from the Upper Lakes, and right
welcome was the answer they returned to his call. He was
glad enough to be released from his rock, upon which, as he
said, ' he had made up his mind that he should be compelled
to roost, like a turkey on the ridge of a barn, for the
night.'

" To go back from this digression," continued the Doctor,
" I repeat that every man has a vein of the vagabond, a
streak of the savage in him, which can never be clean

THE ANSWER. 91

wiped out. Educate him, polish him as you may, it will be
in him still, and he will love to go off into the old woods at
times, to lay around loose for a season, vagabondising among
the wild and savage things of the wilderness. It is but
indulging the original instincts of our nature. True, he will
not relish his savage ways a great while. His old habits
will lead him back to civilization, to the luxury of a well-
furnished room, the quiet of an easy chair, and the repose
of a soft bed. In a word to ' clean up ' and shave and
dress, so that when he looks into a glass he will see the
shadow of a gentleman."

CHAPTER IX.

HUNTING BY TORCH LIGHT — AN INCOMPETENT JUDGE — A NEW
SOUND IN THE FOREST — OLD SANGAMO'S DONKEY.

SPALDING and Martin went out upon the lake after dark,
with one of the boats, to hunt by torch light. This is done
by placing a lighted torch, or a lamp upon a standard, placed
upright in the bow of the boat, and so high that a man
seated or lying upon the bottom of the craft, will have his
head below it. He must himself be in someway shaded from
the light, which must be cast forward so that both the hun-
ter and the boatman will be in the shadow. A very com-
mon method is to make a box, a foot or less square, open,
or with a pane of glass on one side ; a stick three or four
feet long is run through an auger hole in the top and bot-
tom, and wedged fast, which forms a standard ; the other
end of the stick is runHhrough a hole on the little deck
on the forward part of the boat, and placed in a socket
formed for the purpose in the bottom, and is wedged at the
deck, so as to make it steady. The open or glass front of

98

HUNTING BY TORCHLIGHT. 93

the box is turned forward, and a common japan lamp placed
in a socket prepared for it in the box. This of course
throws the light forward, while the occupants of the boat
are in the shadow. The hunter sits, or more commonly lies
at length on a bed of boughs in the bottom of the boat,
with his rifle so far in front that the light will fall upon the
forward sight. An experienced boatman will paddle silently
op to within twenty feet of a deer that may be feeding along
the shore. The stupid animal will stand, gazing in aston-
ishment at the light, until the boat almost touches him.

" That Hank Martin," said Cullen, one of the boatmen,
as the hunters disappeared into the darkness, " is a queer
boy in his way. You will notice that when he straightens
up, and takes the kinks out of him, he stands six feet and
over hi his stockings, and his arms hang down to his knees.
He's the strongest man in these woods, and tolerably active
when there's occasion for it. He is a droll, good-natured,
easy tempered chap, and don't get angry at trifles. He is
fond of a joke himself, and will stand having a good many
sticks poked at him without getting riled ; but when he
does get his back up, it's well enough to stand out of his
way, and not step on his shadow. He never struck a man
but once in real earnest, and that was over in Keeseville,
and on that occasion the people said the town clock had
struck one. The fellow he struck tfent eend over eend, and
then went down, and when he went down he laid still — he
didn't come to time.

" But what I was going to tell you is, that Hank and I

94 AN INCOMPETENT JUDGE.

were down at Plattsburgh last fall, and a big fellow who
had taken quite as much red eye as was for his good, under-
took to pick a quarrel with Hank and give him a beating.
Hank, as I said, being a peaceable man, and much more
given to fun than to fighting, kept good-natured, and
avoided a scrimmage as long as he could. But his patience
and his temper at last caved in, and seizing his opponent by
the neck with his left hand, and thrusting him down upon
the ground, he began very deliberately to cuff him with his
right, in a way that seemed anything but pleasant to the
individual upon whom his cuffs were bestowed. ' Enough !
enough!' cried his assailant. 'Let up! enough! enough!'
' Hold your tongue, you scoundrel !' replied Hank, as he
kept on pommeling his enemy, 'hold your tongue, I tell
you I You ain't a judge of these things! I'll let you know
when you've got enough.' When he'd given him what he
thought was about right, he lifted him on to his feet, and,
holding him up face to face with himself a moment, ' There,'
said he, ' look at me well, so that you'll know me when I
come this way again ; and when you see my trail, you'd
better travel some other road.' "

"Speaking of Plattsburgh," said the Doctor, "reminds
me of an incident which occurred to a friend and myself,
over in the Chataugay woods, between the Cha/y and the
Upper Chataugay lakes* I was spending a few days at
Plattsburgh, and hearing a good deal of the trout and
deer in and about those lakes, my friend and myself con-
cluded to pay them a flying visit. On the banks of the

A NEW SOUND IN THE FOBEST. 95

Chazy and near the outlet, a half-breed, that is, half French
and half Indian, had built him a log cabin, and cleared
about an acre of land around it. His live stock consisted
of two homely, lean, and half-starved dogs, and as ragged
and ill-looking a donkey as could be found in a week's
travel. The half-breed was a sort of half fisherman and
half hunter, excelling in nothing, unless it be that he was
the laziest man this side of the Rocky Mountains. He suc-
ceeded, occasionally, in killing a deer in the forest, and
when he did so, he would lead his donkey to the place of
slaughter, and bring in the carcase on the long-eared ani-
mal's back.

" We were passing from the Chazy to Bradley's Lake,
and had sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree to take a
short breathing spell. It was a warm afternoon, and the
air was calm; not a breath stirred the leaves on the old
trees around us; the forest sounds were hushed, save the
tap of the woodpecker on his hollow tree, or an occasional
drumming of a partridge on his log. It was drawing
towards one of those calm, still, autumnal evenings of which
poets sing, but which are to be met with in all their glory
only anlong the beautiful lakes that" lay sleeping in the wild
woods, and surrounded by old primeval things. The path
wound round a densely wooded and sombre hollow, the
depths of which the eye could not p enetrate, but from out
of which came the song of a stream that went cascading
down the rocks, and rippling among the loose boulders that

96 A NEW SOUND IN THE FOREST.

lay in its course. Beyond us, through an opening in the
trees, we could see the lake, sparkling and shining in the
evening sunbeams, and we were talking about the beauty
of the view, and the calmness and repose that seemed rest-
ing upon all things, when, of a sudden, there came up from
that shadowy dell a sound, the most unearthly that ever
broke upon the astonished ear of mortal man. I have heard
the roar of the lion of the desert, the yell of the hyena,
the trumpeting of the elephant, the scream of the panther,
the howl of the wolf. It was like none of these ; but if you
could imagine them all combined, and concentrated into a
single sound, and ushered together upon the air from a sin-
gle throat, shaped like the long neck of some gigantic ich-
thiosaurns of the times of old, you would have some faint
idea of the strange sounds that came roaring up from that
hollow way. My friend was a man of courage, and, like
myself, had been around the world some; had spent a good
deal of time, first and last, in the woods, was familiar with
most of the legitimate forest sounds, and had heard all the
ten thousand voices that belong in the wilderness, but we
had never before listened to a noise like that.

" We looked to our rifles and at one another, and it may
well be that our hats sat somewhat loosely upon our heads,
from an involuntary rising of the hair. 'What, in the
name of all that is mysterious/ cried my friend, in amaze-
ment, ' is that ?' ' It is more than I know/ I replied, as I
placed a fresh cap on my rifle. After a few minutes, the

A NEW SOUND IN THE FOREST. 97

sounds were repeated, and the hills seemed to groan with
affright as they sent them back in wavy and quavering
echoes from their rugged sides.

" ' We must understand this,' said my friend, as he led
the way with a cautious and stealthy movement towards the
depths of the hollow, whence the sounds came, and there,
by the stream, on a little sand-bar, stood old Sangamo's
donkey, by the side of a deer. Old Sangamo himself was
stretched at full length on the bank, fast asleep. How he
could have slept on, with such an infernal roaring as that
donkey made in those old woods, six or eight miles outside
of a fence, is more than I can comprehend. But he did
sleep through it all, and was wakened only by a punch in
the ribs with the butt of my rifle, instigated by pity for the
poor donkey that was being eaten up by the flies. We
helped him to load the carcass of the deer on the back of

•

his donkey, and saw him move off lazily towards home. I
have heard a good many strange noises ifi my day, but
never, on any other occasion, have I listened to anything to
be at all compared with the noise made by the braying of
old Sangamo's donkey in the Chataugay woods."

As the Doctor concluded his story, the sharp crack of
Spalding's rule broke the stillness of the night, and went
reverberating among the hills, and dying away over the
lake. It was but a short distance from our camp, in a
little bay hidden away around a wooded promontory below
us. In a few minutes, the light was seen, rounding the
point that hid the bay from our view, and, as the boat

5

98 A FOOL OF A DEER.

landed in front -of qur tents, Spaldiug and Martin lifted
from it a fine two year old deer, shot directly between the
eyes.

"There," said Spalding, "is the biggest, or what was
the biggest fool of a deer in these woods. Do you believe
that he stood perfectly still, gazing in stupid astonishment
at our light, until we were within a dozen feet of him, when
I dropped him with that ball between the eyes ?"

" No," replied Smith, " I really don't believe any such
thing."

"It is true, notwithstanding your lack of faith," said
Spalding.

" Do you say that as counsel, or as a gentleman ?"
inquired Smith.

" Look you, Mr. Smith," said Spalding, " you are draw-
ing" a distinction not warranted by the authority of the
books — as if a lawyer could not tell the truth like a gentle-
man. I say it as both."

" Very well," remarked Smith, "then I must believe it,
of course. But understand, Hank Martin, it will be my
turn to-morrow night." And so the matter was settled
that the next night hunting was to be done by Smith.

" H ," said the Doctor, as I was stealing quietly out

of the tent, in the twilight of the next morning, so as not
to awaken my companions, " where now ?"

" I'm going to take some trout for breakfast, with our
venison," I replied.

" And where do you propose to take them ?" he inquired

TROUTING FOR BREAKEA8T. 99

" Come with me, and I'll show you, I looked the place
out last evening, and if you've done sleeping, we'll have
some sport."

"Agreed," said he, and we paddled around the point
into a little bay, at the head of which a small, but cold
stream entered Jhe lake. The Doctor sat in the bow,
and, having adjusted his rod, I steered the boat carefully,
close along the shore, to within reach of the mouth of the
brook, and directed him to cast across it. The moment his
fly touched the water, half a dozen fish rose to it together.
It was eagerly seized by one weighing less than a quarter
of a pound, which was lifted bodily into the boat. He
caught as fast as he could cast his fly. They were the
genuine brook trout, none of them exceeding a quarter of a
pound in weight. In hah0 an hour, we had secured as many
as we needed for breakfast, and paddled back to take a
morning nap while the meal was being prepared.

The sweetest fish that swims is the brook trout, weighing
from a quarter of a pound down. Boiled in flour, or meal,
and fried brown, they have no equal. The lake and river
trout, weighing from two to ten pounds, beautiful as they
are, have not that delicacy of flavor which belongs to the
genuine brook trout. Boiled, when freshly caught, they are
by no means to be spoken lightly of. They have few
equals, cooked in that way, but as a pan fish, they are not
to be compared with the genuine brook trout.

CHAPTER X.

GRINDSTONE BROOK FOREST SOUNDS — A FUNNY TREE, COV-
ERED WITH SNOW FLAKES.

WE crossed over towards a deep bay on the west shore, to
where a stream comes cascading down the rocks, and leap-
ing into the lake, as if rejoicing at finding a resting-place in
its quiet bosom. The spot where this stream enters, is in
the deep shadow of the old forest trees that reach then-
leafy arms far out from the ledges on which they grow,
forming an arch above, and shutting out the sunlight.
Here the trout congregate, to enjoy the cool water that
comes down from the hills above. We approached it care-
fully, and Smith, by way of experiment, cast his fly across
the current where the stream enters the lake. It was seized
by a beautiful fish weighing, perhaps, two pounds. We did
not need him, for the place where we proposed to pitch our
tents for the night would afford us all the fish required, and
after lifting him into the boat with the landing-net and
100

GRINDSTONE BROOK. 101

releasing the hook from his jaw, we returned him to the lake
again.

Two miles from the head of the lake, on the east side,
is a deep bay at the head of which enters a little brook that
comes creeping along for a mile among the tangled roots of
ancient hemlocks and spruce, singing gaily among the loose
stones, sometimes disappearing entirely beneath bridges of
moss, and sometimes sparkling in the sunlight, on its way
to the lake. This little stream we found swarming with
speckled trout of the size of minnows, and at its mouth the
large trout congregated. As we rounded one of the points
that .shut out the view of this bay from the lake, we saw
two deer feeding quietly upon the lily pads along the shore,
some quarter of a mile from us. We dropped quietly back
behind the point, where Smith and one of the boatmen
prepared to take a shot at them. Martin took his seat in
the stern with his paddle, and Smith lay stretched at length
along the bottom of the boat upon boughs prepared for the
occasion, with his rifle resting upon the forward end of the
boat. It was broad daylight, and to paddle up within
shooting distance of a deer under such circumstances, in
plain view of an animal the most wary, is a delicate job,
but it may be done. I have more than once been thus
paddled within thirty yards of a deer while feeding in the
water. The wind must be blowing from the deer to the
hunter, or the scent will alarm the animal, and he will go
snorting and bounding away.

Smith and Martin passed silently out into the bay, and

102 GRINDSTONE BKOOK.

/

m?

moved slowly towards where the deer were feeding. The
boat in which we sat was permitted to float out to a posi-
tion from which we could see the sportsmen as they
approached the game. Slowly but steadily they moved,
the paddle remaining in the water, sculling the little craft
along as if it were a log drifting in the water. The deer
occasionally raised their heads, looking all around, evidently
regarding the boat as a harmless thing floating in from the
lake. After gazing thus about them they stooped their
heads again, and went on feeding, as if no danger were near
them. The hunters drifted within seventy or eighty yards
of the game, when a column of white smoke shot suddenly
up from the bow of the boat, and the report of Smith's rifle
rang out sharp and clear over the lake. We saw where the
ball struck the water just beyond the deer, passing directly
under its belly, possibly high enough to graze its body. At
the flash and report of the rifle, the animal leaped high into
the air, bounded in affright this way and that for a moment,
and then straightened itself for the woods. We heard his
snort as he went crashing up the hillside.

Reader, should you ever drift -out to this beautiful lake,
you will find on the ridge just above where Bog River comes
tumbling, and roaring, and foaming over the rocks into the
lake, the charred remains of a campfire, built against a
great log that was once the trunk of a tall forest tree.
If you .should visit it within a year or two, you will perhaps
notice some forked stakes standing a few feet from the place
of the fire, and a bed of withered and dry boughs (now

FOREST SOUNDS. 103

fresh and green). Well, our tents were stretched over
those stakes, those boughs were our bed, and those charred
chunks are the remains of our campfire, that sent a sepul-
chral light among the forest trees around.

The sounds that come upon the ear during the night in a
far off place like this, are peculiar. The old owl hoots
mournfully, the frogs bellow hoarsely along the reedy shore,
while the tree toads are quavering from among the branches
of the scrubby trees that grow along the rocky banks ; the
whippoorwill pipes shrilly in the forest depths ; the breeze
murmurs among the foliage of the tall old pines, while the
everlasting roar of the waters, as they go tumbling down
the rocks, is always heard. However diversified these
sounds may be, they all invite to repose. They fall sooth-
ingly upon the ear, and though . all are distinctly heard, yet
strange as it may seem, there is a strong impression upon
the mind of the deep silence pervading the forest. This
impression is doubtless occasioned by the utter dissimilarity
between the voices one hears hi the day, from those which
fall upon the ear in the night tune. The former are all
joyous and happy, full of gladness and merriment, full of
life and animation; the latter solemn, deep, profound, lulling
to the senses ; not sorrowful nor sad, yet still such as form
a calm and quiet lullaby, under the influence of which one
glides away into slumber, and sleeps quietly until dawn.
Then the voice of gladness breaks so tumultuously on the
ear, that he must be a sluggard indeed who can resist their
wakening influences.

104 FOBE8T BOUNDS.

How beautifully the sun went down behind the hills,
lighting up the western sky, and the fleecy clouds floating in
the heavens with a blaze of glory, throwing a mantle of
silver over the tall ranges and mountain peaks that loomed
up in solemn grandeur away in the east ; and how stilly,
silently the stars came out from the depths above, and how
brightly and truthfully they were given back from away
down in depths beneath the placid waters. We had taken
half a dozen beautiful trout from the foot of the falls where
the current shoots out into the lake. We had eaten them
too, and were sitting in front of our tents smoking our
evening pipes.

" Spalding," said the Doctor, " how I wish our little boys
were out here with us. How they would enjoy themselves
among these lakes and rivers. It is a hard lot that the
children of our cities have in life. They struggle up to man
and womanhood against fearful odds, and the wonder is,
that they do not perish in their infancy ; that they are not
blasted, as the blossoms are, when the cold east wind sweeps
over the earth."

" You are right, my friend," replied Spalding. " I should
like to have our little boys, and girls too, for that matter,
with us for a few days out here on these lakes. It would
be a lifetime to them, measuring time by the enjoyment it
would afford them. Still their city habits might make them
tire of this freedom in a week. You and I enjoy it longer,
because it brings back old memories and relieves us from
the toils of business and the restraints of conventional life.

FOREST SOUNDS. 105

You are right too in saying that the lot of our city chil-
dren is a hard one. To live imprisoned between long rows
of brick walls, breathing an atmosphere charged with the
exhalations of ten thousand cooking stoves, the dust of
forges and the smoke of furnaces, machine shops, gas works,
filthy streets, and the thousand other manufactories of
villainous smells ; where the summer air has no freshness,
no forest odors, or sweetness gathered from fields of grain,
the meadows, or the pastures. To tramp only on stone side-
walks. To know nothing of the pleasant paths beneath
the spreading branches of old primeval trees ; no soft grass
for their little feet to press ; never to wander along the
streams or the little brooks j to be strangers always to
the beautiful things spread out everywhere in the country
in the summer time. I always feel sad when I see the pale
faces of the little children of the great cities, and marvel
how so many of them grow up to be men and women. It
is a hard lot to be cooped up in the city, vegitating, as it
were, in the shade, where there is no grass for their little
feet to press, no fences to climb, or fields to ramble over, or
brooks to wade, or running water on which to float chips,
and wherein to watch the little chubs and shiners dancing
and playing about, or fresh pure air to breathe, or birds to
listen to. It is a thousand pities that the cities could not
be emptied every summer of their little people into the free
and open country, where they could run about, and sport
and play, and have free range and plenty of elbow-room.
It would make them so much healthier and happier, so much

5*

106 A FUNNY TKEE, COVERED WITH SNOW-FLAKES.

more cheerful ; their voices of gladness would ring out so
much more joyously in the morning, and their songs be so
much more sweet at night.

I remember an anecdote told me of a little child, born in
the great metropolis, who had never, until her fifth summer,
been outside of the paved streets of New York. Her
mother had friends residing in one of the up-river towns,
owning a beautiful farm overlooking the Hudson, and in
early May she paid them a visit, taking her little daughter
with her. Mary, of course, was delighted. Like a bird
freed from its cage, she flew about here, there, everywhere,
in-doors and out, among the chickens and the pigs, the
turkeys and the lambs, enjoying to the full the thousand
new things that her eyes rested upon all around her, and
her young spirits in wild commotion under the bracing
influences of the country air. " Mother ! mother I" she
exclaimed, as she came dashing into the parlor, her beauti-
ful curls floating wildly over her shoulders, and her bright
eyes wide open with wonder ; " Mother 1 mother ! come
out here, quick 1 and see this funny tree, all covered over
with snow-flakes, and how sweet it smells all around it." It
was a plum tree in full blossom. That little child had
never seen the beautiful spring blossoms on the fruit
trees.

" I have no children of my own," remarked Smith, " and,
therefore, may not be regarded as the best authority in
regard to the manner of treating, or rearing children ; but
I have often wondered at the very great mistakes people

THE BOOSTER THAT CHANGED THE WEATHEE. 107

sometimes make in regard to them. There are parents who
mean no wrong, and yet who make no scruple of deceiving
them in reply to their simple questionings, forgetting, or
regardless of the fact, that a false answer to their innocent
inquiries put hi good faith, and in the earnest pursuit of truth,
may plant an error in their minds, which may take years of
experience, and often a painful amount of ridicule to eradicate.
I knew a little boy years ago, a thoughtful, philosophic child,
who speculated in his simplicity upon what he saw, as great
philosophers do, in their wisdom, upon the various phenomena
of Nature. His father, had a great barn, above which, as
was the fashion long ago, perched upon a staff, a few feet
above the ridgepole, was a weather-cock, fashioned out of
a piece of board in the shape of a rooster. ' Father,' said
the little boy, one day, 'what makes that rooster always
point his head one way when the cold wind blows, and the
other way when it is warm and pleasant ?' ' He always
looks towards the place where the wind comes from,' replied
the father ; ' when he gets too warm, and the sun is too hot
for him, he turns his tail to the south, and the north wind is
sure to come down, cold and chill, to cool him off.' ' Does
he call the cold wind, father, and will it come when he. looks
that way ?' was the next inquiry. ' Certainly,' replied his
father, carelessly. That was a wrong and a foolish an-
swer.

That little boy, relying in his simple faith upon the wis-
dom and truthfulness of his father, believed for a long tune,
that the weathercock on the top of the barn, couM bring

108 LOVE OF CHILDREN.

the cold north, or the warm south wind, by taming upon
its perch. He was cured of his error only by being laughed
at for his simplicity. Parents should never deceive their
children by a careless or a wrong answer to the simple
questions put to them by these little searchers after know-
ledge."

" I remember," said the doctor, " and it is one of the ear-
liest incidents which my recollection has treasured, that I
was out one evening in autumn, with a boy older than
myself, gathering hazel nuts. The sun had sunk behind the
hills, and the shadows of twilight were gathering in the
valley. It was a beautiful and calm evening, the solemn
stillness of which, was only broken by the ' tza ! tza !' of
thousands of katydids among the bushes. I asked my com-
panion what it was that made the noise I heard, and he,
supposing that I referred to sounds that came up occasion-
ally from the lake, after listening for a moment, answered
that it was made by the wild geese. In my simplicity I
believed it, and it was not until I caught, the next season,
a katydid while it was in the act of singing, that I dis-
covered that the music among the hazel bushes was not
made by the wild geese."

" I never respect a man or woman," said Spalding,
" whose heart does not warm towards little children, who
takes no pleasure nor interest in their society, who has no
patience to listen to their simple thoughts expressed in their
ample way. ' Mother/ said a little child of four or five
years of age, one evening when the summer air was warm,

LOVE OF CHILDREN. 109

and the skies were bright above, as she sat beside her
mother, on a bench beneath the spreading branches of the
tall old elms in front of the house ; ' mother, what makes
the stars come out, only after the dark has come down,
and why don't the moon go up into the sky like the sun
in the day time ?' I listened anxiously for the reply. I
knew the kind heart of that mother, how truthful it was,
and how earnest and pure in its affection for its gentle and
only darling. ' Sit here upon my lap, Mary,' said the
mother, ' and I will try and explain it all so that you will
understand it.' And she told the little child how God made
the sun to rule the day, and the moon and the stars to rule
the night ; how that the stars were always in the sky, but
how the superior brightness of the sun put them out in the

day time ; how the stars, that twinkled like little rush-lights

•

in the heavens, were great worlds, a thousand times larger

than this earth, made and placed away up in the sky, by
the same great and good God who made the world we live
in. Little Mary was silent and attentive to the simple
lecture, until it was finished, and then asked, so simply and
confidingly, that I could not help smiling to think that the
mind of chilihood should be running upon a subject, and
seeking a solution of the same question which has puzzled
the profoundest philosophers through all time : ' Mother,'
said the little one, ' are there people in the moon and in the
stars, them great worlds that look to us so like candles in
the sky ?' ' That question, my child,' said the mother, ' I
cannot answer.' ' I believe,' said the child, that th^re are

110 LOVE OF CHILDREN.

»

people in the moon, and in all the stars.' ' Why ?' asked her
mother. ' Because I don't believe God would make such
big and beautiful worlds without making people to live in
them.' What more has the profoundest philosopher who
ever lived said, to prove that those mighty worlds which are
seen in the heavens at night, that are scattered all through
the universe of God, rolling forever on their everlasting
rounds, are peopled by living, moving, sentient beings ?"

CHAPTER XL

A CONVENTION BROKEN UP IN A ROW — THE CHAIRMAN EJECTED.

WE sent forward our boatman with the luggage early in
the morning, up Bog River towards Mud Lake, the source
of the right branch of that river, lying some thirty miles
deeper in the wilderness, counting the sinuosities of the
stream, and said to be the highest body of water in all this
wild region. We were to spend the day on Tupper's Lake,
and follow him the next morning. Our boatman built for
our accommodation, a brush shanty in the place of our tents.
We rowed about this beautiful sheet of water, exploring its
secluded bays and romantic islands, trying experiments with
the trout wherever a stream came down from the hills,- and
trolling for lake trout while crossing the lake. Near the
shore, on the west bank, perhaps half a mile from the falls,
is one of the coldest, purest and most beautiful springs that
I ever met with. It comes up into a little basin some six or
eight feet in diameter, by two or three in depth. The bot-
tom is of loose white sand which is all in commotion, by the

in

112 GRINDSTONE BEOOK.

constant boiling up of the clear cold water. From this basin
a little stream goes rippling and laughing to the lake. To-
wards evening we returned to our shanty with abundance
of fish for supper and breakfast, taken, as I said, in simply
trying experiments as to where they were to be found in the
greatest abundance.

If any sportsman who may drift out this way, is fond of
taking the speckled trout — little fellows, weighing from a
quarter of a pound down, the same he meets with in the
streams of Vermont, in Massachusetts, in Northern Pennsyl-
vania, and Western New York, let him provide himself with
angle-worms, and row to the head of the lake. A short
distance east of where Bog River enters, say from a quarter
to half a mile, he will find a cold mountain stream. Let
him rig for brook-fishing and take to that stream. If he
does not fill his basket in a little while, he may set it down
to the score of bad luck, or some lack of skill on his part in
taking them, for the brook trout are there in abundance.
Across the lake from Long Island, to the right as you go
up the lake, is a bay that goes away in around a woody
point. At the head of this bay, " Grindstone Brook" enters.
It is a smallish stream, and comes dashing down over shelv-
ing rocks some thirty feet, and shoots out into the bay
among broken rocks, and loose boulders. The waters of
this stream are much colder than those of the lake. Let
the sportsman row carefully up towards the mouth of this
stream, along towards evening of a hot day, when the sha-
dow of the hill reaches far out over the lake, and cast his

CONFIDENTIAL REVELATIONS. 113

fly across the little current, and if he does not take as beau-
tiful a string of river trout as can be found in these parts,
let him set it down to the score of accident, for the trout
are there in the warm days of August. If he has a curi-
osity to know what there is above these Little Falls, let him
try his angle-worms in the brook just over the ridge, and he
will find out. I claim to have discovered these choice fish-
ing places some seasons since, and have kept them for my
own private use and amusement. Nobody seemed to know
of them. When the trout refused to be taken elsewhere, I
have always found them here, abundant, greedy, and ready
to be taken by any decently skillful effort. I regard these
places as in some sort my private property, and I mention
them privately and in confidence to the reader, trusting that
my right will be respected.

We finished our evening meal while the sun was yet above
the western hills, and sat with our pipes around a smudge,
made upon the broad flat rock, which recedes with a gentle
acclivity from the shore, where the Bog River enters the
lake, looking out over the stirless waters. It was a beauti-
ful view, so calm, so still and placid, and yet so wild. The
islands seemed to stand but clear from the water, to be
lifted up, as it were, from the lake, so perfectly moveless and
polished was its surface. On a grassy point to the right,
and a hundred rods distant, two deer were quietly feeding,
while in a little bay on the left, a brood of young ducks were
sporting and skimming along the water in playful gyrations
around their staid and watchful mother. On the outstretched

114: MARKING THE HARMONIES.

arm of a dead tree on the island before us, sat a bald eagle,
pluming himself; and high above the lake the osprey soared*
turning his piercing eye downward, watching for his prey.

" I've been thinking," said Smith, as he refilled his pipe,
" of what the Doctor was saying the other evening about
every body having a streak of the vagabond in him, which
makes him relish an occasional tramp in the old woods
among the natural things ; things that have not been mar-
red by the barbarisms, so to speak, of civilization. I'm
inclined to believe his theory to be true, but I see a difficulty
in its practical working. Now, suppose, Doctor, that you and
I being out here together vagabondizing, as you term it, and
your streak of the vagabond being twice as large as mine,
you would of course desire to play the savage twice as long
as I should. There would, in that case, be a marring of the
harmonies. I should be anxious to get back to civilization,
while you, being rather in your normal element, would in-
sist upon 'laying around loose,' as you say, for Mercy
knows how long."

" Gentlemen," said the Doctor in reply, " only hear this
fellow 1 He's getting homesick already. He has no wife,
not a child in the world, no business, nothing to call him
home save a superannuated pointer, and an old Tom cat, and
yet he would leave these glorious old woods, these beautiful
lakes, these rivers, these trout and deer, and all the glad
music of the wild things, to-morrow, and go back to the
dust, the poisoned atmosphere, the eternal jostling and mo-
notonous noises of the city ! Truly a vagabond and a

A (XttTTENTION BROKEN UP IN A BOW. 115

savage is Smith. He's afraid that his family, his mangy old
pointer and dropsical cat, will suffer in his absence."

" I scorn to answer such an accusation," retorted Smith,
" I shall treat it with dignified contempt, as I do the Doc-
tor's medicines, which I never take but always pay for, just
to k6ep him from starving, and to make him imagine he cures
me. But speaking of cats reminds me of a certain matter
which occurred not many years ago. The Doctor here, if
his testimony could be relied upon, knows that I used to
be troubled with indigestion, and was sometimes a little
nervous "

"A-littk nervous 1" interrupted the Doctor, " why he would
be as crazy with the hypo as a March hare. He would in-
sist that he was going to die, or to the almshouse. He has
made two or three dozen wills, to my certain knowledge,
under the firm conviction that he would be in the ground in
a week. A titik nervous, indeed!"

"Well," said Smith, "we won't quarrel about the degree
of my nervousness. But in regard to what I was going to
say about cats. Some years ago I occupied a suite of rooms
in the second story of a house rented by a widow lady, to
whom I had been under some obligations in my boyhood,
and whom my mother always regarded as her best friend."
(Smith supported the excellent old lady in comfort for a
decade, under pretence of boarding with her, ministering to
the last years of her life with the care and affection of a
son.) " The landlord of the premises was the owner of a
block of twelve houses — six on Pearl street, and six on

116 A CONVENTION BROKEN UP IN A BOW.

Broadway, the lots meeting midway between the two streets.
On the rear of these lots are the out-houses, all under a con-
tinuous flat roof, some twelve feet high, twenty wide, and
say a hundred and fifty feet long. In the rear of the Broad-
way dwelling-houses, are one story tea-rooms, or third par-
lors, the roofs of which form a continuous platform, upon
which you can step from the second story of the houses."
" Well," said the Doctor, " what of all that ?"
" There's a great deal of it," Smith replied. " I don't pre-
tend to know how many cats there were in the city of
Albany. Indeed, I never heard that they were included in
the census. I do not undertake to say that they all congre-
gated nightly on the roofs of those out-houses. But if there
was a cat in the sixth ward, that didn't have something to
say on that roof every night, I should like to make its ac-
quaintance. I am against cats. I regard them as treacher-
ous, ungrateful animals, and as having very small moral
developments generally. I am against c^-terwauling, espe-
cially in the night season, when honest people have a right
to their natural sleep. I don't like to be woke up, when
rounding a pleasant dream, by their growling and screaming,
spitting and whining, groaning and crying, and the hundred
other nameless noises by which they frighten sleep from our
pillows.

" Well, one night, it may have been one o'clock, or two,
or three, I was awakened by the awfullest screaming and
sputtering, growling and swearing, that ever startled a
weary man from his slumbers. I leaped out of bed under

A CONVENTION BBOKEN UP IN A BOW. 117

the impression that at least twenty little children had fallen
into as many tnbs of boiling water. I threw open the win-
dow and stepped out upon the roof of the tea-room. I don't
intend to exaggerate, but I honestly believe that there were
less than three hundred cats over against me, on the roofe
of the out-houses ; each one of which had a tail bigger
than a Bologna sausage, his back crooked up like an oxbow,
and his great round eyes gleaming fiercely in the moonlight,
putting in his very best in the way of catterwauling. Two
of the largest, one black as night and the other a dark
grey or brindle, appeared to be particularly in earnest, and
the way they scolded, and screamed, and swore at each
other was a sin to hear. I won't undertake to report all
they said ; a decent regard for the proprieties of language,
compels me to give only a sketch of the debate.

" 'You infernal^ big-tailed, hump-backed, ugly-mugged thief,'
screamed the grey, ' I'd like to know what you are out here
for this time of night, skulking, and creeping, and nosing
about in the dark, poaching upon other people's preserves ?'

« < yery well ! mighty well 1' was the reply, ' for you to
talk, you black-skinned, ogre-eyed, growling and sputtering
robber, to come upon this roof, sticking up your back and
taking airs on yourself. I'd like to know what business
you've got to be prowling about and crowding yourself into
honest people's company ?'

" ' I'm a regular Tom Cat, I'd have you know, and go where
I please, and I'll stand none of your big talk and insolent
looks/

118 A CONVENTION BROKEN UP IN A BOW.

" ' Insolent ! Hear the cowardly thief I Insolent ! Very
well, Mr. Tom Cat ! very good, indeed ! Now, just take
your black skin off of this roof, or you'll get what will make
you look cross-eyed for a month.'

" ' Get off this roof, I think you said. Look at this set
of ivory, and these claws, old greyback 1 If you want I
should leave this roof, just come and put me off. Try
it on, old Beeswax. Yes, yes ! try it on once, and we'll
see whose eyes will look straightest in the morning I Come
on, old Humpback ! Try it on, old Sausage Tail 1'

" And then they pitched in, and such scratching and growl-
ing, scolding and swearing, and biting, and rolling over and
over, I never happened to see or hear before. About that
time I dropped a boulder of coal, taken from the scuttle,
weighing about half a pound, right among them (accidently
of course). Whether it hit anyone I can't positively affirm,
but I heard a dull heavy sound, a kind of chug, as if it had
struck against something soft, and the scream of one of the
belligerents was brought to a sudden stop, by a sort of hys-
terical jerk, as though there had been a sudden lack of wind
to carry it on. It put an end to the disturbance, and all the
rioters, save one, scampered away. That one remained, all
doubled up in a heap like, as if it had the sick headache, or
been attacked with a sudden inflammation of the bowels.
If any body's cat was found the next morning with a swelled
head, or a great bunch on its side, and seemed dumpish, it's
my private opinion that that's the one that lump of coal fell
upon.

A CONVENTION BROKEN UP IN A ROW. 119

" Still it did'nt do much good in the way of relieving me
from the annoyance of these cat conventions. They con-
tinued to congregate nightly on that long shed in the rear
of my rooms. I wasted more wood upon them than I could
well afford to spare. I used up all the brickbats I could lay
my hands on. I threw away something less than a ton of
coal ; and on two occasions came near being taken to the
watch-house for smashing a window in the opposite block.
All this proved of no avail. Indeed, my tormentors began
at last to get used to it, to regard it as part of the perform-
ance.

" The matter was getting serious. It became evident that
either those cats or myself must leave the premises. I had
paid my rent in advance, and was therefore entitled to
quiet use and enjoyment, according to the terms of my lease.
I made up my mind to try one more experiment. So I
bought me a double-barrelled gun, and a quantity of powder
and shot, and gave fair warning that I intended to use
them.

" Well, the moon came up one night, with her great round
face, and went walking up the sky with a queenly tread,
throwing her light, like a mantle of brightness, over all the
earth. I love the calm of a moonlight night, in the pleasant
spring time, and the cats of our part of the town seemed to
love it too, for they came from every quarter ; from the
sheds around the National Garden, from the stables, the
streets, the basements, and the kitchens, creeping stealthily
along the tops of the fences, and along the sheds, and clam-

1.20 A CONVENTION BROKEN UP IN A BOW.

bering up the boards that leaned up against the outbuildings,
and set themselves down, scores or less of them, in their old
trysting place, right opposite my chamber windows. To all
this I had in the abstract no objection. If a cat chooses to
take a quiet walk by moonlight, if he chooses to go out for
his pleasure or his profit, it is no particular business of mine,
and I have'nt a word to say. Cats have rights, and I have
no disposition to interfere with them. If they choose to hold
a convention to discuss the affairs of rat-and-mousedom, they
can do it for all me. But they must go about it decently
and in order. They must talk matters over calmly ; there
must be no rioting, no fighting. They must refrain from the
use of profane language — they must not swear. There's law
against all this, and I had warned them long before that I
would stand no such nonsense. I told them frankly that I'd
let drive among them some night with a double-barrelled
gun, loaded with powder and duck-shot — and I »eant it.
But those cats did'nt believe a word I said. They did'nt
believe I had any powder and shot. They did'nt believe I
had any gun, or knew how to use it, if I had ; and one great
Maltese, with eyes like tea-plates, and a tail like a Bologna
sausage, grinned and sputtered, and spit, in derision and de-
fiance of my threats. ' Very well !' said I. ' Very well,
Mr. TOM CAT ! very well, indeed 1 On your head be it, Mr.
TOM CAT ! Try it on, Mr. TOM CAT, and we'll see who'll get
the worst of it.'

" Well, as I said, the moon came up one night, with her
great round face, and all the little stars hid themselves, as

A CONVENTION BROKEN UP IN A KOW. 121

if ashamed of their twinkle in the splendor of her superior
Brightness. I retired when the rumble of the carriages in
the streets, and the tramp on the stone sidewalks had ceased,
and the scream of the eleven o'clock train had died away
into silence, with a quiet conscience, and in the confidence
that I should find that repose to which one who has wronged
no man during the day, is justly entitled.

" It may have been midnight, or one o'clock, or two, when
I was awakened from a pleasant slumber, by a babel of un-
earthly sounds in the rear of my chamber. I knew what
those sounds meant, for they had cost me fuel enough to
have lasted a month. I raised the window, and there, as of
old, right opposite me, on the north end of that long shed,
was an assemblage of all the cats in that part of the town.
I won't be precise as to numbers, but it is my honest belief
that there was less than three hundred of them ; and if one
among them all was silent, I did not succeed in discovering
which it was. There was that same old Maltese, with his
saucer eyes and sausage tail ; and over against him sat a
monstrous brindle ; and off at the right was an old spotted
ratter ; and on his left was one black as a wolf's mouth, all
but his eyes, which glared with a sulphurous and lurid bright-
ness ; and dotted all around, over a space some thirty feet
square, were dozens more, of all sizes and colors, and such
growling and spitting, and shrieking, and swearing, never be-
fore broke, with hideous discord, the silence of midnight.

" I loaded my double-barrelled gun by candle-light I put
plenty of powder and a handful of shot into each barrel. I

6

122 THE CHAIRMAN EJECTED.

adjusted the caps carefully, and stepped out of the window,
upon the narrow roof upon which it opens. I was then
just eighty feet from that cat convention. I addressed
myself to the chairman (the old Maltese) in a distinct and
audible voice and said, ' SCAT 1' He did'nt recognise my
right to the floor, but went right on with the business of the
meeting. ' SCAT !' cried I, more emphatically than before,
but was answered only by an extra shriek from the chairman,
and a fiercer scream from the whole assembly. ' SCAT I
once,' cried I again, as I brought my gun to a present.
' SCAT ! twice,' and I aimed straight at the chairman, covering
half a dozen others in the range. ' SCAT ! three times,' and
I let drive. Bang ! went the right-hand barrel ; and bang t
went the left-hand barrel. Such scampering, such leaping
off the shed, such running away over the eaves of the out-
buildings, over the tops of the wood-sheds, were never seen
before. The echoes of the firing had scarcely died away,
when that whole assemblage was broken up and dispersed.

" ' Thomas/ said I, the next morning to the boy who did
chores for us, ' there seems to be a cat asleep out on that
woodshed, go up and scare it away.'

" Thomas clambered upon the shed and went up to where
that cat lay, and lifting it up by the tail, hallood back to
me, ' This cat can't be waked up ; it can't be scared away
— its dead V After examining it for a moment — ' Some-
body's .been a shootin' on it, by thunder,' as he tossed it down
into the yard.

" ' You don't say so I' said I.

A QTJELLEE OF MIDNIGHT EIOTINGB. 123

" That cat was the old Maltese — the chairman of that con-
vention. I don't know where he boarded, or who claimed
title to him. What I do know is, that it cost me a quarter
to have him buried, or thrown into the river ; and that I
was suffered to sleep in peace from the time I made the dis-
covery that powder and lead are great queUers of midnight
rioting. They gave me quiet at least, and saved me from
the wickedness of the nightly use of certain expletives, under
the excitement of the occasion, which are not to be found in
any of the religious works of the day."

CHAPTER XIL

THE FIRST CHAIN OF PONDS — SHOOTING BY TURNS SHEEP

WASHING A PLUNGE AND A DIVE A ROLAND FOR AN

OLIVER.

WE started early the next morning up Bog River, intend-
ing to reach the " first chain of ponds," some twenty miles
deeper in the wilderness, as the stream runs, on the banks
of which our pioneer had been instructed to pitch our tents.
This day's journey, it was understood, would be a hard one,
as there were eight carrying places, varying from ten rods
to half a mile in length. The Bog River is a deep, sluggish
stream for five or six miles above the falls, just at the lake.
It goes creeping along, among, and around immense boulders,
thrown loose, as it were, in mid channel. At this distance,
the stream divides, the right hand channel leading to the
two chains of ponds and Mud Lake, where it takes its rise ;
and the left to Round Pond, and little Tupper's Lake, and a
dozen other nameless sheets of water, laying higher up
among the mountains. Our course lay up the right hand
m

THE FIRST CHAIN OF PONDS. 125

channel, which, for half a mile above the forks, comes roar-
ing and tumbling through a mountain gorge, plunging over
falls, and whirling and surging among the boulders, in a de-
scent of three or four hundred feet in all. Around these, and
seven other rapids of greater or less extent, our boats had
to be carried.

We reached the lower chain of ponds within an hour of
sunset, and found our tents pitched at a pleasant spot which
looked out over the easternmost one of these beautiful little
lakelets. There are three of them, connected together by
narrow passages or straits, the banks of which, as the boat
glides along, the oars will touch. They are surrounded by low
but pleasant hills, so arranged as to form a varied but de-
lightful scenery. From the western one, the hills rise from the
water with a steep acclivity, covered with a gigantic growth
of timber, save on the northern side, where a pleasant natural
meadow, covered with rank grass and a few spruce and fir
trees, stretches away. It contains about two hundred acres,
and its waters are deep and pure. The middle one, though
smaller, is equally beautiful, skirted on three sides with
wood-covered hills, and on the other by a continuation of the
same natural meadow. The eastern one, on the western
banks of which our tents were located on a beautiful little
bay, is the prettiest of them all. It contains perhaps six
hundred acres, and the scenery around it is exceedingly cheer-
ful and pleasant. The northern shore is bound by a natural
meadow of luxuriant wild grass, between which and the
water is a hard sandy beach, at low water some thirty feet

126 SHOOTING BY TTJRN8.

wide, and extending between a quarter and half a mile in
length.

As we approached these ponds, the river became broad
and shallow. Natural meadows, covered with tall grass and
weeds, stretching away on either hand. When we came to
this portion of the river, the oars were shipped, and our boat-
men took their seats in the stern with their paddles. Smith
was in the bow of one boat, and Spalding in that of the
other, each with rifle in hand, preparatory to the slaughter
of a deer, to provide us with venison. It was arranged that
the marksman who fired and failed to secure his game,
should change places with the one behind him, and that thus
the rotation should go on, till we should bring down a deer.
We knew that we should see numbers of them feeding along
the margin of the stream, and upon the natural meadows
that skirted the shore. The stream was winding and tortu-
ous, and at no time could we see more than five-and-twenty
rods in advance of us, so crooked is its course.

We were moving up the stream cautiously and silently ;
the boatman who had charge of the craft in which were
Smith and myself, seated in the stern, paddling, and Smith
himself seated in the bow, with rifle in hand, ready for any-
thing that might turn up. As the boat rounded a point, a
deer started out from among the reeds on the right, and
went dashing and snorting across the river directly in front
of the boat, and five or six rods ahead, the water being only
'about two feet in depth. Smith blazed away at him ; where
the ball went, Mercy knows ; but the deer dashed forward

SHOOTING BY TURNS. 127

with accelerated speed, and a louder whistle, and went
crashing up the hill-side. Smith acknowledged to a severe
attack of the Buck fever. It was now my turn to take the
next shot; and changing places with Smith, we went ahead.
In ten minutes a chance to try my skill occurred. But it
was a long shot, the game was " on the wing," and I had no
better success than did my friend. The deer only increased
the length of his bounds, and he too went plrnging through
the old woods, snorting in astonishment, and huge affright
at what ife had seen and heard.

Our boat now fell back, and Spalding and the Doctor took
the lead. In a short time, a deer was discovered feeding
just ahead of us on the lily pads along the shore. The
boatman paddled silently up to within eight or ten rods of
him. Spalding sighted him long and, as he averred, care-
fully with his rifle. The deer fed and fed on, and we waited
anxiously to hear the crack of the rifle, and see the deer go
down ; but still the boat glided on unnoticed by the animal
that was feeding in unsuspecting security. At length he raised
his head, threw forward his long ears, gazed for a second
intently at his enemies, and then appreciating his danger,
snorted like a warhorse and plunged in a seeming despera-
tion of terror towards the shore. He had ran a few rods
when Spalding let drive at him, as he confessed, at random.
The ball went wide of the mark, and the game dashed, with
more desperate energy, and whistling and snorting like a
locomotive, into the brush that lined the banks. It was
Spalding's third shot in all his life at a deer, and he insisted,

128 SHOOTING BY TUBNS.

gravely enough, that he did not fire while the game was
standing broadside to him, on account of his desire to give
the animal' a chance for his life. The truth is, that Spalding
had a bad, a very bad attack of the aforesaid Buck fever.

The Doctor, by rotation, now became the leading marks-
man. He was cool and calm, as if going to perform some
delicate surgical operation. We soon came in sight of a
buck feeding in a shallow pasture, and the boat glided
quietly within fifteen rods of it. The Doctor's hand was
firm, -and his aim steady. There was about him none of that
nervous agitation which is so apt to disturb the first efforts
at deer slaying. The boat came to a pause a moment,
when his rule rang out quick and sharp, waking the echoes
of the mountains around and reverberating along the shore.
At the crack of the rifle, the buck leaped high into the air,
and plunged madly towards the bank, up which he dashed
with a prodigious bound, made a single jump among the tall
grass,- and disappeared from the sight. The Doctor was
greatly mortified, supposing he had missed. He declared
solemnly that he had taken steady and sure aim just back of
the fore-shoulders of the deer, had a perfect sight upon it,
and that it did not fall in its tracks, could only be owing to
its bearing a charmed life. The boatman, however, knew
that the animal, from its actions, was mortally wounded.
He said nothing, but paddled quietly to the shore, and
there, just over the bank, in the tall grass and weeds, lay the
noble buck, stone dead. He had gone down and died with-
out a struggle. A proud man was the Doctor, as he passed

SHOOTING BY TUBNS. 129

his hunting-knife across the throat of the deer, and gazed
upon its broad antlers, now in the velvet, pointing to the
course of the ball right through its vitals, in on one side and
out on the other. We had venison for the next four-and-
twenty hours, and we disturbed the deer no more that after-
noon.

The deep baying of the stag-hounds, as we entered the
little lake, apprised us of the location of our tents, and we
were gla4 to reach them, and stretch our limbs upon the
bed of boughs beneath them, for the day had been warm,
and our journey a weary one. • Our pioneer had made the
entire journey the day before, though he had to pass over all
the carrying-places three times. We found that he had
killed two deer, and had 4he meat from them, cut into thin
slips, undergoing the process of "jerking," in a bark smoke-
house erected near the tents. He had also a beautiful
string of trout ready for our supper, taken in a way pecu-
liarly his own. He had used neither bait nor fly.

After supper, as we sat looking out over the lake in front
of our tents, the Doctor inquired of our pioneer how he had
taken his fish, as he had with him neither rod nor flies, and
there was no bait to be found in the woods proper for trout.

" Why," said he, "I got lonesome yesterday, all alone up
here in the woods, waiting for you, and I thought I'd take
a look around the shore of the lake, thinking I might find a
gold mine, or a pocketful of diamonds, or something of that
sort ; so I took my rifle and the two dogs, and started on
an explorin' voyage. I didn't find any gold, but I found,

6*

130 NOVEL MODE OF FISHING.

just across there by those willows and alders, a cold stream
entered the lake, and right in the mouth of it the trout were
lyin' as thick as your fingers. They were fine little fellows
as I ever happened to see, weighing about a quarter of a
pound each. I had a hook or two, and a piece of twine in
my pocket, but they were of no sort of use in common
fishin', for I had no kind of bait, and couldn't get any. After
thinking the matter over, I concluded I'd see if I couldn't bag
some of them in a quiet way. So I cut me a long pole, tied
the hook and line to the end of it, and reaching out over the
water, dropped quietly down among them. I let the line
drift gently up against the one I wanted. He didn't seem
to mind it, but was rather pleased as the line tickled his
sides. After letting it lay there a«ioment, I jerked suddenly,
and up came the trout clean over my head on to the flat rock
behind me. However this might have astonished him, it
didn't seem to disturb the rest. In that way I caught all I
wanted, and could have caught a bushel. It isn't a very
science way of fishin', but it answers when a man is hungry,
and hasn't got any bait or fly."

" I scarcely know why," said the Doctor, " but Cullen's
account of catching his trout, reminds me of a circumstance
which occurred when I was a boy, and which for the moment
made a deal of sport. I have not probably thought of it
in twenty years, but it comes to me now as fresh as though
it were the occurrence of yesterday. It must be, as Hank
Wood said the other day, that a thing which gets fairly
anchored in a man's mind, remains there always, and covered

SHEEP WASHING. 131

up as it may be by other and later things, it can never be
forgotten. It will come drifting back on the current of
memory, fresh and palpable as ever.

"Everybody understands, or ought to understand, how
sheep are washed. A small yard is built on the bank of
a stream adjacent to a deep place. One side of which is
open to the water, and into which the flock is crowded.
The washers take their places in the water, where it is three
or four feet deep, and the sheep are caught by others, and
tossed to them, where they undergo ablution (an operation
by the way, that they do not seem altogether to enjoy),
to wash the dirt and gum from their fleeces. On such
occasiens, it is regarded as a lawful thing, a standing and
ancient practical joke, to pitch any outsider, who may hap-
pen to indulge his curiosity by stopping to look on, into the
stream. If he is verdant, he will be very likely to be in-
veigled into the yard, and in an unguarded moment, be made
to take an involuntary dive, head foremost into the water.

" A few rods above the place in which my father washed
his sheep, was an old dam, the apron of which remained,
and beneath which was a basin some five or six feet in
depth, and thirty or forty feet in diameter, filled of course
with water. On one occasion, a man who was employed
to catch the sheep, was one of those shiftless, good-natured,
lazy fellows, to be found in almost every neighborhood, who
prefer smoking and telling stories in bar-rooms to regular
work, and who greatly prefer odd jobs to consecutive labor.
Tom G was one of this genus, full of fun and mischief,

132 SHEEP WASHING.

but without a particle of real malice in his composition.
As he was busy throwing sheep to the washer^ a young
fellow from the neighboring village happened that way, and
becoming somewhat interested in the process, was seduced
by Tom G r, inside of the yard, to try his hand at catch-
ing and tossing in sheep. About the second or third one
he operated upon, his treacherous friend stumbled against
him, giving him a tremendous push, and with a sheep in
his arms he drove head foremost among the washers. The
water was cold, and there was a good deal of puffing and
blowing about the time his head came above the surface.
He was a sensible chap, and took the joke as a wise man
should, especially when the odds are all against him, albeit,
it was somewhat rude.

" He came out on the other side of the stream, and after
joining in the laugh against himself, and taking off and wring-
ing his garments, he wandered up to the apron of the old
dam, and stretching himself along the planks, went to looking
anxiously down into the deep water. After a while, he seemed
to have discovered something, and called out to his friend
below, ' I say Tom, have you got a fishhook in your pocket ?
Here is a trout that will weigh two pounds, and I want to
hook him up.' Now Tom was a fisherman, and a big trout
was his weakness ; moreover, he was never without half
a dozen hooks and lines in his pockets. He left his business
at once, and went up to the apron to assist in taking the
two-pound trout. A pole was cut, and a couple of feet of
line, with a hook attached, was fastened a little way from

A PLUNGE AND A DIVE. 133

the top, and the haft of the hook stuck into the end so that
by a little force it might be removed, and Tom and his
friend got upon the apron, and stooped over to see where
the great trout lay.

" ' Here he is, Tom, just under the edge of this rock.'
Tom stretched himself over to get a view of the fish, when
a vigorous shove from the rear sent him like a great frog
plump towards the bottom of the pool. This was a con-
summation that Tom had not bargained for, but there was
no alternative but to swim for the shore, dripping like a
rat from a flooded sewer. That joke had two points to it,
and Tom G had the worst of them."

"Your anecdote," said Smith, "reminds me of one in
which I was an actor, and which was impressed upon my
mind by a process which few boys are fond of, but which
is very apt to make the impression durable. I fished for
trout once without line or hook. I got a fine string of them,
and myself into a pretty kettle of fish in the bargain. On
my father's farm, as it was when I was a boy, was a stream
that came down through a gorge in the mountains that
bounded the pleasant valley in which that farm lay. In
the spring freshets and the summer rains, that stream was
a mighty and resistless torrent, that came roaring and
plunging down from the plain above, cascading and leaping
down ledges and rushing though a gorge, on either side
of which precipices of solid rock stood straight up two
hundred feet in height. It was a goodly sight to see that
stream when its back was up, come rushing and foaming,

134 TROUTING ON SUNDAY.

a mighty flood from the deep and shadowy gulf, rolling in
its resistless course great boulders of tons upon tons in weight,
and eddying, and twisting, and roaring onward in its furious
course towards the lake. In the summer time the drouth
lapped up its waters, and it dried away to a little brook,
trickling over the falls, and went winding, a small streamlet,
around the base of the hill; sometimes it disappeared in
the gravel, or among the loose stones, save here and there
a pool of narrow limits and shallow depth. It was a fine
trout stream at times. Its waters were cold and pure, and
the brook trout loved to hide away under the great smooth
stones or shelving rocks, and be comfortable in the shade,
when the summer sun was hot and fiery in the sky. When
the creek was low, they would congregate in the pools and
still places, and hi times of extreme drouth, might be seen
huddled together in such places in great numbers.

" My father, though not a member of any church, was strict
in his family discipline in regard to the observance of the
Sabbath, the breach of which, on the part of his children,
was very apt to be followed by consequences not the most
pleasant in the world, for he held that a good switch was
an essential article of household furniture, and its occasional
use a cardinal principle in the philosophy of family rule,
One Sunday, when I was some ten or eleven years old, when
the old people were gone to meeting (and they had to go
eight miles to find a meeting house), I, with an older
brother, tired of lying around the house, concluded to take
a stroll along up the brook. It was a time of severe drouth,

TBOUTING ON SUNDAY. 135

aud the stream was dried up, save here and there a small
pool, clear and cold; the bottom of which consisted of
smooth and clean-washed stones and pebbles. In one of
these was a number of beautiful speckled trout, averaging
maybe a quarter of a pound each in weight. Here was
a temptation too strong to be resisted. We had no hooks
or lines with us, and would not have ventured to use them
on Sunday, if we had. That would have been fishing.
But the taking of those trout with our hands was quite
another matter. So, rolling our pants up above our knees
(there was no use of talking about shoes and stockings ;
such luxuries were not within the range of indulgence to
boys of our age in those days, save in the frosts and snows
of winter, and stubbed toes, stone bruises, and thorns in
the feet, come floating along down from the long past, like
shadows of darkness on the current of memory. By the
way, will some rich man, who was reared in the country
in the good old times when boys went barefooted in the
summer months, when chapped feet, stone bruises, stubbed
toes, and thorns that pierced and festered in their soles were
the great ills that 'darkened deepest around human des-
tiny/ solve for me a problem of the human mind ? Will
he tell me whether, in his after life, when he was the owner
of broad acres, fine houses, piles of stocks in paying corpo-
rations, and huge deposits in solvent banks, he ever felt
richer or prouder when counting his gains, and contemplat-
ing the aggregate of his wealth, than he did when he pulled
on his first pair of boots ?) So, as I said, we-rolled up our

136 A ROLAND FOB AN OLIVER.

pants, and waded in for the trout. We caught a beautiful
string of twenty or more, took them home, dressed them
nicely, and sat them carefully away in the cool cellar. We
had a notion that the greatness of the prize would wipe
away the offence by which it was secured, and that the
delicious breakfast they would afford, would be received
as a sufficient atonement for the sin of having taken them
on a Sunday. But we were never more mistaken in our
lives. My father went into the cellar for some purpose in
the evening, after his return from meeting, and discovered
the trout. An inquiry was instituted, our dereliction was
exposed, and we were promised a flogging. Now that was
a promise, which, while it was rarely made, was never
broken. When my father in his calm, quiet way, made up
his mind and so expressed it, that he owed one of his boys
a flogging,tit became, as it were, a debt of honor, what, in
modern parlance, would be termed a confidential debt, and
he to whom it was acknowledged to be due, became a pre-
fered creditor, and was sure to be paid.

" Well, the trout were eaten for breakfast, and after the
meal was over, my brother and myself were duly paid off,
at a hundred cents on the dollar, with full interest. That
flogging cured me of ' tickling ' trout, especially on Sunday.
I am never tempted to take trout with my hands, without
feeling a tickling sensation about the back ; and though
old recollections of the long past, of that pleasant stream
and the gorge through which it flowed, with the side hill
covered with- old forests above it, and the green fields spread

A BOLAND FOR AN OLIVEB. 137

out on the other side, of the home of my boyhood, the old
log-house, the cattle, the sheep, the old watch-dog, and the
thousand other things around which memory loves to linger,
come clustering around my heart, yet conspicuous among
them all, is the flogging I got for ' tickling ' trout on a Sun-
day."

CHAPTER XIII.

•

A JOLLY TIME FOB THE DEER — HUNTING ON THE WATER BY

DAYLIGHT MUD LAKE FUNEREAL SCENERY A NEW WAY

OF TAKING RABBITS THE NEGRO AND THE MARINO BUCK

A COLLISION.

As we came down to the lake in the morning to perform
our ablutions, we saw a fine deer on the opposite shore,
feeding upon the pond lilies that grew along in the shallow
water. It was nearly half a mile from us, and while we
were looking at it, four others came walking carelessly out
of the tall grass upon the beach, and commenced playing, as
we have seen lambs do, on the sandy shore. They would
run here and there, back and forth, at full speed along the
sands, leap high into the air, kicking up their heels, and
performing all the various%ntics of which animals so supple
and active may be supposed capable. We saw one fellow
leap, with a clear bound, over two that were standing look-
ing out over the water, and run some fifty rods up the beach,
as if all the hounds in Christendom were at his tail, and then

188

A JOLLY TIME FOE THE DEEE. 139

wheel gracefully, and return with equal speed to his com-
panions, when they all commenced jumping and bounding,
and running up and down along the shore, as if they were
out on a jregular spree, and were determined to be jolly.
After half an hour of exceedingly active play, they hoisted
their white flags, and went bounding over the meadow into
the woods.

The deer that was feeding paid no further attention to
them than to raise his head and look quietly, and perhaps
contemptuously at them occasionally, while he chewed his
breakfast, that he was picking up in the shape of lily pads
upon the surface of the water. Spalding and a boatman
paddled across the lake to make him a morning call. It is
a curious fact that one skilled in the art will paddle or scull
one of these light boats to within a few rods of a deer while
feeding, in plain open sight, provided always th^t the wind
blows from the direction of the animal, and no noise is made
by the boatman. The deer will feed on, and the time for
paddling is while his head is down. When he raises it to
look about him, in whatever position the boatman is, he
must remain immovable. If his paddle is up, it must
remain so ; not a motion must be made, or the game will be
off, with a snort and a rush, for the shore and the woods.
The deer may, and probably will look, with a vacant stare,
directly at the approaching boat without its curiosity being
in the least excited, and then go to feeding again. The
marksman must take his aim while the game is feeding ;
when it raises its head high in the air, throws forward its

140 HUNTING OK THE WATER BY DAYLIGHT.

ears and gazes at him for a moment with a wild and
startled look, then is his time to fire. Five seconds at the
longest is all that is allowed him when he sees these
motions, for within that time, with its fears thoroughly
aroused, the game will be plunging for the shelter of the
woods.

The boatman paddled Spalding quietly and silently to
within twelve or fifteen rods of the deer that was feeding,
when a column of white smoke shot suddenly up from the
bow of the boat ; the sharp crack of the rifle rung out over
the water, and the deer went down. Spalding was a proud
man as he returned to us with a fine fat spike buck in his
boat.

These little lakes are probably sixty-five miles from the
settlements, allowing for the winding course of the rivers.
Just above, where the river enters, is a dam, built of logs
some fifteen feet high, erected by the lumbermen the last
winter to hold back the water, so as to float their logs down
from this to Tupper's Lake, and so on down the Rackett
to the mills away below. Around this dam is the last
carrying place between this and Mud Lake, over which our
boatmen trudged with their boats, like great turtles with
their shells upon their backs. This is still called Bog River,
and though above the dam to Mud Lake, where it takes its
rise, it is deep and sluggish, yet it is doing it honor over-
much to dignify it by the name of a river. It was large
enough, however, to float our little craft. We left our bag-
gage-master hero with most of our luggage, to perfect his

THE LAW OF THE WOODS.. 141

operations in the way of jerking venison, intending to return
the next day. We might have left everything without a
guard, so far as human depredations were concerned. No
bolts or bars would be necessary for its protection. In the
first place, nobody would visit the spot, and if they did, our
property would be perfectly protected by the law of the
woods. It would be doubtless carefully inspected by any
curious hunter passing that way, but theft or robbery are
unknown here. True, a bottle of good liquor, if handled by
a visitor, might lose somewhat of its contents, but it would
be drank to the health of the owner, and in a spirit of good
fellowship, and not of theft, all which would be regarded
by woodsmen as strictly within rule, there being, as Hank
Wood said, " no law agin it."

We left the first chain of ponds, and rowed some ten
miles up the deep and sluggish but narrow channel of the
river, startling every little way a deer from its propriety by
our presence as it was feeding along the shore. Few sports-
men ever visit this remote region, and it is above the range
of the lumbermen. We came to some rapids near the out-
let of the second chain of ponds, around which we walked,
and up which the boatmen pushed their little craft. These
rapids are a quarter of a mile in length, with no great
amount of fall, but still enough to prevent the passage up
them of a loaded boat. Directly at the head of these
rapids is the " second chain of ponds," three pleasant little
lakelets, of from two to four hundred acres each, surrounded
by dense forests, and shores in the main walled in by huge

142 LOON SHOOTING.

boulders and broken rocks. We passed through these, in
which were several loons, or great northern divers, quietly
floating, and as they watched us, sending forth their clear
and clarion voices over the water. We took each a pass-
ing shot at them, but with no other effect than to make
them dive quicker and deeper, and stay under longer than
usual ; at the flash of our rifles they would go down, and in
a few minutes would be again on the surface sixty rods from
us, laughing aloud, as it were, with their clear and quavering
voices, at our impotent attempts to shoot them.

We left the " second chain of ponds " by the narrow and
sluggish inlets, still the Bog River, here so small that the
boatman's oars spanned the narrow channel, and as crooked
a stream as it is possible for one to be. It flows for miles
through a low and marshy region, with dense alderbushes
clustering along the shore, and scattering fir-trees, dead at
the top, standing between these and the forests in the back-
ground. The bottom, much of the way, is of clean yellow
sand, in which are imbedded millions of clams, resembling,
in every respect, those of the ocean beach. Some of these
we opened, and found the living bivalves in appearance
precisely like their kindred of the salt water. I have seen
occasionally muscle shells in other streams, and along the
shores of the lakes, but I never before saw any such as these
save near the ocean, where the salt water ebbs and flows,
and not even there in such quantities. One might gather
barrels and barrels of them, large and apparently fat, and
yet there would be hundreds or thousands of barrels left.

MUD LAKE. 143

*

The mink, the muskrat, and other animals that hunt along
the water, and have a taste for fish, have a good time of it
among them, for we saw bushels of shells in places where the
fish had been extracted and devoured.

We arrived at Mud Lake towafds evening, and pitched
our tent on a little rise of ground on the north side, a few
rods back from the lake, among a cluster of spruce and
balsam, and surrounded by a dense growth of laurel and high
whortleberry bushes. We saw a deer occasionally on our
route, and the banks of the stream in many places were
trodden up by them like the entrance to a sheep-fold. Why
this sheet of water should be called Mud Lake is a mystery,
for though gloomy enough in every other respect, its bed is
of sand, and it is surrounded by a sandy beach from fifteen
to forty feet wide. ' It is perhaps four miles in circumfer-
ence, its waters generally shallow, and so covered with pond
lilies, and skirted with wild grass, as to form the most
luxuriant pasture for the deer and moose to be found in all
this region. Of all the lakes I have visited in these northern
wilds, this is the most gloomy. Indeed it is the only one
that does not wear a cheerful and pleasant aspect. It
seems to be the highest water in this portion of the wilder-
derness, lying, as one of our boatmen expressed it, " up on
the top of the house." In only one direction could any
higher land be seen, and that was a low hill on the western
shore, not exceeding fifty feet in height. There are no tall
mountain peaks reaching their heads towards the clouds,
overlooking the waters-; no ranges stretching away into

144 FUNEREAL SCENERY.

»

the distance ; no gorges or spreading valleys ; no sloping
hillsides, giving back the sunlight, or along which gigantic
shadows of the drifting clouds float. All around it are fir,
and tamarac, and spruce of a stinted and slender growth,
dead at the top, and with lichens and moss hanging down
in sad and draggled festoons from their desolate branches.
It is, in truth, a gloomy place, typical of desolation, which it
is well to see once, but which no one will desire to visit
a second time. We noticed on the sandy beach tracks of the
wolf, the panther, the moose, and in one place the huge
track of a bear. He must have been of monstrous growth,
judging by the impression of his great feet and claws in the
sand. But we saw none of these animals, and so gloomy is
the place, so sepulchral, such an air of desolation all around,
that it brings over the mind a strong feeling of sadness and
gloom, and we resolved not to tarry beyond the next morn-
ing, even for the chance of taking a moose, a panther, or a
bear.

We pitched our tent, as I said, a little way back from the
lake, near a cold spring, that came boiling up through the
white sand in a little basin, eight feet wide, the bottom of
which, like that on the bank of Tupper's Lake, was all in
commotion, boiling and bubbling, as the water forced its way
up through it. I was in the forward boat as we approached
the lake, and was surprised to see the number of deer feed-
ing upon the lily pads in the shallow water, and the wild
grass that grew along the shore. Some stood midside in
the water, some with only the line of their backs and heads

A PANTHEJR IN SIGHT. 145"

41 »

above it. Some were close along the shore, feeding upon
the grass that grew there. Others still were nibbling at the
leaves of the moosewood upon the bank, and one large buck
stood by the side of a fir tree, rubbing his neck up and
down against it, as if scratching himself against its rough
bark. We had not been discovered, and waited for the
other boats to arrive. Great was the astonishment of my
companions, when they saw the number of deer that were
feeding in this little lake. Neither of them had ever seen
the like, nor had I, save on one occasion, and that was in
a small lake, the name of which I have forgotten, lying
a few miles beyond the head of the Upper Saranac.

" You see that clump of low balsam trees on that point
yonder," said my boatman, as we lay upon our oars, point-
ing in the direction indicated. "Well, from that spot, three
years ago, I shot a moose out upon the bar there, as it was
feeding upon the lily pads and flag grass.

" I had heard from an old Indian hunter, about this lake,
and the abundance of game to be found here, and I made
up my mind to see it. So another hunter and myself agreed
to come up here in July, and take a look at matters, and
find out whether the old copperhead told the truth or not.
We started about the middle of July, with our rifles and
provisions for a fortnight, and came up. We saw any quan-
tity of deer on the way. On the second chain of ponds, we
saw, as we were rowing along, a large panther walk out
on to the top of a great boulder, and look around, lashing
his sides with his long tail, and then sit down on his

7

14:6 SHOOTING A MOOSE.

haunches with his tail curled around his feet, just as you've
seen a cat do. He was too far off for us to shoot him, and
he saw us before we got within proper distance, and stole
away into the woods, and we passed on. As we rounded
the point just below the lake there, and looked out upon the
broad water, I saw the moose I spoke of, feeding. We sat
perfectly still, and permitted the boat to drift back down
the stream until we were out of sight. We then landed,
and I crept carefully and silently to that clump of fir trees.
I had my own and my companion's rifle both properly loaded.
Having got a right position, I sighted for a vital part, and
fired. The animal rushed furiously forward two or three
rods, with its head lowered as if making a lunge at an
enemy, then stopped, and looked all around, standing with
its back humped up, and its short stump of a tail working
and writhing at a furious rate. I sighted it again with the
other rifle, and pulled. The animal plunged furiously for-
ward again for a few rods, stopped a moment, and then
settled slowly down, and fell over on its side, dead. It was
a cow-moose and would weigh as killed five or six hundred
pounds. I was a pretty proud man then, as that was my
first moose, and about as big feeling a chap as was Squire
Smith the other day, when he brought down that buck. I
have shot two others here since, one at each visit I have
made."

The season for moose hunting along the water pastures,
was nearly over. They go back upon the hills in August,
the food there being by that tune abundant. The tracks

WOOD RABBITS. .147

we saw were old ones, the animals having passed there
several days previously. I wonld not have it supposed that
the moose are abnudant in any portion of this wilderness.
They have come to be few and far between, and exceedingly
wary at that. I could hear of none having been killed the
present season ; but that there are some left, as well as
bears, and wolves, and panthers, the tracks we saw gave
unmistakable evidence.

We saw no appearance of tront in this lake, or in the
outlet of it above the upper chain of ponds. The stream
swarmed with chub and dace, a rare circumstance with the
streams of this region. Towards evening, we saw numbers
of little grey wood rabbits, hopping around among the dense
undergrowth on the ridge where our tents were situated,
squatting themselves down and cocking up their long ears,
as they paused occasionally to examine the strange visitors
who had come among them. They were very tame, not
seeming to regard our presence as a thing of much danger
to them.

" Seeing those rabbits," remarked Smith, " reminds me of
an anecdote of my boyhood, which at the time occasioned
me an amount of mortification equalled only by the amuse-
ment it affords me, when I think of it in after years. On
my father's farm was a bush field, a place that had been
chopped and burned over, and then left to grow up with
bushes, making an excellent cover for wild wood rabbits. I
had seen them hopping about, when I went to turn away

14:8 A NEW WAY OF TAKING BABBITS.

the cows in the morning, or after them at night. I had a
longing to ' make game ' of them. I had a brother a good
deal older than myself, who was as fond of a joke as I was
of the rabbits, and who was quite as refady to make game of
me, as I was of them ; so he told me, one day to put an
apple on a stick over their paths, high enough to be just
above their reach, and a handful of Scotch snuff on a dry
leaf on the ground under it, and the rabbits, while smelling
for the apple, would inhale the snuff, and sneeze themselves
to death in no time. Well, I was a child then and simple
enough to be gammoned by this rigmarole. I set the apple
and the snuff, but I got no rabbit, while I did get laughed
at hugely for my credulity. This satisfied me that people
should never impose upon the simplicity of childhood. I
remember my mortification on the occasion. It was so long
ago that it stands out by itself, a mere fragment of memory,
with all beyond it a blank, and a wide gap on this side. It
is an isolated fact, fixed in my recollection by the pain it
occasioned me."

" Your anecdote of the rabbits," said the Doctor, " reminds
me of a story told of a Dutchman, who discovered au owl
on a limb above him, and noticed that its face, and great
round eyes, followed him always as he walked around the
tree, without its body moving at all. Seeing this he con-
cluded in his wisdom, that he would travel round the tree,
till the owl twisted its head off in watching him. So round
and round he went for an hour, and stopped only by having

THE NEGKO AND THE MERINO BUCK. 149

the conviction forced upon his mind that the owl had a
swivel in its neck."

" Strange," remarked Spalding, " how the hearing of one
story reminds us of another. I always admired the ' Arabian
Nights/ because the stories contained in that work hang
together so like a string of onions, or a braid of seed corn.
The first is a sort of introduction to the second, and the
second an usher to the third, and so on through the whole.
But why the story of the Dutchman and the owl should
remind me of another, in which an old negro and a bellicose
ram were the actors, is a matter I do not pretend to under-
stand, unless it be the extreme absurdity of both. A gen-
tleman of my acquaintance long ago (he was a middle-aged
man when I was a small boy. He was an upright and a
good man. He has gone to his rest, and sleeps in an honored
grave, having upon the simple stone above him no lying
epitaph), had an old negro who rejoiced in the name of
Pompey, and a Merino buck, the latter a valiant animal,
that was ready to fight with anybody, or anything, that
crossed his path. Between him and the ' colored person/
was an 'eternal distinction/ an active and irreconcilable
antagonism, that developed itself on every possible occasion.
The old Guinea man was winnowing wheat one day, with an
old-fashioned fan (did any of you ever see one of these prim-
itive machines for separating wheat from the chaff, used
by our fathers before the fanning mill was invented ? It
was an ingenious contrivance, by which a man with a strong

150 A COLLISION.

back and of a strong constitution, could clean some twenty
bushels in a single day). While stooping over to fill his
fan with unwinnowed grain, the buck, taking advantage of
his position, came like a catapult against him, and sent him
like a ball from a Paixhan gun, head foremost into the
chaff. Great was the astonishment, but greater the wrath
of Pompey, and dire the vengeance that he denounced
against his assailant. Gathering himself up, and rubbing
the part battered by the attack of his enemy, he retreated
around the corner of the barn, and procuring a rock weigh-
ing some twenty pounds, returned to the presence of his' foe,
who was quietly eating the wheat that the negro had been
cleaning, evidently regarding it as the legitimate spoils of
victory. Getting down on all fours, and managing to hold
the stone against his head, Pompey challenged his enemy to
combat. The buck, nothing loth, drew back to a proper
distance, and shutting both eyes, came like a battering rain
against the stone on the other side of which was the negro's
head. As might have been expected, the challenger went
one way, and the challenged the other by the recoil, botli
knocked into insensibility by the concussion. Pompey was
taken up for dead, but his wool and the thickness of his
scull saved him. He gave the buck a wide berth after that.
He regarded him always with a sort of superstitious awe,
never being able to comprehend how he butted him through
-ihat big stone. Explain the matter to him ever so scientifi-
cally, demonstrate it on the clearest principles of mechanical

POMPEY'S CONCLUSION. 151

philosophy, still Pompey would shake his head, and as he
walked away, would mutter to himself, ' de debbil helps dat
ram, sure. Dere's no use in dis nigger's tryin' to come round
him. He's a witch, dat ram is, and ain't nuffin else.' "

s

CHAPTER XIV.

A DEEE TRAPPED THE RESULT OF A COMBAT — A QUESTION

OF MENTAL PHILOSOPHY DISCUSSED.

WE returned the next day to our camping ground. On
the " Lower Chain of Ponds," we found our pioneer and his
goods all safe, no visitors having passed that way in our
absence. Smith knocked over a deer on our passage down.
I have said that just above our camp was a dam. It was
made in this wise: first, great logs were laid up, across the
stream, in the same fashion as the side of a log house, to
the height of about twelve feet, properly secured, and upon
these, other and smaller logs were laid, side by side, trans-
versely, and sloping up the stream at an angle of forty-five
degrees, like one side of the roof of a house. These long,
slender logs, reached out over and beyond those that were
laid up across the stream, the lower part covered with
brush, and then with earth, so as to make a tight dam, the
upper ends, even when the dam was full, extending several
feet above the top water line. These logs, or perhaps they

THE RESULT OF A COMBAT. 153

had better be called large and long poles, for, when com-
pared with the foundation timbers, they were nothing more,
have, of course, above where they are covered with brush
and earth, interstices, or crevices, between them.

On our return, and as we came in sight of the dam, I,
being in the forward boat, saw a small deer, laying stretched
out upon these poles, dead, hanging, as it were, by one foot.
My impression was, that it had been shot, and dragged up
there, and left by our pioneer for the present. We found,
however, upon examination, that the deer had walked up
on the dam, probably to take a look at what was below,
and on the other side, when his foot slipped down between
the poles, and he was caught as in a trap. His leg was
badly broken, and nearly severed by his efforts to get loose,
and the bark of the poles was worn away within reach of
liis struggles. He had died where he thus got hung; and
there he was, stone dead, but not yet cold, when we found
him. He was a fine, fat, young deer, and died by one of
the thousand accidents to which the wild animals of the
forest, as well as man, are exposed.

Upon relating this incident to an old hunter, I was told
by him that he once, while out in the woods, came upon the
skeletons of two large bucks, that, in fighting, had got their
horns so interlocked and wedged together, that they could
not separate them, and thus, locked in the death grapple,
they had starved and died. There lay their bones, the
flesh eaten from them by the beasts and carrion birds-, and,
bleached by the sun and the storms, the two skulls with the

1*

154 A QUESTION OF MENTAL

horns still interlocked; and the narrator told me he had
them yet at home, fast together, as he found them, as one
of the curiosities to be met with in the Eackett woods.

" I've been thinking," said Spalding, in his quiet way, as we
sat towards evening, looking out over the pleasant little lake,
watching the shadow chasing the retiring sunlight up the
sides of the opposite hills, *' I've been thinking how differ-
ently we act, and feel, and talk — aye, and think, too — out
here in these old woods, from what we do when at home and
surrounded by civilization. However we four may deny
being old, we cannot certainly claim to be young. We have
all reached the meridian of life, and though feeling few, if
any, of the infirmities of age, still, our next move will be
in the downhill direction. Yet, notwithstanding all this, we
talk and act, and think, and feel, too, like boys. I do not
speak this reproachfully, but as a fact which develops a
curious attribute of the human mind."

" Well," replied the Doctor, " while it may be curious, it
is exceedingly natural. We have thrown off the restraints
which society imposes upon us ; we have thrown off the
cares which the business of life heaps upon us. We have
gone back for a season to the freedom, the sports, the sights,
the exercises which delighted our boyhood. And can it be
called strange that the feelings, the thoughts, and emotions
of our youth should come welling up from the long past, or
that with the return of boyish emotions, the language and
actions of boyhood should be indulged in again ?"

" Yon will find," said Smith, " your old feelings of sobriety,

PHILOSOPHY DI8CTJ88ED. 155

of thoughtfulness, your cautiousness, coming back just in pro-
portion as you tire of this wilderness life, and that by the
time you are ready to return to civilization, you will have
become as staid, sober, and reflective men of the world, as
when you started, with as strict a guard upon your expres-
sion of sentiment, or opinion, as ever."

" It is that ' guard ' of which you speak," remarked Spal-
ding, " over the emotions, the sentiments of the heart, stifling
their expression, and chaining down under a placid exterior
their manifestations, that constitutes one of the broad dis-
tinctions between youth and manhood. It is when that
guard is set, that the process of fossilization, so to speak,
begins ; and if no relaxing agency intervenes, the heart be-
comes cold and hard, even before white hairs gather upon
the head. I often imagine that if men who really think, who
have the power of analyzation, of weighing causes and mea-
suring results, would dismiss that rigid espionage over them-
selves, would stand in less awe of the world, in less dread
of its accusation of change, and with the fearless frankness
of youth, declare the truth, and stand boldly up for the right
as they, at the time, understand it to be, without reference
to consistency of present views and opinions with those of
the past, the world would be much better off ; progress
would have vastly fewer obstacles to contend against. But it
is not every man, even of those who think, who in politics, in
religion, in science, in anything involving a possible charge
of inconsistency, of the desertion of a party, a sect, or a
principle, date avow a change of conviction or opinion, how-

156 A QUESTION OP MENTAL

ever such change may exist. This should not be so. It be-
littles manhood, and makes slaves and cowards of men. It
is a proud prerogative, this ability and power of thinking.
It is a priceless privilege, this freedom of thought and opi-
nion, and he is a craven who moves on with the heedless and
thoughtless crowd, conscious of error, himself a hypocrite and
a living lie, through fear of the charge of ' inconsistency,'
the accusation of change. ' Speak your opinions of to-day,'
says Carlyle, ' in words hard as rocks, and your opinions of
to-morrow in words just as hard, even though your opinions
of to-morrow may contradict your opinions of to-day.' There
is a fund of true wisdom in this beautiful maxim, if men
would appreciate it. It would correct a vast deal of error
in politics, in religion, in philosophy, in the social relations
of life. Times change, and struggle against it as they may,
men's convictions will change with the times. The man who
says that his opinions never alter, is to me either a knave or
a fool. For a thinking man to remain stationary, when
everything else is on the move, is a simple impossibility.
Time was when the stage coach was the model method of
travelling. It carried us six, sometimes eight miles the
hour, in comfort and safety. But who thinks of the lumber-
ing stage coach now, with its snail's pace of eight miles the
hour, when the locomotive with its long train of cars, lighted
up like the street of a city in motion, rushes over the smooth
rails literally with the speed of the wind. The scream of the
steam-whistle has succeeded the old stage-horn, and the iron
horse taken the place of those of flesh and blood. Change

PHILOSOPHY DISCUSSED. 157

is written in great glowing letters upon everything. It
stands out in blazing capitals everywhere. All things are
on the move ! Forward ! and forward ! is the word. And
who would, who CAN, stand still amidst the universal rush ?
Only a century ago, from the valley through which the ma-
jestic Hudson rolls its everlasting flood, westward to the
mighty Mississippi, westward still to the Eocky Mountains,
and yet westward to the Pacific, was one vast wilderness ;
interminable forests, standing in all their primeval grandeur
and gloom ; boundless prairies, covered with profitless ver-
dure, over which the silence of the everlasting past brooded ;
and above all these, mountain peaks, covered with perpetual
snows, upon which the eye of a white man had never looked,
stood piercing the sky. From the Atlantic coast to the
Mississippi, that old forest has been swept away. The broad
prairies have been, or are being, subjected to the culture of
human industry ; even the Rocky Mountains have been
overleaped, and beyond them is a great State already ad-
mitted into the family of the Union, and a territory teeming
with an adventurous and hardy population, knocking at its

door for admission. The march of civilization has crossed a

•

continent of more than three thousand miles, sweeping away
forests, spreading out green fields, planting cities and towns,
making the old wilderness to blossom as the rose, scattering
life, activity, progress, all along the road it has travelled.
The great rivers that rolled in silence through unbroken
forests, have become the highways of trade, upon whose

158 A QUESTION OF MENTAL

bosoms the white sails of commerce are spread, and through
whose waters countless steamboats plough their way. These
stupendous changes are the results of human energy, and
they reach, in their moral prestige, their progressive influ-
ence, through every vein and artery of governmental and
social compacts, affecting political institutions, shaping na-
tional policy, and forcing, by their resistless demonstrations,
change and mutations of opinions upon all men,

" As it has been in the past century, so it is now, and
BO it will be through all the long future. Forward, and
forward, is the word, and forward will be the \fc>rd for cen-
turies to come. And why ? Because all men here, in this
free Republic, are free to think, free to speak, free to will,
free to act. No traditions of the past bind them ; no here-
ditary policy controls their action ; no customs, covered with
the dust of ages, fetter them ; no physical or intellectual
gyves, corroded by the rust of centuries, are eating into their
flesh. Because thinking American men everywhere live in
the present, ignoring and defying the dead past, and build-
ing up the mighty future. Because they ' speak their opi-
nions of TO-DAY in words hard as rocks, and their opinions of
TO-MORROW in words just as hard, although their opinions of
to-morrow may contradict their opinions of to-day.' They
are fearless of personal consequences. As free men, they
will think, as free men they will speak, and as such they will
act, regardless of the jibe and sneer of those who accuse
them of change, of inconsistency, of being mutable and un

PHILOSOPHY DISCUSSED. 159

stable of purpose. They point to the march of improvement,
the advance in the actualities of life, and ask, ' When every
thing else is on the move, shall we stand still ? Shall the
opinions of a quarter of a century, a decade, a year, a
month ago, remain unchanged, immutable, fixed as a star
always, amidst the new demonstrations looming up like
mountains everywhere around us ?'

"Man's life is short at best ; a little point of tijne, scarcely
discernible on the map of ages ; his aspirations, his hopes,
his ambition, more transient than the lightning's flash ; but
his opinions may tell for good upon that little point occu-
pied by his generation, and he should ' speak them in words
hard as rocks.' They may aid in illuminating the darkness
of the present, and he should therefore ' speak them hi words
hard as rocks.' They may have some influence in building
up and ennobling human destiny in the future, and he should
therefore ' speak them in words hard as rocks,' regardless
of the contumely heaped upon him by little minds for having
thus spoken them. What if the ridicule, the denunciations
of the unthinking, the sensual, the profligate, the unreflect-
ing fools of the world be poured upon him ? What of that ?
To-day, may be one of darkness and storm. The cloud and
the storm will pass away, and the brightness and glory of
the sunh'ght will be all over the earth to-morrow. Let him
' speak his opinions then of to-day in words hard as rocks,
and his opinions of to-morrow in words just as hard.' Let
him speak his opinions thus on all subjects within the range

160 NIGHT HUNTING.

of human investigation, upon science, philosophy, politics,
religion, morals ; and leave to little minds to settle the ques-
tion of consistency or change. Let his be the eagle's flight
towards the sun, and theirs to skim in darkness along the
ground, like the course of the mousing owl."

After it became dark, Smith and Martin went out around
the lake night hunting, and the rest retired to our tents.
We heard the report of Smith's rifle from time to time, and
concluded that we should have to court-martial him for a
wanton destruction of deer, contrary to the law we had
established for our government on that subject. But on his
return, we ascertained that, though having had several shots,
he had succeeded in killing or, according to Martin's account,
even wounding but one, and that a yearling, and the poorest
and leanest we had seen since we entered the woods.
Though it was thus diminutive in size, Smith declared that
he had seen, and shot at, some of the largest deer that ever
roamed the forest. He insisted that he had seen some, by
the side of which the largest we had looked upon by day-
light, were mere fawns, and thereupon he undertook to esta-
blish a theory that the large deer fed by night and the
smaller ones by day. This would have been all well
enough, were it not for the fact, understood by every expe-
rienced night-hunter, that by the spectral and uncertain
light of the lamp, or torch, a deer, when seen standing in
the water, or on the reedy banks, is in appearance magnified
to twice its actual dimensions. To this Smith at last

THE WRONG DEER. 161

assented, since to deny the proposition, involved the conclu-
sion that he had killed the wrong deer ; for the one he shot
at, as it stood in the edge of the water, though much
smaller than some he had seen, appeared greatly larger than
the one he killed.

CHAPTER XV.

HOOKING UP TEOUT THE LEFT BRANCH THE RAPIDS — A FIGHT

WITH A BUCK.

WE started down stream in the morning, towards the
forks, intending to ascend the left branch to Little Tapper's
Lake. We reached the forks at three o'clock. Directly
opposite to where the right branch enters, a small cold
stream comes in among a cluster of alder bushes on the
eastern shore. At the mouth of this little stream, which one
can step across, the trout congregate. We could see them
laying in shoals along the bottom ; but the sun shone down
bright and warm into the clear water, and not a trout would
rise to the fly, or touch a bait. We wanted some of those
trout, and as they refused to be taken in a scientific way
and according to art, it was a necessity, for which we were
not responsible, which impelled us to a method of capture
which, under ordinary circumstances, we should have re-
jected. I took off the fly from my line, and fastened upon
it half a dozen snells with bare hooks, attached a small

162

HOOKING TIP TROUT. 163

sinker, and dropped quietly among them. A large fellow
worked his way lazily above where the hooks lay on the bot-
tom, eying me, as if laughing at my folly in attempting to
deceive him, with fly or bait. I jerked suddenly, and two of
the hooks fastened into him near the tail. That trout was
astonished, as were half a dozen or more of -his fellows, when
they came out of the water tail foremost, struggling with all
their might against so vulgar and undignified a manner of
leaving their native element. We got as beautiful a string
in this way as one would wish to see, albeit they lauged at
our best skill with fly and bait ; and the cream of the matter
was, that we had our pick of the shoal.

We pitched our tents at the foot of the second rapids, on
a high, moss-covered bank. The roar of the water sounded
deep and solemn among the old woods, as it went roaring
and tumbling, and struggling through the gorge. The night
winds moaned and sighed among the trees above us, while
the night bird's notes came soothingly from the wilderness
around us.

" What a strange diversity of tastes exists among the peo-
ple of this world of ours," said the Doctor, addressing him-
self to me, as we satin front of our tents, listening to the
roar of the waters. " You and I, I take it, enjoy a fort-
night or so, among these lakes, and old forests, with a
keener relish than Spalding or Smith here. I judge so, be-
cause we indulge in these trips every year, while this is their
first adventure of the kind. But even you and I, however
much we may love the woods, however we may enjoy these

164 A LOVER OF SOLITUDE.

occasional tramps among their shady solitudes, would not
enjoy them as a residence ; and yet I have sometimes
thought I should love to spend the summers in a forest
home, alone with nature, with my pen and books, a fishing-
rod and rifle to supply my wants, and a friend to talk with
occasionally.

"Many years ago, I was out on the Western prairies,
some sixty days beyond the region of bread ; we had en-
camped on the banks of a stream, along which a narrow belt
of timber grew. More than a quarter of a century has
passed since I took that trip to look upon the Rocky Moun-
tains. There was no gold region laying beyond them then,
or rather, the enterprise of the Anglo-Saxon had not disco-
vered ita existence, and the greed of the white man had
not made the trail over the mountains, or through their dis-
mal passes, a familiar way. Along in the afternoon we
were visited by a trapper, who had, in his wanderings, disco-
vered the smoke of our camp fires. He was a weather-
beaten, iron man, of the solitudes of nature, who had wan-
dered away from his home in New England, and from civi-
lization, into that limitless wilderness. He was glad to see
us, inquired the news from the outer world, talked about
York State, Varmount, the Bay State, and then, after an
hour's converse, as if his social instincts and sympathies had
been satisfied, he shouldered his rifle and started off across
the plain, towards a belt of timber lying dim and shadowy,
like a low cloud, upon the distant horizon. I watched him
for an hour or more, as he trudged away over the rolling

LOVE OF CHANGE. 165

prairie, growing less and less to the view, until he became
like a speck in the distance, and then vanished from my
sight. There was a solemn sort of feeling stole over me, as
this lonely hunter wended his way into the deep solitudes of
the prairies, to be alone with nature, communing only with
himself and the things scattered around him by the great
Creator. He seemed to be contented and happy. How
different were his tastes from yours or mine, my friends ;
and yet I felt as though it would have been easy for me to
have been like him, an isolated and solitary man, had cir-
cumstances in early life thrown me into a position to have
followed the original bent of my nature."

"And yet," said Spalding, "if you will look into the
philosophy of the matter, you will see that this diversity of
tastes, as you call it, is not so great after all ; that is, that
the origin of the impulse which sends some men away from
society among the solitudes of the wilderness, and of that
which holds others in constant communion with the busy
scenes of life, is very nearly the same. It is the love of
adventure, of excitement, a restlessness for something new,
a desire for change. This impulse is controlled, shaped by
circumstances of early life, by education and association ;
but the foundation of it at last is the thirst for excitement,
the love of adventure. One man wanders away into the
wilderness in pursuit of it. Another plunges into society in
pursuit of the same thing. These hardy men who are here
with us, who were reared on the borders of civilization,
enjoy the solitudes of their wilderness quite as much, and

166 MOVING BACK FROM CIVILIZATION.

upon the same general theory, as we do the society to which
we have been accustomed ; and they plunge alone into
the one with quite as much zest as we do into the other, in
the pursuit of excitement. Here is Cullen, now, who has
spent more time alone in the wilderness than almost any
other man outside of the trappers and hunters of the prairies
of the West, I appeal to him if it is not rather a love of
adventure than of nature which sends him on his solitary
rambles in the forests ?"

" May be the Judge is right," replied Cullen, as he rubbed
the shavings of plug tobacco in the palm of his left hand with
the ball of his right, while he held his short black pipe be-
tween his teeth, preparatory to filling it, " may be the Judge is
right, I rather think he is, and let me tell you I've met with
some queer adventures, as you call them, in these woods too ;
some that I wouldn't have gone out arter if I'd known what
they were to 've been afore I started. I've been movin' back
from what you call civilization for five and twenty year,
because I didn't like to live where people were too thick,
and where there was nothing but tame life around me. I've
a land of liking for the deer and moose, and havn't any ill
will towards, now and then, a wolf or a painter. I like a
rifle better than I do the handles of a plow, and I'd rayther
bring down a ten-pronger than to raise an acre of corn, and
I don't care who knows it. There's a place in the world for
just such a man as I am yet, and will be till these old woods
are gone. Do you see that ?" said he, rolling up his panta-
loons to his knees, revealing a deep scar on both sides of

HONORABLE SOAKS. 167

the calf of his leg, as if it had been pierced by a bullet.
" And do you see that ?" as he exhibited another deep scar
above his knee. " And that ?" as he showed another on his
arm, above the elbow. " Wai, I reckon I had a time of it
with the old buck that made them things on my under-
piniu', and on my corn-stealer, as they say out West. Fif-
teen years ago I was over on Tupper's Lake, shantyin' on
the high bank above the rocks, just at the outlet, fishin' and
huntin', and layin' around loose, in a promiscuous way, all
alone by myself, havin' nobody along but the old black
dog that you," appealing to Hank Wood, who nodded assent,
remember. " That dog," continued Cullen, " was human in
his day, and if anybody has another like him, and wants a
couple of months lumberin' in the place of him, I'm ready
for a trade ; he may call at my shanty. Wai, Crop and I
had seen about all there was to be looked at about Tup-
per's Lake, and havin' hearn some pretty tall stories about
the deer and moose up about the head of Bog River from
an Ingen who'd hunted that section, I mentioned to Crop
one mornin' that we'd take a trip into them parts.
' Agreed/ said he, or leastwise he didn't say a word agin
it, and, by the wag of his tail, I understood him to be
agreeable.

"Mud Lake, as you've discovered, aint very near now,
and it was a good deal farther off then. The settlements
hadn't been pushed so far into the woods then as now. But
we put out, Crop and I, for Mud Lake ; we passed the
eight carryin' places afore night, and reached the first chain

168 WHAT "ME AND CEOP" SAW.

of ponds while the sun was hangin' like a great torch in the
tree-tops. I've seen a good many deer hi my day, but the
way they stood around in those ponds, and hi the shallow
water of the river below, among the grass and pond lilies,
was a thing to make a man open his eyes some. I saw
dozens of 'em at a tune, and if it didn't seem like a sheep
paster I would'nt say it. I had my pick out of the lot, and
knocked over a two-year-old for provision for me and Crop.
I aint at all poetical, but if there was ever a matter to make
a man feel like stringin' rhymes, that evenin' that Crop
and I spent on the lower chain of ponds, or little lakes on
Bog River, was a thing of that sort. The sun threw his
bright red light on the tops of the mountains away off to
the East, spreading it all over the lofty peaks, like a golden
shawl, while the gorges and deep valleys around their base
rested in deep and solemn shadow. The loon spoke out
clear, like a bugle on the lakes, and his voice went echoiu'
around among the hills ; the frogs were out and out jolly,
while the old woods were full of happy voices and merry
songs as if all nater was runnin' over with gladness and joy;
even the night breezej as it sighed and moaned among the
tree-tops, seemed to be whisperin' to itself of the joy and
brightness and glory of such an evenin'. As the night
gathered, the moon, in her largest growth, came up over the
hills and walked like a queen up into the sky, and the
bright stars gathered around her, twinklin' and flashin' and
dancin', as if merry-makin' in the brightness of her presence.
Away down below the bottom of the lake were other moun-

BLACK FLIES AND MOSQUITOES. 169

tains and lakes, another moon with bright stars shinin' and
twinklin' aronnd her, other broad heavens just as distinct
and glorious as those which arched above us. Don't laugh,
Judge, for me and Crop saw and heard all that I've been
describin' to you, and we felt it too, may be quite as deeply
as if we'd been bred in colleges and stuffed with the larnin'
of the books.

" I heard the cry of the painter, the howl of the wolf,
and the hoarse bellow of the moose that night, and Crop
crept close alongside of me, in our bush-shanty, and an-
swered these forest sounds by a low growl, as if sayin'
to himself, that while he'd rayther keep out of a fight,
yet, if necessary, in defence of his master, he was ready
to go in. Wai, we started on up stnam next mornin7,
passed the second chain of lakes, and went along up the
crooked and windin' course of the stream, till towards night
we came in sight of Mud Lake. That lake is anything
but handsome to my thinkin'; you saw it was gloomy and
solemn enough, situated as it is away up on the top of
the mountain, higher than any other waters I know of in
these parts. All about it are fir, and tamarack, and spruce,
the lichens hanging like long grey hair away down from
their stinted branches, while all around low bushes grow,
and moss, sometimes a foot thick, covers the ground. That,
Judge, is the place for black flies and mosquitoes in June.
The black flies are all gone before this time in the summer,
but if you'd a taken this trip the latter part of June, you'd
have admitted that I'm tellin' no lie. If there's any place

8

170 A GOOD-SIZED BUCK.

in the round world where mosquitoes have longer bills,
or the black flies swarm in mightier hosts, I don't Jmow
where it is, and shan't go there if I happen to find out
its location. I've a tolerably thick hide, but if they didn't
bite me some, I wouldn't say so. But you ought to have
seen the deer feedin' on the pond-lilies and grass in that
lake ! They were like sheep in a pasture ; and out some
fifty rods from the shore was a great moose, helpin' himself
to the eatables that grew there. I laid my jacket down
for Crop to watch, and waded quietly in towards where the
moose was feedin'. I got within twelve or fifteen rods of
him, and spoke to him with my rifle. He heard it, you
may guess. Without knowin' who or what hurt him, he
plunged right towards me for the shore ; but he never got
there alive. You ought to have seen the scampering of the
deer at the sound of my rifle ! Maybe there wasn't much
splashin' of the water, and whistlin', and snortin', and puttin'
out for the shore among 'em.

" The next mornin', I got up just as the sun was risin',
and a little way down on the shore of the lake I saw a
buck. Wai, he was one of 'em — that buck was. The
horns on his head were like an old-fashioned round-posted
chair, and if they hadn't a dozen prongs on 'em, you may
skin me ! He wasn't as big as an ox, but a two-year-old
that could match him, could brag of a pretty rapid growth.
I crept up behind a little clump of bushes to about fifteen
rods of where he stood on the sandy beach, and sighting
carefully at his head, let drive. My gun hung fire a little,

A FIGHT WITH THE BUCK. 171

owin' to the night-dews, but that buck went down, and
after kickin' a moment, laid still, and I took it for granted
he was dead So I laid down my rifle, and went up to
where he was, and with my huntin' kuife in my hand, took
hold of his horn to raise his head so as to cut his throat.
If that deer was dead, he came to life mighty quick ; for
I had no sooner touched him, than he sprang to his feet,
and with every hair standin' straight towards his head,
came like a mad bull at me. In struggMn' up he oversot
me ; and • as he made his drive one prong went through
the calf of my leg. I plunged my knife into his body,
and the blood spurted all over me. But it wasn't no use.
He smashed down upon me again, and made that hole in
my leg above the knee. I handled my knife in a hurry,
and made more than oue hole in his skin, while he stuck
a prong through my arm. I hollered for Crop, who was
watching the shanty as his duty was. The old buck and
I had it rough and tumble ; sometimes one a-top, and
sometimes the other, and both growin' weak from loss of
blood. May be we didn't kick and tussle about, and tear
up the sand on the beach of the lake some! The buck
was game to the backbone, and had no notion of givin'
in, and I had to fight for it, or die ; so up and down,
over and over,* and all around, we went for a long time,
until Crop made up his mind that my callin' so earnestly
meant something, and round the point he came. When
he saw what was goin' on, you ought to've seen how ff

172 SOMETHING LEARNED.

went in ! He didn't stop to ask any qnestions, but as if
possessed by all the furies of creation he lit upon that buck,
and the fight was up. He with his teeth, and I with my
knife, settled the matter in less than a minute. But, Judge,
let me tell you, that buck was dangerous ; and if Crop
hadn't been around, may be ther'd have been the bones
of man and beast bleachin' on the sandy beach of Mud
Lake ! I bound up my wounds as well as I could — but
it was tough work backin' my bark canoe over the carryin'
places on Bog River, and across the Ingen carryin' place,
and from the Tipper Saranac to Round Lake, with them
holes in my leg and arm, and the other bruises I received.
When I got out to the settlements I was mighty glad to
lay still for six weeks, and when I got around again I was
a good deal leaner than I am now.

"My gun hangin' fire made my bullet go wide of the
spot I aimed at. It had grazed his skull and stunned him
for a little time, and crazed him into the bargain. I learned
more fully a fact that I'd an idea of before, by my fight
with that deer, and it is this — that it's best to keep out
of the way of a furious buck with tall, sharp horns oil his
head. He's a dangerous animal to handle.

" That's one of the adventures that I went out into the
wilderness arter, and found without lookin' for it ; aud
I've found a good many others that put me and Crop in
a tight place more than once. I backed him over all the
carryin' places between Little Tapper's and the Saranacs

A STORY DEFERRED. 173

once, when he was too lame and weak to walk, and nussed
him for a month afterwards. But that's an adventer I'll
tell another time. There's a deal of excitement, as the
Judge calls it, outside of the fences, if people will take the
pains to look for it there."

CHAPTER XVI.

ROUND POND — THE PILE DRIVER — A THEORY FOR SPIRITUALISTS.

WE put up out tents the next evening, on a bold bluff
near the outlet of Round Pond, a picturesque and plea-
sant sheet of water, some eight or ten miles in circum-
ference. It lay there still and waveless, in that calm sum-
mer evening, as glassy and smooth as if no breeze had
ever stirred its surface. All around it were old forests,
old hills and rocks, and away off in the distance were the
tall peaks of the Adirondacks, standing up grim, solemn,
and shadowy in the distance. These peaks are seen from
almost every direction. They tower so far above the sur-
rounding highlands, that they seem always to be peering
over the intervening ranges, as if holding an everlasting
watch over the broad wilderness beneath them. This lake
is probably more than a thousand feet above the Rackett,
and the river falls that distance principally at the two
rapids around which our boats were carried. The rest
of the way it is a deep, sluggish stream, so that the descent

174

BOUND POND. 175

may be reckoned within less than three miles. A ledge
of rocks forms the lower boundary of the lake, through
which the water, at some remote period, broke its way, and
it goes roaring down rapids for three-quarters of a mile, then
moves in a sluggish current across a plain of several miles
in extent ; then plunges down a steep descent for over a
mile and a half to subside again into quiet, and move on
with a sluggish current to plunge down the ledges again
into Tupper's Lake. There are no perpendicular falls of
more than twenty feet, but the water goes plunging, and
boiling, and foaming down shelving rocks, and eddying,
and whirling around immense boulders, rushing and roaring
through the gorges with a voice like thunder. These falls
are all useless here, and probably will be for centuries
to come ; but were they out in the " living world," in the
midst of civilization, with . a fertile and populous region
about them, they would soon be harnessed to great wheels,
and made utilitarian ; the clank of machinery would soon
be heard above the roar of their waters. They would do
an immensity of labor on their retnrnless journey to the
ocean. But 'here, they are utterly valueless, wasting their
mighty power upon desolate rocks, rushing in mad and
impotent fury forever through a region of barrenness and
sterility, so far as the uses of civilization are concerned,
a region where the manufacturer or the agriculturist will
never tarry, until the world shall be so full of people that
necessity will drive them to the mountains, to build up the
waste places of the earth.

176 BOUND POND.

Opposite, and across the bay from where our tents were
pitched, I noticed that a small stream entered the lake, and
Smith and myself crossed over to experiment among the
trout I knew would be gathered there. We were entirely
successful, for we took one at almost every throw. I have
more than once stated, that the trout of these lakes and
rivers, in the warm season, congregate where the cold
streams enter ; and if the sportsman will search out the
little brooks, no matter how small, and cast his fly across
where their waters enter the lake or river, he will be sure to
find trout in any of the hot summer months.

We returned to camp before the sun went behind the hills,
with our fish ready for the pan, and our boatmen provided
us with a meal of jerked venison, pork, and trout, which an
epicure might envy, and to which a hard day's journey and
an appetite sharpened by the bracing influence of the pure
mountain air, gave a peculiar relish. It was a pleasant
thing to see the moon come up from among the trees that
formed a dark outline to the lake away off to the east, and
travel up into the sky ; to see how faithfully it was given
back from down in the stirless waters, and how the stars
twinkled and glowed around it in the depths below, as they
they did in the depths above. There was the moon, and
there the stars, all bright and glorious in the heavens above ;
and there another moon, and other stars, as bright and
glorious, down in the vault below ; the lake floating, as it
were, an almost viewless mist, a shadowy and transparent
veil between.

THE PrLE-DEIVEE. 177

As we sat, in the greyness of twilight, in front of onr
tents, a curious sound came over the lake from the opposite
shore, so like civilization that it startled us for a moment.
Here we were, fifty miles from a house, away in the forest
beyond the sound of anything savoring of human agency,
and yet we heard distinctly what was for all the world like
the blows of an axe or hammer upon a stake, driving it into
the earth. It had the peculiar ring, which any one will re-
cognise who has driven a stake into ground covered with
water, by blows given by the side instead of the head of an
axe. These blows were given at intervals so regular, that
we all suspended smoking, certain that there were other
sportsmen beside ourselves in the neighborhood of this lake.

" Who in the world is that ?" asked Smith, of Martin, who
seemed to enjoy onr astonishment.

"That," replied Martin, "is a gentleman known in these
parts as the ' Pile-driver.' He visits all these lakes in the
summer season, and though, as a general thing, he travels
alone, yet he sometimes has half a dozen friends with him.
If you'll listen a moment, may be you'll find that he has
a friend in the neighborhood now who will drive a pile in
another place."

Sure enough, in a moment the same ringing blows came
from a reedy spot in a different part of the bay.

" The bird that makes that noise," said Martin, "is about
the homeliest creature in these woods. It is a small grey
heron, that lights down among the grass and weeds to hunt
for small frogs and such little fish as swim along the shore.

8*

178 INDIGNANT SPIRITS.

When he drives his pile, he stands with his neck and long
bill pointed straight up, and pumping the air into his throat,
sends it out with the strange sound you have heard. It is
the resemblance of the sound to that made by driving a
stake into ground covered with water, that gives him his
name. He's an awkward, filthy bird, but he helps to make
up the noises one hears in these wild regions."

" My first thought was," said Smith, " that we had got
among the spirits of the woods, and that they were ' rap-
ping ' their indignation at our presence, there was something
so human about it."

" By the way," remarked the Doctor, " and you remind
me of the subject, what a strange delusion is this Spiritual-
ism, to the 'manifestations' of which you refer, and how
singular it is that men of strong natural sense and cultivated
minds, should be drawn into it. We all know such. Their
delusion, too, is^stronger than mere speculative belief. It is
a faith which to them appears to amount to absolute know-
ledge. They have no doubt or hesitancy on the subject.
Their convictions are perfect ; such, that were they as strong
in their faith as Christians, as they are in the reality of
Spiritualism, they would be able to move mountains."

"I have noticed this intensity of their faith," said Smith;
" and while I utterly reject the whole theory of Spiritualism,
I could never join in the ridicule of its earnest devotees.
There is something that commands my respect in this strong
faith, when honestly entertained, however stupendous the
error may be to which it clings. There is something, to my

SPREAD OF SPIRITUALISM. 179

mind, too solemn for derision in the idea of communing with
the spirits of the departed ~ or that the time is approaching
when living men and the souls of the physically dead, are to
meet, as it were, face to face, and know each other as they
are. It is one which I can, and do reject, but cannot ridi-
cule. The world, however, regards it differently. And yet
with all the contempt and derision that has been poured
upon this singular delusion, its devotees have multiplied be-
yond all precedent in the history of the world. They num-
ber, it is said, in this country alone, millions, and have some
forty or more newspapers in the exclusive advocacy of their
theory."

" The wise people of this world," said Spalding, " that is,
those who are wise in their day and generation, laugh at the
believers in this modern theory of Spiritualism. They pity
them, too, as the unhappy devotees of a faith which sober
reason and all the experience of the past prove to be as un-
substantial as the moonbeams that dance upon the waters at
midnight. Still these same devotees point to the demon-
strations of what they regard as living facts, phenomena pal-
pable to the senses, things that appeal to the eye, the ear,
and the touch, and say that these are higher proofs than all
the dogmas of philosophy, all the observation and experience
of former times, all the logic of the past. And here is the
issue between Spiritualism and the mass of mankind who
deride and contemn it.

" Now, be it known to you, that I am no Spiritualist. I
reject not all the evidences of the phenomena upon which

180 A THEORY FOB SPIRITUALISTS.

it is based, but I utterly deny that such phenomena are the
works of disembodied spirits. I myself have seen what ut-
terly confounded me, and while I reject all idea of super-
natural agencies, all interposition of departed spirits, yet I
have become thoroughly satisfied that there are more things
in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy.
These phenomena of which the Spiritualists speak, I will not
undertake to pronounce all lies. Some of them are doubt-
less impostures — the work of knaves, who speculate upon the
credulity and superstitions which are attributes of the human
mind ; but they are not all such. But while I admit their
reality, I insist that such as are so, are the results of natural
laws, which will one day be discovered, and which will turn
out to be as simple as tie spirit which presides over the
telegraph, or that which constitutes the life of a steam en-
gine. There may be, and probably is, a great undiscovered
principle which underlays these spiritual manifestations, as
they are called, and MIND is after it, looking for it care-
fully ; and what MIND has once started in pursuit of earnestly,
it seldom fails to overtake.

" I have sometimes amused myself by endeavoring to fur-
nish a theory for the Spiritualists to stand upon, based upon
the demonstrations of the past, the evidences brought to
light by the researches of science, which at all events should
have about it truth enough to give color and respectability
even to an error as stupendous as that of Spiritualism.
This theory I have predicated upon the progress of the ma-
terial world, aside from animal life, showing that what may

A THEORY EOE SPIRITUALISTS. 181

have been impossible thousands of years ago, may be pos-
sible, or about becoming possible now ; that we are about
entering upon a new era in the advancement of all things
towards perfectability, and that the advent of that era may
be marked by an established communication between the
living and the spirits of the departed.

"Science demonstrates that the material world presents in
its history an illustration of the great principle and theory
of progress. It is quite certain that our planet was once a
very different thing from what it is now ; it differed in form,
in substance, in compactness, in everything from its present
condition. We do not know that it was once wholly
aeriform, mere gasses in combination, too crude to admit of
solidarity; but reasoning back from established facts, the
conclusion is almost irresistible, that this earth, now so
rock-ribbed and solid, so ponderous, so ragged with moun-
tain ranges, and cloud piercing peaks, was once but vapor,
floating without form through limitless space, drifting as
mere nebulous matter among the older creations of God.
However this may be, it is regarded as quite certain, that
time was when it was entirely void of solidarity, void of dry
land, with no continent, island, or solid ground, with no liv-
ing thing within its circumference. It was thus passing
through one of the remote eras of its existence. It was
then young, just emerging, as it were, from nothingness,
growing into form, assuming shape, and gathering attributes
of fitness for exterior vitality, preparing the way for higher
existences than mere inorganic matter.

182 THE EARTH'S PROGRESS.

" How long this era existed, science has failed to demon-
strate, but it passed away, and solid land marked the next
era of the earth's progress. It was surrounded by an
atmosphere absolutely fatal to animal life ; an atmosphere
which, while it stimulated vegetable growth, no living thing
could breathe and continue to live. Hence it was, that
vegetation, gigantic almost beyond conception, covered its
surface. Fern, which is now a pigmy plant, nowhere higher
than a few feet, grew tall and overshadowing like great
oaks, while oaks, it is fair to presume, towered thousands of
feet towards the sky. These stupendous forests stood alone
upon the surface of the earth ; no animals wandered through
their fastnesses ; no birds sported amidst their mighty
branches ; noxious exhalations came steaming up from their
tangled recesses, and their gloomy shadows lay a mantle of
darkness over dreary and lifeless solitudes. The storms
raged, and the winds howled ; the sun travelled its daily
rounds, with its light dimmed and clouded by the pestilen-
tial vapors it exhaled, and silence, so far as the sounds of
animal life were concerned, reigned supreme — the stillness
of the grave, the quiet of utter desolation, save the voice of
the wind or the storm, was unbroken all over the face of
the earth. Onward, and onward, rolled this mighty orb on
its pathway through the heavens, bearing with it no animal
existences, freighted with no human hopes — carrying with
it nothing of human destiny. Man, with all his lofty aspira-
tions, his mighty schemes, his glory, and his pride, was a
thing of the future. He had not yet emerged from the

THE EARTH'S PROGRESS. 183

eternity of the past, to grapple with the present, or encoun-
ter the retributions of the eternity" which is to come. This
was the era of gigantic vegetable growth, and it had its
uses ^ for it was preparing the way for higher and more
complicated existences. As the gases that surrounded the
earth became consolidated into vegetation, as this stupen-
dous growth decomposed the noxious atmosphere, drawing
from it its grosser particles and working them up into solid
matter, extracting from it what was fatal to animal life, this
earth entered upon another era of its progress.

"Animal life made its appearance. It was weak and
feeble at first, but a step removed from vegetable matter.
The molusca, the polypi, and the rudest forms of fishes,
were, beyond question, the first of living things. Science
demonstrates that the water brought forth the first creations
endowed with animal vitality. How long this era continued
no man can tell. Then came the amphibiae, gigantic animals
of the Ihsard kind ; the sauruses, that could reach with their
long necks and ponderous jaws across a street and pick up a
man, if street and man there had been. Then came land
animals, monstrous in growth, by the side of which the
elephant dwindles to the diminutive stature of the dormouse.
In all these advances, was a succession of steps, mounting
higher and higher, in complication of structure, each more
perfect in organism than its predecessor. Vegetation itself
became more complicated, and as it approached perfection
lost its gigantic growth. Solidarity, compactness in all
things, became the order of nature ; the atmosphere sur-

184 THE ADVENT OF MAN.

rounding the earth, became more and more fitted for the
higher and more complicated animal organizations. At last
when time was ripe for his advent, when the earth was fitted
for his residence, and the air for his breathing, MAN, the last
and most perfect in his structure, the most delicate and
finished in his organization of all living things, made his
appearance. He stepped from the hand of God, the only
thinking, reflecting, the only intellectual, responsible being,
in all the world. He stood at the head of created matter,
with all things on the earth subject to his will, and corres-
ponding to his condition, his attributes, his necessities, and
his instincts.

" Thus this great earth itself, has been but one continued
illustration of the great theory and principle of progress.
From a beginning, lost in the thick darkness of a past
eternity, it has been marching forward in a career as pause-
less as the sun in his journeyings through the sky, as clearly
demonstrable as the growth of the germ that starts from the
buried acorn, and moves on to its full development in the
great oak. Science records with unerring certainty the pro-
gress of the earth, and of animal life, from the lowest exis-
tences in the mollusca and polypi, up to the superlatively
complicated, and deh'cate structure of man, tracing it step
by step, until it is finished in the noblest work of God, a
human body coupled with an immortal soul !

" And here arises a question which science has not solved,
and to which the philosophy, the wisdom, the logic of the
past can give no answer. The earth, and the things of the

A QUESTION PROPOUNDED. 185

earth, have been moving forward, marching on towards per-
fectability always. Is this forward movement finished ? We
have, in looking at the subject in the light of science, a time
when there was not on the earth, hi the air, or in the water,
any living thing. We have an era when animal life was
but a span removed from vegetable vitality ; we have an
era of gigantic vegetable growth ; an era of gigantic but
rude animal growth, and so on step by step down to the
advent of man. The previous combinations of animal life
and vegetable life passed away with the era in which they
flourished ; one class succeeding another, each emerging
from, and stepping over the annihilation of its predecessor,
till we come down to the present — is there no future pro-
gress for this earth as a planet ? Is there to be no other
era, where man himself, like the sauruses, like the mastodon,
shall have passed away, to be succeeded by some nobler
animal structure, some loftier intelligence, some more cun-
ning invention of the infinite mind ?

" Man, great in intellect, powerful in mind, gifted with
reason, and having within him a spirit that is immortal,
proud, glorious, aspiring as he is, falls very far short of per-
fection in every attribute of his nature. To say, therefore,
that the prescience, the creative power of the Almighty,
reached the limit of its achievements in the creation of man,
is to impeach the omnipotence of God himself. Will any
man insist that the ingenuity of the Almighty is exhausted ?
May it not be, then that the tune will come when some
sentient beings, as far superior to man, as man is to the

186 A QUESTION PBOPOUNDED.

animals of the era of the lizards and the amphibia, shall,
like the geologists of the present day, be delving among the
rocks and rubbish of vanished ages, for evidences of the
existences of our own proud species at, to them, some remote
period of the world's progress ?

" If these questions cannot be answered by the learned
and the wise, if science makes no response, and philosophy
furnishes no solution of them, who dare say that the world
is not, even now, entering upon a new era of progress, tak-
ing another step in the forward movement ? May it not be,
that the time is coming when the barrier between the living,
and the disembodied spirit is to be broken down ? When
that viewless essence, that mystery of mysteries, the spirit
of life, the immortal soul, shall be permitted to come back
from the unknown country, to impart to the people of this
world, the wisdom, the mysteries, and the glory of the next ?
May not this be the new era that is about opening hi the
progress of all things ? It may be asked, is it not possible
that a new principle is about being evolved, that will admit
of communication between the living and the physically
dead ? May it not be that the world and its surroundings,
have become so changed, that what was impossible thou-
sands, or even hundreds, of years ago, may have become,
or be about to become possible now ? That the same pro-
cess which carried this earth forward from the beginning,
that so changed the atmosphere of old, rendered it fit to
sustain animal life in its rudest structure, that so changed it
again, as to make it capable of sustaining a higher order of

A QUESTION PROPOUNDED. 187

animal organism, that kept on changing, and improving the
whole face of the earth, that so arranged organic matter, as
to make this world, at last, a fit residence for man, may be
going on still ; approaching all things nearer, and nearer to
perfection, until we have arrived upon the threshold of an
era, when living men may commune with the spirits of the
physically dead ? An era as yet but in its dawn, when the
stupendous future can be seen only as through a glass
darkly ?

" Eemember, I do not assert my faith in a theory which
is indicated by an affirmative answer to these inquiries, for I
have none. I give the record of the earth's progress in the
past, as it is written upon the rocks, standing out upon
precipices, brought to light by the researches, and translated
by the energy of science from forgotten and buried ages.
The deductions to be drawn from it,- 1 leave to those who
have a taste for the speculative, neither believing in, nor
quarrelling with the theory which they may predicate upon
it."

CHAPTER XVII.

LITTLE TUPPER'S LAKE — A SPIKE BUCK — A THUNDER STORM IN
THE FOREST — THE HOWL OF THE WOLF.

spent the next day in coasting Round Pond, looking
into its secluded bays, and resting, when the sun was hot,
beneath the shadows of the brave old trees that line the
banks. In floating along the shore of this beautiful sheet
of water, one can hardly help imagining that in the broken
rocks and rough stones piled up along the margin of the
lake, he sees the ruins of an ancient wall, the mortar of
which has become disintegrated by time, and the masonry
fallen down. He will see at intervals what, from a little
distance, seems like a solid wall of stone, laid with care, and
upon which the lapse of centuries has wrought no change, so
regular are the strata of which it is composed, while an
occasional boulder, large as a house, and covered with moss,
reminds him of the ruined tower of some stronghold. He
will see, as he rounds some rocky point, half a dozen of
these gigantic boulders piled together, leaning against each
other with great cavernous openings between, through which

188

A SPIKE BUCK. 189

he can walk erect, and he involuntarily looks around him
for the armor of the ancient giants who piled up these stu-
pendous rocks and walled in the lake with these massive
boulders.

As we swept around a point near the south shore of the
lake, we saw a deer at a quarter of a mile from us, feeding
upon the lily pads that grew along the shore. Spalding and
myself were in advance of our little fleet, and our boatman
paddled us carefully and silently towards the animal, using
the paddle only when its head was down. He would feed for
a minute or two and then look carefully all around him. Of
us he took no particular notice, although we were within
a hundred and fifty yards of him ; and even when we
were within sixty yards he seemed to regard us only as a
log floating upon the water, or something else which might
be regarded as perfectly harmless. Spalding was in the
bow of the boat, and when within some eight rods of the
game, we lay perfectly quiet for a moment, when his rule
spoke out and its voice rung and re-echoed among the sur-
rounding hills as if a whole platoon of musketry were blaz-
ing all around us. The deer made three or four desperate
leaps in a zigzag direction, and then went down. When
we got to him, he was dead. He was a fine two year old
buck, with spike horns, and in excellent condition. We took
his saddle and skin and passed on.

From Round Pond we rowed up the inlet, a broad and
sluggish stream, full of grass and lily pads, to Little Tupper's
Lake. We saw several deer feeding along the shore that,

190 A THUNDER 6TOKM EST THE FOEE6T.

discovering us as we rowed carelessly along, went whistling
and snorting away into the forest. As we approached the
lake, dark clouds gathered in the West ; great ugly looking
thunderheads came rolling up from behind the hills higher
and higher ; perfect stillness was all around us ; the leaves
were moveless on the trees, and the voices of the birds were
hushed.

" Squire," said Martin to me " I'm thinkin' we'd better go
ashore and put up our tents ; there's a mighty big storm
over the hill, and he'll be down this way before many
minutes.*

And we rowed to a high point at a small distance,
covered with spruce and fir trees, and put up our tents on
the lee side of it, so as to be sheltered from the wind as well
as the rain. This was the work of only ten minutes ; but
before we had finished, the deep voice of the thunder came
rolling over the forest, and we could see the storm rising
over the hills, ha a long black line, all across the Western
sky. The lightning darted down towards the earth/ or
across from cloud to cloud, and the thunder boomed and
rolled along the heavens, its deep rumble shaking the
ground like an earthquake. Presently, the hills were hid-
den from our view, we heard the rush of the storm in the
forest on the other side of the river, then the splash of the
big drops on the water, and then the wind and the rain were
upon us. For a few minutes, I thought our tents would have
been lifted bodily from the ground, but the skill of our
pioneer had provided against the blast, and they remained

A BEAUTIFUL VIEW. 191

standing safely over us. In a short time the wind passed
on, leaving the heavy rain to pour down in torrents, and tho
deep voiced thunder to come crashing down to the earth, or
go rolling solemnly and heavily along the sky. It rained
for an hour as it can do only among these mountain regions.
The clouds and the rain at length swept on, and the bow of
promise spanned the rear of the retiring storm ; a new joy
seemed to take possession of the wild things, and gladness
and merriment sounded from every direction in the old
woods ; a thin and shadowy mist hung like a veil over the
water, and a refreslu'ng coolness, as well as brightness and
glory, were all around us. These storms of a hot summer
day in this high region, if one is prepared for them, are full
of pleasant interest ; they rise so majestically, sweep along
with such power, and pass away so triumphantly, leaving
behind them such a calm sweetness in the air, that a jour-
ney to this wilderness would be imperfect in interest without
witnessing them.

We entered Little Tupper's Lake towards evening, at the
north end, and looking down south, one of the most beau-
tiful yiews imaginable opened upon our vision. Surrounded
by low and undulating hills, dotted with islands, with long
points running far out into the lake, and pleasant little bays
hiding around behind wooded promontories, it presented a
wild yet pleasing landscape, on which a painter's eye could
not rest but with delight, and which, transferred to canvas,
would make a picture of which any artist might be proud.

By the way, I wonder that our artists do not summer

192 SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY.

among these mountains and lakes, sketching and painting the
transcendently beautiful views they everywhere present.
There is nothing like them on all this continent. We talk
about the scenery of Lake George. It is all tame and
spiritless compared with what may be seen here ; it possesses
not a tithe of the variety, the bold and grand, the placid
and beautiful, all mingled, and changing always, as you pass
from point to point along these lakes. Why do not the
artists whose business it is to make the "canvas speak,"
drift out this way, and deal with nature in all her ancient
loveliness, clothed in her primeval robes, and smiling in her
freshness and beauty, as when thrown from the hand of
Deity? It would repay them for their labor, and yield
them a rich harvest of gain.

We had heard of the shanty in which we were to encamp,
and we rowed straight through the whole length of the lake
towards it. We reached it as the sun wa% going down, and
stowed away our luggage before the darkness had gathered
over the forest. We took possession by the right of squat-
ter sovereignty, the owner being unknown, or at all events,
absent from the woods. This lake is one of the few in all
this region that I had never visited before, and is next in
beauty to its namesake, two days' journey nearer to civiliza-
tion. It is about twelve miles in length, and from one to
two miles in width, with many beautiful bays stealing around
behind bold rocky promontories, and sleeping in qniet beauty
under the shadows of the tall forest trees that tower above
their shores. It is dotted, too, with beautiful islands, some

THE DENIZENS OF THE FOREST. 193

rising with a gentle slope from the water, covered with scat-
tering Norway pines, and a dense undergrowth of low
bushes ; others are covered with tall spruce, fir, and hem-
locks, standing up in stately and solemn grandeur, their
arms lovingly intertwined, through the everlasting verdure of'
which the sun never shines ; and others still are gigantic rocks,
rising up out of the deep water, all treeless and shrubless,
remaining always in brown and barren desolation, on which
the eagle and osprey devour their prey, and the flocks of
gulls that frequent the lake 'light to rest from their almost
ceaseless flight. Civilization has not as yet marred in any-
thing this beautiful sheet of water ; even the lumberman has
not forced his way to the majestic old pines that tower in
stately grandeur above the forest trees of a lesser growth ;
not a foot of land has been cleared within thirty miles of it.
The old woods stand around it just as God placed them, in
all their pristinDsolemnity, stately and motionless ; the wild
things that roamed among them in the day of old, are there
still, and the same species of birds that sported in their
branches thousands of years ago, are there still. We heard
the howl of the wolf at night ; we heard the scream of the
panther ; we saw the tracks of the .moose, and where he
had fed on the pastures along the shore ; we saw the foot-
prints of a huge bear in the sand en the beach, and the
deer-paths were like those that lead to a sheep-fold. It was
a pleasant thing to row along the shore, into the bays,
around the islands, and into the creeks that came in from
other little lakes deeper in the wilderness. The banks are

9

194 THE HOWL OF THE WOLF.

mostly bold and bluff, the rocks standing up four or eight feet
from the water, or broken and fallen like an ancient wall.
Here and there is a long stretch of beautiful sandy beach,
on which the tiny waves break with a rippling song, and
from which bars go out with a gentle slope into the water.

We intended to remain here quietly for a few days, taking
things easy, rowing, and fishing, and hunting enough for ex-
ercise only. There is plenty of deer, and trout, and duck,
and partridge here, to be taken with small labor ; there are
bears, and wolves, and panthers, in the woods around. But
these are fewer and harder to be come at than the other
game ^ there is an occasional moose too. We saw the
tracks of all these animals hereabouts, and we hoped to get
a shot at some or all of them before leaving the woods.

Eeader, did you ever hear the wolves howl in the old
woods of a still night I No ? Then you have not heard all
the music of the forest. Some deep-mouuied old forester
will open his jaws, and send forth a volume of sound so
deep, so loud, so changeful, so Adulating and variable in
its character, that, as it rolls along the forest, and comes
back in quavering echoes from the mountains, you will
almost swear that his single voice is an agglomerate of a
thousand, all mixed, and mingled, and rolled up into one.
May be, away in the distance, possibly on the other side of
the lake, or across a broad valley, another will open his
mouth and answer, with a howl as deep, and wild, and vari-
able, as the first ; and possibly a third and fourth, one on
the right, and another on the left, will join in the chorus,

MARK SHTJFF. 195

until the whole forest seems to be full of howling and noise ;
affd yet not one of these animals may be within a mile of
you. To a timid man, there is somthing terrific in the howl
of the wolves ; but in truth, they are harmless as the deer,
quite as wild and shy, and full as cowardly in the presence
of a man. They will fly as frightened from his approach,
unless, possibly, in the intense cold and desolation of winter,
when driven together and rendered desperate by hunger,
they might be emboldened by starvation to attack a man,
but even this is among the apocryphal legends of the
wilderness.

" Hearing them wolves howlin'," said Hank Martin, as we
sat in the evening around our camp fire, " reminds me of a
story MARK SHUFF tells of his experience with the critters ;
but mind, I don't pretend to swear to its truth, for I don't
claim to know anything about the facts myself. I'll tell it as
Mark told it to me, and if it turns out to be too tough a yarn
to take down whole, don't lay it to me. You know MARK
SHUFF," said he, appealing to me, " and you may believe
such parts of it as you may be able to swallow, and the rest
,jnay be divided up, as the Doctor said the other day, among
the company."

" Go ahead," said the Doctor, " I'll take a quarter as my
share of the story, and you may cut it off of either end, or
carve it out of the middle. I'll take a quarter, tough or
tender."

" You may set down a quarter to my account," said
Smith, " and Spalding shall take another."

196 MARK 8HUFF.

•

" Very well, then," said Martin, " I'll believe a quarter of
it myself, and so the case is made up, as the judge wotM
say."

" Well," repeated Martin, " you know MARK SHTJFF ?"
" Of course I know MARK SHTJFF ; and who, that has visited
these lakes and woods don't know him ? He is a stalwart
man, six feet in his stockings, strong, healthy, and enduring
as iron. I have had him as a boatman and guide about
Tupper's Lake, and the regions beyond it, more than once.
He works at lumbering in the winter, and if there is one
among the hundreds, I had almost said thousands, who make
war, in the snowy season of the year, upon the old pines of
the Rackett woods, who can swing an axe more effectually
than MARK SHTTFF, his light is under a bushel — his fame
obscured. MARK works hard for four or five months, and
lays around loose the balance of the year. In the summer,
he holds a coat as a thing of ornament rather than use, and
boots or shoes as luxuries, not to be reckoned as among the
necessaries of life. His hat, as a general thing, is of straw,
and minus a little more than half the brim. He would be
out of place, and out of uniform, as well as out of temper
with himself, if he was for any considerable length of time
without the stub of a marvelously black pipe in his mouth,
filled with plug tobacco, shaved and rubbed in his hand into
a proper condition for smoking. MARK, though by no means
an intemperate man, is fond of a drop now and then, and
when he has just a thimbleful too much, the way he will
swear is emphatically a sin. And yet he is anything but

MARK SHUFF'S ADVENTUEE. 19Y

quarrelsome or contrary, even when a shade over the line of
strict sobriety. He is a great, strong, square-shouldered,
big-breasted, good-natured specimen of the genus homo, a
giant in physical strength, and were I a wolf, I would prefer
letting him alone to any man in these parts. When he gets
just the least "grain "shiny" (and he never gets beyond
that), and his oar goes a little wrong, or a twig brushes
him ungently, or his seat gets a little hard, he will express
his sense of its improper deportment by incontinently damn-
ing its eyes, and so forth, as if it were a sentient thing, and
undestood all his profane denunciations ; but with all this,
MARK never forgets to be respectful, and, in his way, cour-
teous to his employers. He has, moreover, a sharp, clear
eye in his head, and can see a deer, or any other game, as
quick, and shoot it as far as the best, and has as good a
knowledge of where they are to be found, as any man in
these woods."

" Well," continued Martin, as he lighted his pipe by dip-
ping it into the embers and scooping up a small coal; " Well,
MARK SHUFF and a friend of his by the name of Westcott,
had a shanty one winter over on Tupper's Lake ; they were
trappin' martin, and mink, and muskrat, and wolves, when
they could get one. They shantied on the outlet, just at
the foot of the lake, below the high rocky bluff round which
the little bay, there sweeps. There wasn't any house then
nearer than Harriets Town, down by the Lower Saranac ; but
there was a company of lumbermen having a shanty up
towards the head of the lake, near where the Bog River

198 WOLFISH CURIOSITY.

enters. MARK, one cold winter's morning, started on an
errand to the lumber shanty I speak of, calculatin' to return
the same evening. The lake was frozen over, and he took
to the ice, as being the nearest and best travelin'. The win-
ter had set in airly, and the snow had lain deep for months,
and the game of the woods had got pretty well starved out.
Mark did'nt take his rifle with him, thmkin' of course that
he would see no game on the ice worth shootin', and a gun
would only be an incumbrance to him. Well, he did his
errand at the shanties, and started for home. I don't know
whether he took a drop or not, but they generally keep a
barrel of old rye in the lumber shanties, and my opinion is
that MARK was invited to take a horn, in which case, I'm
bold to say, the horn was taken.

" However that may be, Mark started for home along in
the afternoon, and took to the ice, as he did when he went
up in the morning. Everything went right until he got
within may be a mile of home, when he heard, from a point
of land, a little to the left of him, a sharp, fierce bark, and
turning that way, he saw a great shaggy, fierce-looking wolf
trot out from behind a boulder and squat himself down on
his haunches, and eye him as if calculating the probabilities
of his making a good supper. While MARK was looking at
him, feelin' a little oneasy, he heard another sharp bark, and
from a point just ahead of him another great wolf trotted
out on to the ice, and sat himself down, eyeing him with sus-
picious intensity. In a moment, another came out right op-
posite to him, and then another, and another, until MARK

FRIGHTENING THE WOLVES. 199

swears to this day that there were more than a dozen of
these fierce and hungry savages squatted on their haunches
within fifty yards of him.

" MARK, as I said, had no rifle, his only weapons being a
hunting knife and a heavy walking stick, which he carried in
his hand. To say. that he was not frightened, would be
stating what I don't believe to be true, and I've heard him
tell how his huntin' cap seemed to be lifted right up on his
head, as if every hair pointed straight towards the sky.
He looked at the wolves a moment, and then walked on ;
but the animals trotted along with him, still, however,
keepin' at a respectful distance. Those in advance seemed
inclined to cross his path, as if to iurn him towards the cen-
tre of the lake, while those behind went further and further
from the shore, as if to surround him ; and thus they travelled
for near half a mile, MARK making for the open water,
which in the coldest weather is always to be found near the
outlet of the lake, determined, if they came to close quarters,
to take to that and swim for it. He had heard and knew
that almost every animal is afraid of the voice of a man ; so
he shouted at the top of his voice, and as he said, ripped out
some select and choice oaths, which for a moment alarmed the
wolves, and they fell back a few rods, still, however, keepin'
in a kind of half circle around him. But it was'nt long be-
fore they began to gather in on him again, and though his
shoutin' and swearin' kept them at a good distance, yet they
seemed to be gettin' used to it, and it didn't alarm them as
it did at first. MARK had now got within reach of the

200 , WELCOME STJCCOB.

water, and he felt comparatively safe. He was not more
than a quarter of a mile from home, and cold as it was, he
felt sure that he could swim that distance.

" Before being compelled to take to the water, it occurred
to him to halloo for Westcott, which he did with all his
might. The wolves did'nt appear to care much about his
hallooing, but kept trottin' along between him and the shore,
and before and behind him, drawin' the circle closer and
closer every ten rods ; and Mark expected every moment
when they'd make a rush on him, in which case he'd made
up his mind to make a dive into the water, along which he
was now travelin'. Presently he saw Westcott, with his
double-barrelled rifle, ste^lin' along the shore, hid from the
kritters by a high rocky point, within some twenty rods of
him. He felt all right then, for he knew that when West-
cott pinted that rifle at anything, something had to come.
It was a dangerous piece, that rifle was, 'specially when
loaded and Westcott was at one end of it.

" MARK was not more than fifteen rods from the shore,
but that ground was occupied by the wolves ; on the right
was the water, into which he might at any moment be com-
pelled to plunge ; while both before and behind him his ad-
vance and retreat was alike cut off. He had noticed that
whenever he stopped, the wolves stopped, as if the time for
the rush had not yet come, and it puzzled him to understand
why they delayed the onset. Seeing Westcott with his rule,
MARK determined to treat his assailants to a choice lot of
profane epithets, and the way he opened on the cowardly

A REINFORCEMENT. 201

rascals, he said, astonished even himself. But while he was
thus swearing at his enemies, he discovered, as he thought,
the reason why they had not attacked him sooner. A troop
of a dozen or more wolves broke cover some distance up the
lake, and came runnin' down towards where he stood, for
whose presence, no doubt, those around him were waiting.
Just then he saw WESTCOTT'S huntin' cap above the rocks on
the point, and saw his double-barrel poked out in the direc-
tion of the leader of the pack, and he knew that that old grey-
back's time had come. MARK let off a fresh volley of profanity,
and as the wolves seemed preparing for a rush, WESTCOTT'S
rifle broke the frozen stillness of the woods, and old grey-
back turned a summerset and went down. The astonished
wolves clustered together for a nfoment in confusion, and the
other barrel spoke out. Another of the pack bounded into
the air, and as he came down kicked and thrashed about in
a most oncommon way, and then laid still — while the way
the rest put out for the point, some distance up the lake,
was a thing to be astonished at. MARK threw up his hat,
and hollered, and shouted, and swore, till the last wolf dis-
appeared into the forest, and then shoulderin' one of the
dead kritters, and WESTCOTT the other, started on home.
The hides, and the bounty on the scalps, made a good day's
work of it ; but MARK swears to this day, that if the last
dozen of wolves had been a little earlier, or Westcott a little
later, he'd a-been driven like a buck to the water, cold as it
was ; and if they'd been a little earlier still, he'd have been
a goner. He never goes far from home since, without a

9*

202 MARK'S CONCLUSION.

/

rifle ; and though with that he has no fear of wolves, yet he
concludes that a hunting-knife and a stick are no match for
a whole pack of the kritters, when made savage by the star-
vation of winter."

While we were listening to the story of MAKK SHUFF and
the wolves, the old fellow over the water made the forest
ring again with his howling. He was answered from miles
away down the lake by another. Their voices kept the forest
echoes busy, until we laid ourselves away in our blankets,
where we slept till wakened by the glad voices of the birds
in the early morning.

CHAPTER XVIII.

AN EXPLORING VOYAGE IN AN ALDER SWAMP — A BEAVER DAM — A

FAIR SHOT AND A MISS DROWNING A BEAR — AN UNPLEASANT

PASSENGER.

WE started the next morning on an exploring voyage
round the lake, to look into the bays and inlets, try the fish
and deer, and see what we could see generally. We struck
across to an island opposite our landing-place, containing
five or six acres, covered with a dense growth of spruce,
hemlock, and fir, with an occasional pine standing with its
tall head proudly above the other forest trees, while along
the ground the low whortleberry bushes, loaded with fruit,
now just ripening, grew. This island is near the south
shore, and separated from it by a narrow channel some
twenty rods in width. We landed, and were regaling our-
selves upon the berries, leaving our boats and guns on the
lake side of the island. We had wandered near the centre
of the island, when three deer started up within two rods of
us, and rushed whistling and snorting in huge astonishment

308

204 THE PASSAGE STOPPED.

across the island in the direction of the mainland, and dash-
ing wildly into the water, swam to the shore and disappeared
into the forest. We, in truth, were little less astonished
than they, for we certainly expected no such game to be
hiding there, and when they leaped up so suddenly and
plunged away, crashing and snorting through the brush, it
startled us somewhat ; but our boats and guns were on the
other side of the island, and we could only look on as
they swam .boldly to the shore without the power to harm
them.

At the east end of the lake a large stream, deep, sluggish,
and tortuous enters, which we voted came from a lake or
pond, back at the base of the hills, seen some three or four
miles distant in that direction, and while the other boats
passed in another direction, Spalding and myself started up-
stream to explore it. As we advanced, the alders and wil-
lows encroached more and more upon the channel, until it
became too narrow for rowing. Our boatman took his pad-
dle, and seated in the stern of our little craft, propelled it
up stream for an hour or more. The alders gradually con-
tracted, the channel becoming narrower until we were pass-
ing under a low archway of branches, covered with dense
foliage, through which the sunlight could not penetrate.
The arch grew lower and lower, and the channel narrower,
until we at last absolutely stuck fast among the branches of
the alders which, here grew almost horizontally over the
stream. We could not turn round, and to go further wa?
absolutely impossible ; there was but one mode of extrica

A BEAVER DAM. 205

tion, and that was to back straight out the way we had en-
tered. Our boatmaii changed his position to the bow of the
boat, and after much labor and exertion, we started down
stream. After two hours of hard work, pushing with the
oars and pulling by the branches, we emerged into daylight,
came out into the open stream, not a little fatigued by our
efforts to find the imaginary pond at the base of the moun-
tains.

This stream, with the broad alder marsh that stretches
away on either side, was doubtless once a beaver dam ; and
we thought we could discover where these singular and saga-
cious animals had erected the structure that made for them
an artificial lake. Our theory on this subject may have been
true or false, but this much is a fact, that in all this region
of lakes and rivers, I have seen no alder or other marsh of
any considerable extent, save this. In the times of old,
when the Indian and his brother the beaver, lived quietly
together, before the greed of the white man had built up a
war of extermination between them, this must have been a
glorious country for the beaver. The lakes are so numerous
and the ponds and rivers so fitted for them, that they must
have had a good time of it here for centuries. The Indians
never disturbed them, never made war upon them ; their
flesh was not needed or fitted for food, and the value of
their fur was unknown. Tradition, speaking from the dim
and shadowy past, tells us of the vast numbers of these
sagacious and harmless animals which congregated in -these

206 MARCH OF CIVILIZATION.

regions, living in undisturbed quiet and happiness all the
year, building their dams, their canals, and cities on all the
ponds, rivers, and lakes hereabouts. But they are all gone
now. I inquired if any had been seen of late years, and
could hear of but a single family, which some ten years ago
were said to dwell somewhere in the vicinity of Mud Lake,
the highest and wildest of all these mountain lakes. The
last of these was taken four or five years ago, since which
no sign of the beaver has been discovered. They are doubt-
less all gone, and as this was their last abiding-place, they
may be regarded as extinct on this side of the Alleghany
ranges, and probably on this side of the eastern slopes of
the Rocky Mountains. Like the beaver, the Indian who
turned against him, will soon be gone too. Annihilation is
written as the doom of both. The wild man must pass
away with the woods and the forests, before the onward
rush of civilization, and history will soon be all that will re-
main of the Indian and his ancient brother the beaver.

Well, be it so, and who will regret it ? It is a sad thing
to see a whole race perish, wiped out from the aggregate of
human existence. But in this instance, its place will be
filled by a higher and nobler race, and the hunting-ground
of the savage and the pagan, be converted into cultivated
fields ; where stood the wigwam, will stand the farm-house;
where the council-fires blazed, will stand the halls of enlight-
ened and Christian legislation ; churches and school-houses,
and all the accompaniments of Christianity and civilization

A FAIR SHOT AND A MISS. 207

will take the place of ancient forests ; and educated, intel-
lectual, cultivated miuds take the place of the rude, un-
taught, and unteachable men and women of the woods.

As we re-entered the lake, we saw a noble buck feeding
along the shore, a short distance from us. We dropped be-
hind a point of willows, from the outer edge of which we
would be in shooting distance. We paddled silently round
the point, and there, within fifteen rods of us, he stood, broad
side to us, presenting as beautiful a mark as a man could
wish. I counted him certainly ours, when I drew upon him
with my rule. Well I blazed away, and as I did so, he
raised his head suddenly, gazed in astonishment at us for a
moment, with his ears thrown forward, and in an attitude
of wildness, and then dashed madly away into the forest,
snorting like a war-horse at every bound. I had not touched
him, and I knew it the moment I fired. Our little boat was
light and totlish, and just as I pressed the trigger, it rolled
slightly on the water and my ball passed over, but mighty
close to the back of that deer. I was mortified enough at
this mishap, for I prided myself on my coolness and marks-
manship, and here was a failure apparently more inexcus-
able than any that had occurred. But there was no help
for it. The deer was gone, and Spalding and the boatman
indulged in a hearty laugh at my expense.

Some half a mile up the lake, we saw a great turtle
sunning himself on a rock which was partly out of water.
He was twice as large as any of the fresh-water kind I had
ever seen. His shell was all of two feet in diameter, and

208 AN INVITATION TO DINE.

his scaly arms, as they hung loosely over the side of the
rock, were as large as the wrists of a man. He was some
six or eight rods from us, and Spalding gave him a shot
with his rifle. The ball glanced harmlessly from his massive
shell against the ledge behind him, and starting from his
sleep, he clambered lazily and clumsily into the water.

We threw out a trolling line as we passed up the lake ;
but we caught no trout. Along the shore, however, we
caught small ones in plenty with the fly. These shore trout,
as I call them, seem to be a distinct species, differing hi
many respects from the other trout of the lakes or streams.
They are uniform in size, rarely exceeding a quarter of a
pound in weight. They are of a whitish color, longer
in proportion than the lake, river, or brook trout, have
fewer specks upon them, and those not of a golden hue,
but rather like freckles. They are found among the broken
rocks where the shores are bold and bluff, or near the
mouths of the cold brooks that come down from the hills.
I caught them at every trial, and whenever we wanted them
for food. Their flesh is white and excellent — better, to my
taste, than that of any other fish of these waters.

We rejoined our companions in a little bay that lay
quietly around a rocky promontory, where we found them
enjoying a dinner of venison and trout, under the shade
of some huge firtrees, by the side of a beautiful spring
that came bubbh'ng up, hi its icy coldness, from beneath
the tangled roots of a stinted and gnarled birch. Happily,
there was enough for us all, and we accepted at once the

A WOLF CONGEST. 209

invitation extended to us to dine. Towards evening, we
rowed back to our shanty. The breeze had entirely ceased,
and the lake lay still and smooth ; not a wave agitated
its surface, not a ripple passed across its stirless bosom ;
the woods along the shore, and the mountains in the back
ground, the glowing sunlight upon the hill-tops were mir-
rored back from its quiet depths as if there were other
forests, and other mountains and hills glowing in the even-
ing sunshine away down below, twins to those above and
around us. We saw on our return along the beach, the
track of a bear in the sand, that had been made during
the day, and we had some talk of trying the scent of
our dogs upon it. But it was too near night, to allow
of a hope of securing him, even if the dogs could follow,
and we gave up the idea, promising to attend to bruin's
case another day.

As we sat with our meerschaums, in the evening, specu-
lating upon the chances of securing a bear, or a moose,
before leaving the woods, a wolf lifted up his voice on the
hill opposite us, arifl made the old forest ring again with
his howling. He was answered as in the night previous,
from away down the lake, and by another from the hill
back of us, and another still from the narrow gorge above
the head of the lake. However discordant the music ap-
peared to us, they seemed to enjoy it, for they kept it
up at intervals during all the early part of the night.

" Seeing that bear's track, and hearing the howl of those
wolves," said the Doctor, " reminds me of a story I heard

210 A REMINISCENCE.

told by an old Ohio pilot, whom I found in drifting down
that noble river in a pirogue, some five and twenty years
ago. We tied up one night by the side of another similar
craft, that had gone down ahead of us, the people on board
of which had landed and built a camp-fire, and erected their
tent. They were strangers to us, but in those days every-
body you met in the wilderness which skirted the Upper
Ohio was your friend, if you chose to regard him so. I
was a mere boy then, and was in company with my father
and three other gentlemen, who owned a township of laud
not far from Cincinnati ; that is not far now, considering
the difference in the mode of travelling between then and
now, and we were on our way to explore that township.
I did not regard it as of much value then, though it has
since brought a heap of money to its owners. We found
the company belonging to the other boat busily employed
in cooking a supper of venison and bear-meat, they having
in the course of the day killed two deer and a bear that
they found swimming the river. We were invited to help
ourselves ; an invitation which, being cordially given, we
as cordially accepted. We had been passing during most
of the day through unbroken forests, standing up in stately
majesty on both sides of the river, and stretching back
the Lord knows how far. After the darkness gathered,
the wolves made the wilderness vocal with their howling.
It was the first time I had ever heard them, and for that
matter the last, until since we have been in these woods :
but when that old fellow over the lake lifted up his voice

THE OHIO PILOT'S STORY. 211

last night, I recognized it at once. I can't say I admired
it as a musical performance then, and I don't appreciate
its harmony now. If there are those who like it, why,
de gustibus non, and so forth.

" But I set out to tell the story that the old Ohio pilot
told that night, while the travellers sat smoking around
their camp-fires, and the wolves were howling hi the wilder-
ness about us. I do not, of course, vouch for its truth ;
I simply tell it as he told it to us. He seemed to believe
it himself, for he told it with a gravity of face, and a
seriousness of manner, which would ill comport with its
falsity. • His hearers did not seem to regard it as passing
belief, but they laughed at the idea of drowning a bear.

"'Twenty odd years ago,' said the old pilot, as he lighted
his pipe and seated himself on the head of a whisky-keg,
' there warn't a great many people along the Ohio, except
Ingins and bears, and we didn't like to cultivate a very
close acquaintance with either of them, for the Ingins
were cheatin', deceivin', and scalpin' critters, and the bears
had an onpleasant way with 'em, that people of delicate
narves didn't h'ke. I came out for some people over on
the east side of the mountains, lookin' land, in company
with four men who had hunted over the country. Ohio
warn't any great shakes then, but let me tell you, stranger,
it had a mighty big pile of the tallest kind of land layin'
around waitin' to be opened up to the sunlight. It's goin'
ahead now, and people are rushin' matters in the way of
settlin' of it, but you could stick down a stake most any-

212 CHASING A BEAK.

where in it then, and travel in any direction a hundred miles
from it, and not get sight of a white man, and without
climbin' a fence.

"'Wai, we came down the Alleghany in two canoes,
and shantied on the Ohio, just below where the Alleghauy
empties itself into it. We hid our canoes, and struck
across the country, and travelled about explorin' for six
weeks, and when we got back to our shantyin' ground,
we were tuckered out you may believe. We rested here
a couple of days, layin' around loose, and takin' our comfort
in a way of our own. Early one morning, when my com-
panions were asleep, I got up and paddled across the river
after a deer, for we wanted venison for breakfast. I got a
buck, and was returnin', when what should I see but a bear
swimmin' the Ohio, and I put out in chase right off. I soon
overhauled the critter, and picked up my rifle to give him
a settler, when I found that in paddlin' I had spattered
water into the canoe, wettin' the primin' and makin' the
gun of no more use than a stick. 1 didn't understand
mufti about the natur of the beast then, and thought I'd
run him down, and drown him, or knock him on the head.
So I put the canoe right e'end on towards him, thinkin'
to run him under, but when the bow touched him, what
did he do, but reach his great paws up over the side of the
canoe, and begin to climb in. I hadn't bargained for that;
I felt mighty onpleasant, you may swear, at the prospect
of havin' sich a passenger. I hadn't time to get at him
with the rifle, till he came tumblin' into the dugout, and

BBTJIN TAKES PASSAGE. 213

*

as he seated himself on his stern, showed as pretty a set
of ivory as a body would wish to see. There we sat, he
in one e'end of the dugout and I in the other, eyein' one
another in a mighty suspicious sort of way. He didn't
seem inclined to come near my e'end of the dugout, and
I was principled agin goin' towards his. I made ready
to take to the water on short notice, but at the same
time concluded I'd paddle him to the shore, if he'd allow
me to do it quietly.

" ' Wai, I paddled away, the bear every now and then
grinnin' at me, skinnin' his face till every tooth in his head
stood right out, and grumblin' to himself in a way that
seemed to say, ' I wonder if that chap's good to eat ?' I
didn't offer any opinion on the subject ; I didn't say a word
to him, treatin' him all the time like a gentleman, but
kept pullin' for the shore. When the canoe touched the
ground, he clambered over the side, and climbed up the
bank, and givin' me an extra grin, started off into the woods.
I pushed the dugout back suddenly, and gave him, as
I felt safe again, a double war-whoop that seemed to as-
tonish him, for he quickened his pace mightily, as if quite
as glad to part company as I was. I larned one thing,
stranger, that mornin', and it's this, never to try drownin'
a bear by runnin' him under with a dugout. It won't
pay.' " ^+&

CHAPTER XIX.

SPALDING'S BEAR STORY — CLIMBING TO AVOID A COLLISION — -
AN UNEXPECTED MEETING A RACE.

"THAT story," said Spalding, "reminds me of a bear
story. I shall do as the Doctor did, tell it as it was told
to me. I did not see the bear, but I know the man who
was the hero of it, and his brother told the story in his pre-
sence one day, and he made no denial. He at least is estop-
ped from disputing it, and we lawyers call that prima facie
evidence of its truth. It occurred a long tune ago, when
there were fewer green fields in Oswego county and especi-
ally in the town of Mexico, than there are now. The old
woods stood there in all their primeval grandeur. The
waves of Ontario laved a wilderness shore, and their dull
sound, as they came rolling in upon the rocky beach, died
away in the solitudes of a gloomy and almost boundless
forest. Here and there a ' clearing ' let in the sunlight,
and the woodman's axe broke the forest stillness as he bat-
tled against the brave old trees. The smoke of burnimr fa<-

814

THE PIONEERS. 215

•

lows was occasionally seen, wreathing in dense columns
towards the sky. Civilization, enterprise, energy and new
life were just starting on that career of progress which has
moved onward till the wilderness, under the influence of
their mighty power, has been made to blossom as the rose.
Those were pleasant times, as we look upon them now, just
fading into the dim and shadowy past, but they were times
of toil and privation. The arms of the men of those times
were nerved by the hope of the future, and the spirit
that sustained them was that of faith in the fact that the
promise of reward for their labor was sure.

" Do the men of the present day ever think what a gigan-
tic labor that was of clearing away those old forests ? Con-
template a wilderness, reaching from the Atlantic to the Mis-
sissippi, from the great lakes and the majestic St. Lawrence
to the Gulf of Mexico, every acre of which was covered with
tall trees which had to be cut away one by one, not with
some great machine which mowed them down in broad
swaths like the grass of a meadow, but by a single arm and
a single axe. Talk about the Pyramids, the Chinese Wall,
the great canals of the earth I They sink into utter insigni-
ficance when compared with the prodigious labor of clearing
away the American forests, and spreading out green fields
where our fathers found only a limitless wilderness of woods.
The sons of these men who performed that labor, in my
judgment, have a better patent to preferment and honors
than those who come from other lands to claim their inheri-
tance after it has been thus perfected by such toil and

216 TBUE COURAGE.

hardships, and dangers as the history of the world cannot
parallel."

" I think, if I remember rightly," said the Dr., "you set
out to tell a bear story. You are now indulging in a ser-
mon on progress. Allow me to call your attention to the
bear."

" I appeal to the court," said Spalding, addressing Smith
and myself, " against this interruption."

"The counsel will proceed," said Smith, with all the
gravity of a judge ; " we hope the interruption will not be
repeated."

"Well," said Spalding, resuming his narrative, "some
fifty years ago, two enterprising men (brothers) marched
into the woods in the town of Mexico, now in Oswego
county, with their axes on their shoulders, and stout hearts
beating in their bosoms. They located a mile or more apart,
and began a warfare, such as civilization wages, against the
old forest trees. Men talk about courage on the battle-field,
the facing of danger amid the conflict of armed hosts, and
the crash of battle. All that is well, but what is such cour-
age, stimulated by excitement and braced by the ignominy
which follows the laggard in such a strife, to that calm,
enduring, moral courage of him who encounters the toil and
hardships incident to the settlement of a new country, and
battles with the dangers, the long years of privation, which
lie before the pioneer who goes into the forest to carve out
a home for himself and his children ? How much more
noble is such courage, how infinitely superior is such a war-

TAKING A FBE8H START. 217

fare, one which mows down forest trees instead of men,
which creates green pastures, broad meadows, and fields of
waving grain, instead of smouldering cities, and desolated
homes ! How mtffch more pleasant is the sound of the wood-
man's axe, than that of the booming cannon 1 How much
more cheerful the smoke that goes up from the burning fal-
low, than that which hangs in darkness over the desolation
of the battle field, beneath which lie the dead in their still-
ness, and the wounded in their agony ! But I am losing
sight of the bear."

" Exactly so," said the Doctor ; " and we have not as
yet had the pleasure of making his acquaintance. Suppose
you give us an introduction to the gentleman."

" These interruptions are entirely out of o*rder," gravely
remarked Smith ; " they must not be repeated. The coun-
sel will proceed."

"Well," resumed Spalding, bowing deferentially to the
court, " one of these settlers started one day across the
woods to visit his brother. There were few roads in those
times, and these were laid out without much reference to
distance ; they went winding and crooking every way to
avoid this hill, or that creek, or water course, or any
other impediment which nature may have thrown in the
way, and a blind footpath, or a line of marked trees, was
more commonly travelled from one forest house to another.
The forester was tramping cheerfully along, thinking doubt-
less of the good time coming, when his farm would be shory
of all its old woods, when flocks and herds would be graz-

10

218 CLIMBING TO AVOID A COLLISION.

ing in luxurious pastures, tall grain waving in fields, the
summer grass clothing in richness meadows reclaimed by
his labor from the wilderness, and he should be at ease
among his children. First settlers of a new country think
of these things, and it is because they think of them, that
their hearts are strong and buoyant with hope. They live
in the future, enduring the darkness and privation of the
present, in their faith in the brightness of the years to come.
Thus they wait in patience for, while they command success,
and the end of their toil is an old age of competence, and in
the closing years of life, quiet and repose. Well, he was
enjoying these pleasant visions when he saw, some thirty
rods ahead of him, a huge bear, with her cubs, ' travelling
his way/ as the saying is, in other words coming directly
towards him. He was no hunter, and had with him no
weapon. He had heard strange stories of the ferocity of the
bear when her cubs were by her side, and to say that he
was not horribly frightened would be a departure from the
strict requirements of truth. He had heard, too, that a bear
could not climb a small, straight tree, and he. could. The
question then was between climbing and running. He was
not much in a race, and he decided to climb ; so selecting a
smooth-barked, perpendicular ash sapling, he started with
might and main towards the top. He ^ent up, as he sup-
posed, till he was out of the reach of the bear, and held on,
all the time keeping his eye on the animal, and making as
little noise as possible. The bear, doubtless seeing that he
was beyond her reach, passed "on out of sight, and after

A TRUE BEAR STORY. 219

he remained till the danger was over, he concluded to
come down. He was astonished to • find that his efforts to
descend were powerless. He seemed to have frozen to the
tree. Upon looking around, to his utter amazement, he
found himself sitting on the ground, with both, legs and arms
locked fast around the tree ! fie had not climbed an inch,, and
the bear had not been aware of his presence in the woods !

11 That ash sapling was" safe from that day. It stood then
in the old forest. The woodman's axe spared it. It stands
now in the open field, a majestic tree; its great trunk, eight
feet in circumference, its long arms covered with foliage,
casting a broad shadow over the pasture beneath, in which
cattle and sheep seek for coolness and ruminate in the heat
of the summer days. It is pointed out as the tree which
the man who was frightened by a bear didn't climb, and is
referred to as evidence of the truth of my story, as the
Dutchman proved the authenticity of his Bible, ' by the pic-
tures.' "

" And that," said I, " puts me in mind of a bear story, which
has this merit over both of yours — it is true. I can speak
of it as a thing of personal knowledge, occurring within my
own personal experience. I began the study of law in An-
gelica, the county seat of Alleghany county, and as it was a
good many years ag*o, it is fair to assume that I was a good
many years younger than I am now, and that the country
in that region was younger too. Everybody knows that
Alleghany county is, or used to be, a great place for whirl-
winds and tornadoes. If they do not, they may understand

220 BLACKBEBBYING.

and be assured of the fact now. A few years (less than
twelve) ago, a black cloud came looming up in the north-
west, and started on its career towards the southeast. As
it swept along, it sent its fierce winds crashing, and howl-
ing, and roaring, through the old forests, uprooting, hurling
to the ground, and scattering everything that encountered
its fury. Houses, barns, haystacks, fences, trees, everything
were prostrated, and to this day its track is visible in the
swath it mowed through the old woods, from sixty to a
hundred rods wide, plain and distinct still, for miles and
miles. It was not of that tornado, however, that I propose
to speak. Others had preceded it, and in the country all
about Angelica were what were called ' windfalls.' These
windfalls were neither more nor less than the old tracks of
these whirlwinds and tornadoes, that had swept down the
forest trees. Fire had finished what the whirlwind begun.
In time, blackberry-bushes had grown up among the charred
trunks of the old pines, and other trees, bearing an immen-
sity of fruit; and it was a pleasant resort for young people,
one of those windfalls, when the blackberries were ripe and
luscious. These windfalls were great places, too, for rab-
bits, partridges, and ' such small deer,' and it was no great
thing to boast of, to kill a dozen or two of the birds of an
afternoon.

" I went out with a friend one day to one of these wind-
falls, partly after blackberries, and partly for partridges.
We were both boys, younger than fifteen, then, and each
possessing, probably, quite as much discretion as valor.

A RACE. 221

We had separated a short distance from each other, he to
gather berries, and I, with a small fowling-piece, in pursuit
of game. Presently I saw my friend crashing through the
brush towards me, and also towards the fields, without his
basket, and bare headed, his hair standing straight up, put-
ting in his very best jumps, as if a thousand tigers were at
his heels. Without heeding for a moment my anxious inqui-
ries as to what was the matter, he kept right on, leaping
the logs like a deer, looking neither to the right hand nor
the left, but with his coat tail sticking out on a dead level
behind, making a straight wake for home. Fear is said to
be contagious, and I believe in the doctrine that it is so. I
caught it bad; and without knowing what I was afraid of,
I started, and if any fourteen year old boy can make better
tune than I did on that occasion, I should like to see him
run. I kept possession of my fowling-piece, and came out
neck and neck with my friend. We scrambled over the
outer fence, and ran some dozen rods or more in the open
field, without either of us looking back. Then, however,
we made the astounding discovery, that there was nothing
after us, and we both paused to take breath, and, so far as
I was concerned, to ascertain, if possible, what had occa-
sioned the race. I learned that my 'friend, after I left him,
had gone into the windfall, and was standing upon the long
trunk of a fallen tree, picking berries, when he saw, a few
rods from him towards the other end of the log on which
he was standing, a great black hand reach up and bend
down a tall blackberry-bush that was loaded with berries.

222 THE "ADVENTEK CROP AND i MET WITH."

This alarmed him somewhat, for whoever the great black
hand belonged to was concealed by the thick- bushes and
their foliage from his view. Presently, two great black
hands were placed upon the log, and a huge black bear
clambered lazily up, and, for a second, stood in utter amaze-
ment, face to face, and within fifty feet of my friend. Both
broke at the same instant, in affright; my friend in one
direction, and the bear in the other — my friend for the fields,
and the bear for the deep woods — and each as anxious as
fear could make him to put a ' broad belt of country ' be-
tween them. My friend dropped his basket, as he leaped
from the log; it was no time to stop for a basket; a limb
caught his hat and pulled it off ; he had not time to stop
for his hat. The truth is, he was in a hurry, and something
more than a hat or a basket was required to stay his pro-
gress towards home."

"The Squire's stony," said Cullen, as he knocked the
ashes from his pipe, and commenced shaving a fresh supply
of tobacco with his jack-knife, and depositing it in the palm
of his left hand, "the Squire's story reminds me of an
adventer Crop and I met with, over towards St. Regis
Lake, a good many year ago ; and I'll state the circum-
stances of the case, as the Judge would say. It was an
adventer that don't happen often — leastwise, not in the same
way. It made me understand some things that I hadn't
much idea of before. Let me tell you, Judge, if you don't
want a fight with an animal that's got long claws and sharp
teeth, don't come close upon him ona wares, or may be

TRAPPING AND HUNTING. 223

there'll be trouble. Give him time to think, and ten to one
he'll take to his heels. Most animals have more confidence
in their legs than they have in their teeth and claws, and
they'll be very likely to use 'em, if you'll give 'em time to
consider. But if you find a painter, or a bear, takin' a nap
in your path, and don't want to have a clinch with him,
wake him up before you get right onto him, or he'll be very
likely to think he's cornered, and them animals have onplea-
sant ways with 'em when they're in that fix.

" Wai, as I was sayin', Crop and I was over on St. Regis
Lake, layin' in a store of jerked venison, and trappin' mar-
tin, and mink, and muskrat, and huntin' wolves, and sich
other wild animals as came in our way. The scalp of a
wolf was good for fifteen dollars in them days, and a back-
load of furs was worth a heap of money. We had a line of
martin trags leadin' back to the hills, and over into a valley
beyond, where the animal was plenties than they were on our
side. In passin' along this line, we had to round the end of
a hill that terminated in a sharp point of rocks. In a deep
gully at its foot, a stream went surgin' over rapids; the bauk
on the side towards the hill was, may be, twenty feet high,
and a right up and down ledge. Above this ledge, and
between it and the rocky point, was a narrow path, only
three or four feet wide, that turned short around the end
of the MIL On the left hand was the ledge, and at the
bottom of it were broken rocks, and on the right was a
bluff point of rocks, that made up the end of the hill,

224: AN UNEXPECTED MEETING.

standin' straight up, may be, fifty feet. Around this point,
the path turned sharp almost as your elbow.

" I was passin' quietly round this pint, lookin' down into
the gully, with Crop at my heels, when, on turnin' the short
elbow, there I stood, face to face, and within ten feet of a
mighty big bear, that was travellin' my way, as the Judge
said. I had no idee that he was around, and I'm quite
sartain he didn't expect to meet a human in such a place.
Of course, we were naterally astonished at seem' one
another just then, and the meetin' didn't seem to be alto-
gether agreeable to either party. I ain't easily scared whea
I've time to prepare for a scrimmage, yet, I'm free to say,
I'd have given a couple of wolf-scalps to've been on the
other side of the gully, just at that time. The bear seemed
to expect me -to begin the fight, for, after gruntin' out in a
very oncivil way his surprise at makin' my acquaintance, he
reared himself up on eend, and, with a fierce growl, showed
a set of ivory that wasn't pleasant to look at. I should
have been willin' myself, to've backed down, and apologized
for my rudeness in crossin' his path, for I was carryin' my
rifle carelessly in my left band, and our meetin' was so sud-
den that I scarcely had time to bring it to bear upon the
kritter. I rather think I should have dodged back, any
how, but Crop seemed to think his master was in danger,
and that he was obligated, live or die, to go in. So, quick
as a flash, he rushed by me, and threw himself into the very
face of the desperate brute. Crop made a great mistake

OBOP LEAKN8 WISDOM. 225

when he calculated he was a match for that bear, for, with
one cuff, the animal sent, him eend over eend down the bank,
upon the broken rocks below. ^But the little time that was
so occupied saved me a deal of trouble and danger, for it
lasted just long enough for me to bring my rifle into posi-
tion, which I did about the quickest, you may bet your life
on that. I run my eye along the barrel, sighted him be-
tween the eyes, and pulled. The bear keeled over onto his
back with a jerk, gave a spiteful kick with both hind feet,
and he, too, went over the ledge onto the sharp rocks below.
I looked over, and saw Crop staggerin' to his feet, and
lookin' about in a bewildered way, as if not quite under-
standin' how he came there. I went round a little way,
and got down into the gully where the animals were. I
found the bear stone dead, and Crop with two ribs broken
and his shoulder out of joint, whinin', and moaniu' piteously
with pain. I set his shoulder as well as I could, and, after
takin' the skin off the bear, I backed him two miles to my
shanty. It was a fortnight before he ' left the house,' but
he learned a little piece of wisdom by that cuff that sent
him down the bank, and got a little insight into the nater
of an angry bear."

10*

CHAPTER XX.

THE CHASE ON THE ISLAND — THE CHASE IN THE LAKE — THE

BEAR GAMBLING FOR GLORY ANECDOTE OF NOAH AND THE

GENTLEMAN WHO OFFERED TO OFFICIATE AS PILOT ON BOARD
THE ARK.

WE had as yet had no use for our dogs since we . left the
Saranac. They had travelled quietly with us as we moved
from place to place, or stayed inactive at the tents while we
remained stationary. The game was so abundant, that the
real difficulty was to restrain ourselves from destroying more
than was needful for our use. We had indeed, failed to live
strictly up to the law we had imposed upon ourselves, for
we had at all tunes trout and venison beyond our present
wants, excusing ourselves on the ground that an excess of
supply was always preferable to a scant commissairat. More
than one deer was slaughtered, if the truth must be told,
for no better reason than that given by an Irishman
for smashing a bald head he chanced to see at a window : it
presented a mark too tempting to be resisted.

226

THE CHASE ON THE ISLAND. 227

We started in the morning to course a deer upon an
island, containing perhaps sixty acres, opposite and across
the lake from our camping ground. We stationed two of
our boats between the island and the shore nearest the
main land, and the other on the opposite side, and sent
Cullen upon the island to beat for game. It was scarcely
five minutes, before the voices of the dogs broke upon the
stillness of the morning, in a simultaneous and fierce cry, as if
they had started the game suddenly, and fresh from his lair.
Away they went in full cry across the island, the deer
sweeping around the upper end, and returning on the oppo-
site side, as if loth to take to the water ; but true to their
instincts, the hounds followed, making the hills and the old
woods ring again with the music of their voices. Presently,
a noble buck broke cover, directly opposite to where the
Doctor and Smith's boat lay. As our object was rather to
enjoy the music of the chase, than to capture the deer, they
shouted and hallooed as he entered the water, and he wheeled
back, and went tearing in huge affright through the woods,
up the island again. Still the howling was upon his trail,
and as he approached the upper end, he again took to the
water, to be frightened back by Martin and myself, and
with renewed energy he bounded across to a point stretch-
ing out into the lake on the opposite side. Here Spaldiug
and Wood were stationed, and they, by their shouting, drove
him back again to the thickets. By this time, the poor
animal began to appreciate the full peril of his position, for
turn where he would he found an enemy in front, while the

228 THE CHASE IN THE LAKE.

»

cry of his pursuers followed him like his destiny. Thus far
every effort to escape by taking to the water had failed, and
he seemed to think, as Martin expressed it, that " day was
breaking." He essayed it again on the land side, and was
driven back by us, and thus he coursed three times round
the island, until, in desperation, he plunged into the broad
lake and struck boldly out for the opposite shore, three
quarters of a mile distant. Spalding shouted to us, and
when we rounded the headland, we saw that he and Wood
had headed, and were driving him towards a small island,
of less than half an acre, covered only with low bushes, half
a mile down the lake. We did not propose to harm him,
but we intended to drive him upon that little island, and by
surrounding it, keep him there for a while by way of experi-
menting upon his fears, or rather as Martin said, " to see
what he would do." As he approached the shore, he bound-
ed upon the island, and tossing his head from side to side,
as if looking for a place of concealment or escape. Finding
none, he dashed across to the opposite side and plunged
into the lake. He was met by the Doctor and Smith, and
turned back. He rushed in another direction, across the
island, to be headed by the boat in which I was seated, and
again in another direction to be headed by Spalding. Thus
met and driven back at every turn, he at last stationed him-
self on a high knoll, near the centre of the island, apparently
expecting that the last struggle for life was to be made
there. We rested upon our oars, making no noise, and
watching his movements. The bushes were low, coining

THE GAME ESCAPES. 229

only up midside to the animal. He watched us intently
for half an hour, tossing his head up and down, looking first
at one, then at another, as if calculating from which the
attack upon his life was to come. At last, as if overcome
by weariness, or concluding that after all there was no real
danger, he laid quietly down. In answer to his confidence
in the harmlessness of our intentions, we rowed away back
to the island where we started him. We had not reached it,
however, when we saw him enter the water, and swim to
the main land, and glad enough he seemed to be when he
had regained the protection of his native forests.

We took our dogs from the island, and rowed to the
broad channel of the inlet which enters the lake on the left
hand side, as you look to the south. There are two of
these inlets, which enter within a quarter of a mile of each
other, each of which comes down from little lakes, or ponds,
deeper in the wilderness. The one we entered flows in a
tortuous course through a natural meadow, stretching away
on either hand forty or fifty rods, to a dense forest of
spruce, maple, and beech, above which gigantic pines stand
stately and tall in their pride. Three miles from the lake,
the hills approach each other, and the little river comes
plunging down through a gorge, over shelving rocks, and
around great boulders, as if mad with the obstructions piled
up in its way.

As we approached these falls, Smith, who sat in the bow
of the boat, motioned to the boatman to lay upon his oars,
and pointed to an object partly concealed by some low

230 A BEAK TKEED.

bushes, forty or fifty rods in advance of us. Remaining
perfectly still a moment, we saw a bear step out upon a
boulder, look up and down the stream, and stretch his long
nose out over the water, as if looking for a good place to
cross the rapids. After scratching his ear with one of his
hind feet, and his side with the other, he turned and walked
deliberately from our sight into the forest. By this time,
the boat with the dogs came in sight, and we beckoned its
occupants to come to us. One of the hounds only had ever
seen game of this kind. But Cullen declared that there was
no game that they would not follow when once fairly laid
on. We wanted that bear. It was the only one we had
seen ; indeed it was the only one I had ever seen wild in the
forest. We went to the spot where we last saw him, and
there in the sand, by the side of the boulder, was his great
track, almost like a human foot. Cullen called the atten-
tion of the dogs to it, and hallooed them on. They took the
scent cheerfully, and with a united and fierce cry they
dashed away in pursuit. They had ran but a short distance,
when they seemed to become stationary, and deep, quick
baying succeeded the lengthened and ringing sound of their
voices.

" Treed, by Moses 1" cried Cnllen, as he dashed forward,
the rest of us following as fast as we could.

" Not too fast," said Martin, " not too fast. There's no
hurry ; he won't come down unless our noise frightens him.
Let us go quietly ; there's plenty of time. Belcher ias got
his eye on him, and will stay by him till we come."

BRUIN BROUGHT TO THE GROUND. 231

We travelled quietly, and as silently as we could for near
half a mile, and as we rounded a low but steep point of a
hill, there sat bruin, some twelve rods from us, in the forks
of a great birch tree, forty feet from the ground, looking
down in calm dignity upon the dogs that were baying and
leaping up against the tree beneath him. Did anybody ever
notice what a meek, innocent look a bear has when in
repose ? How hypocritically he leers upon everything about
him, as if butter would not melt in his mouth ? Well, such
was the look of that bear, as he peered out first on one side,
then on the other of the great limbs between which he was
sitting, secure, as he supposed, from danger. But he was
never more mistaken in his life. In watching the dogs he
had failed to discover us. We agreed that three should fire
upon him at once, reserving the fourth charge for whatever
contingency might happen. Smith, the Doctor, and Spald-
ing sighted him carefully, each with his rifle resting against
the side of a tree, and blazed away, their guns sounding
almost together. It was pitiful the scream of agony that
bear sent up. It was almost human in its anguish. It
went ringing through the woods, dying away at last almost
in a human groan. After struggling and clasping his arms
for a moment around the great branch of the tree, his
hold relaxed, he reeled from side to side, and then fell
heavily to the ground, with three balls within an inch of each
other, right through his vitals. He was larger than a
medium sized animal of his species, and in excellent case.

The next thing in order was to transport him to our boats.

232 ROAST BEAR.

This was done by tying his feet together, then running a
long pole, cut for the purpose, between them, and lifting
each end upon the shoulder of a boatman, he was " strung
up," as Cullen expressed it, clear from the ground. They
stumbled along as best they could, over the rough ground,
and through the tangle brush, towards the river. It was a
heavy load considering the unevenness of the path, and the
men were compelled to halt every few rods to breathe. We
got him safely to the landing at last, and tumbling him into
the bottom of one of the boats, started down stream towards
our shanty. A proud trio were Spalding, Smith, and the
Doctor that afternoon, returning with their game across the
lake ; and they certainly had some occasion to congratulate
themselves, for this was the first wild, uncaged bear either
of us had ever seen, and him they had succeeded in cap-
turing.

We dined that afternoon on a roasted sirloin of bear, slewed
jerked venison, fried trout, and pork. I cannot say that I
altogether relished the roast, though some of our company
took to it hugely. The truth is, that with some of them
venison and trout were beginning to be somewhat stale
dishes, they did not relish fat pork, and a change therefore
to roasted bear meat was peculiarly acceptable.

" Gentlemen," said Smith to the Doctor and Spalding, as
we sat after our meal, enjoying our pipes, " what say you to
selling out your interest in that bear ? If you're open for a
bargain, I'll make you a proposition."

" Why," the Doctor replied, " there'll be nothing left but

GAMBLING FOR GLOEY. 233

the skin, and that will be of uo special- value except as a
trophy."

" Not exactly," resumed Smith. " FH deal frankly with
you, gentlemen. There'll be a good many stories to be told
about the killing of that bear, and my object is to appropri-
ate the glory of the achievement. Now it wont be a mat-
ter to boast of, to say that we three fired into one bear, and
that none of the largest."

" Oh 1 as to that," said the Doctor, " I intend to enlarge
upon the subject, exaggerating the size of the bear, describ-
ing the terrible conflict I had with him, how I happened to
save myself by remembering my double-barrelled pistol ; how
I made the three ball holes in him, while you and Spalding
were running away, and how he bit me in the arm, and
almost hugged me to death, while I was trying to get at
the pistol. I shall shine in that bear story ! Yes ! yes I I
shall shine 1 "

" Hear the cormorant ! " exclaimed Smith. " Hear him I
And he'll do precisely as he says he will, only a great deal
worse. We must buy him but, Spalding. We must pur-
chase his silence for our own credit." t

" Well, gentlemen," replied Spalding, " settle it between
you — you are welcome to my share of the achievement. The
scream of mortal agony which that bear sent up when our
three balls went crashing through its body rings in my ears
yet. I don't feel quite so proud of the shot as I otherwise
should have done. You are welcome to my share of the
glory."

234 GAMBLING FOE GLOET.

" Spoken like a liberal and free-hearted gentleman," said
Smith. "Well, Doctor, name the amount and nature of
the blackmail you intend to levy upon me. But have a con-
science, man ! have a conscience ! "

" It will be making a great sacrifice on my part," the
Doctor replied, " but out of friendship for you, I'll make you
a proposition. We'll toss up a dollar, and the one that wins
shall have the honour of having killed the bear, and of tell-
ing the story in his own way, and the others shall indorse it."

" Agreed," said Smith, " but if you win, I shall have to
borrow a conscience of Spalding, or some other lawyer, for
there'll be need of a pretty elastic one."

" Yours will answer, I think," drily remarked Spalding.
* " It appears to me, gentlemen," said I " that I've some-
thing to say about the killing of that bear."

" You," exclaimed the Doctor, " what had you to do with
it, pray ? There stands your rifle, with the same ball in it
that you placed there this morning. You havn't discharged
your rifle to-day."

" Notwithstanding that," I replied, " I am entitled to a
portion of tlje glory, as I am chargeable with my share of
the responsibility, of killing the bear. I was one of the first
who discovered him ; I was among the foremost in the pur-
suit ; I was present, aiding and advising in the manner of
the killing ; I had my weapon in my hand, and was re-
strained from using it, only because you might fail to ac-
complish what my reserved bullet would have made secure
Now, if this bear had been human, and we were accused of

IGNORANCE OF SCRIPTURE. 235

killing him, I would be regarded in the eye of the law as
equally guilty with you. I appeal to Spalding if this is
not so ?"

" H is right," replied Spalding, as he sent a column

of smoke wreathing upward from his lips. " Such is the
law."

" We must buy this fellow off, Smith," said the Doctor,
" we must buy him off. He's an old hunter, known as
such, and he'll take to himself all the glory ; and what is
worse, the world will believe him. He'll spread himself be-
yond all bounds. He'll shine beyond endurance upon the
strength of this bear. We must buy him off. It is against
all conscience, but there is no help for it. We must buy
him off. There's an impudence in this claim which re-
minds me of an anecdote related by Noah."

" By Noah ?" asked Smith, interrupting him, " Noah
who?"

" What ignorance there is in this world, even in these
days of educational enlightenment !" remarked the Doctor
to Spalding and myself. " Now, here is a decently informed
gentleman, claiming to be a Christian man, to .have studied
the Bible, and dont know who Noah was. Such an instance
of human ignorance in these times, is shocking."

" Oh ! I understand now," said Smith, " he was the gen-
tleman who built the ark. Well, go on with your anec-
dote."

" Well, as I was saying," the Doctor resumed, " this claim
of H 'a to a share of the glory of slaying the bear, re-

TRYING TO ESCAPE THE DELUGE.

^

minds me of an anecdote related by Noah soon after the
subsidence of the flood, and it shows that impudence is, at
least, not post-deluvian in its origin. It seems that there
were in the world before, as well as after the flood, some
very meddling impudent fellows, who were always interfering
with other people's business, claiming a share of other
people's credit, trying to make the world believe that they
were great things, and pursuading everybody that whatever
remarkable achievement was accomplished, occurred through
their counsel and advice, and as a consequence, claiming a
large share of all the honors going.

" Well, after the rain had continued falling for a number
of days, and the valleys were all full of water, and the angry
Urges went roaring, with the voice of ten thousand thunders,
high up along the sides of the hills, one of these pestilent
fellows — deriding the miraculous exhibition going on all
around him — undertook, in his self-conceit, to lead the peo-
ple to a place of safety. So he selected a lofty peak that
shot up from a range of mountains, and commenced travel-
ling up its steep acclivities. But the flood followed him,
roaring, and boiling, and heaving, in its onward rush. Day
by day, night by night, it crept up, and up, higher and
higher, until the self-confident leader, who scoffed at the
supernatural warning, had but a mighty small place above
the surge, whereon to shelter himself from the destruction
that surrounded him. About that time the Ark, with Noah
and his people, all safe and snug, came drifting that way.
"' Halloo !' says the occupant of the rock, 'send us a

A REJECTED APPLICANT. 237

boat, and take us aboard. The freshet is getting pretty bad,
and it is getting a little damp, up here.'

" ' I can't do it,' says Noah, ' my craft is full of better
people.'

" ' But,' says the applicant for admission into the Ark,
'let me in, and I'll superintend the navigation. I'll man
the wheel, and see that the sails are all right, and we can
pick up a deal of floating plunder as we go along.'

" ' Can't do it,' says Noah, ' we've got a good steersman
and safe navigators on board already."

" 'Well,' says the applicant, ' I'll work my passage as a
deck hand, asking only a small portion of such spoils as we
may pick up. Come, bring us aboard.'

" ' Can't do it,' says Noah, ' can't think of such a thing."

" ' Then,' said the persevering applicant for a passage in
the Ark, ' I'll go along for nothing — giving the benefit of my
counsel and assistance free gratis ; more than all that, I'll
stand the liquor all round.'

" ' No use in talking,' says Noah, ' you can't come, on
board of my craft, on any terms. You'd corrupt my people,
and set them by the ears in a week. You can't have a berth
on any conditions. Good-bye 1'

" ' Then go to thunder with your old Ark,' indignantly
responded the occupant of the rock, ' I don't believe there's
going to be much of a shower, after all.'

" In a day or two, Noah drifted that way again. The
mountain peak had disappeared beneath the waters, and the
occcupants were all gone."

238 SMITH WINS THE GLORY.

" I give up my claim," said I, " Doctor, in consideration
of your anecdote. Take the glory of killing the bear. I
see you're not disposed to give me a place in your Ark. So
toss up the dollar."

The dollar was tossed up, and Smith won the glory.

CHAPTER XXL

THE DOCTOR AND HIS WIFE ON A FISHING EXCURSION — THE
LAW OF THE CASE — STRONG-MINDED WOMEN.

THE right to the glory of having killed the bear being
settled, the Doctor, addressing himself to Spalding, re-
marked— " There was something in H 's appeal to you

about the law of his case, |hat reminded me of a little scene
between my wife and myself, many years ago, when we were
both younger than we are now, and certainly had never anti-
cipated the dark years of trial, through which we were un-

•^
, expectedly called upon to pass. You know that I started in

life, like Smith here, a gentleman of fortune, calculating,
like him, to live at my ease, without troubling myself with
the cares of any particular business, as I passed along.
Still I thought, or rather my father thought, that it would
be well enough, even for a gentleman, to have at least a
nominal title to some profession. So I studied the law, and
was admitted as an attorney and counsellor of the courts.
Never intending to practise, I did not become very pro-

240 THE DOCTOR AND HIS WIFE

foundly learned in the profession ; still I became, to some
extent, indoctrinated with its mysteries. I did not like it ;
and when the necessity for some active employment came
looming up in the distance, I chose a different calling, and
at six-and-twenty, commenced the study of my present pro-
fession. This did not occur until after I had been married
some three years. I lived in the country then, or rather, sum-
mered there, in a beautiful little village in the interior of the
State, in a pleasant, old-fashioned house, which my father
built, and which, as I was his only heir, I supposed of course
I owned. Some half a dozen miles from the village was a
fine trout stream, to which my wife and myself used occa-
sionally to go on a fishing excursion. On such occasions
we went on horseback, as the road was somewhat rough,
and my wife was as much at home in the saddle as I was.
This, I repeat, was a good while %go, and we were both a
score of years younger than we are now. Well, I started
out alone one day to visit this trout stream, anticipating a
good time with its speckled, and usually greedy inhabitants.
I say I was alone, and yet there was with me, all the way,
and all the iime, one who can talk, reason, philosophise, un-
derstand things as well as you or I ; and one, to all
appearance, as much and distinctly human as you or I."

" Impossible !" exclaimed Smith, " we can't go that, Doc-
tor. I can't stand my quarter of that."

"Foolish man !" continued the Doctor ; "I say I was
alone ; let me demonstrate my proposition. BLACKSTONE says,
and what he says every lawyer will concede is the end of the

GO ON A FISHING EXCURSION. 241

law, and the beginning too, for that matter, that when a
woman becomes a wife, she loses her identity, becomes
nobody ; that her husband absorbs her existence, as it were,
as he does her goods and chattels, in his own. Now, sir, do
you comprehend ? My wife was with me, and she, being
according to law nobody, of course I was alone. You, sir,
being a law abiding man, must admit that my proposition
is Q. E. D.

" The doctrine of absorption, as I call it, is convenient.
It promotes harmony of action, by subjecting it to the con-
trol of a single will, thus avoiding all embarrassment from a
conflict of opinion between man and wife. So, on my way
to the trout stream (I say my way, for though my wife was
on horseback by my side, yet she being, according to the best
legal authorities, nobody, you see I was alone), I thought I
would enlighten the good lady in regard to the true posi-
tion, or rather the no position at all, which she occupied.
Our way lay for a couple of miles along an old road, to-
wards a clearing which had been abandoned, and through
which the stream flawed. The tall old trees spread their
long arms over us, clothed in the rich verdure of spring, and
the breeze, so fresh and fragrant, moaned, and sighed, and
whispered among the leaves.

" ' My dear,' said I, blandly, as we rode along, the birds
singing merrily among the branches above us, ' do you know
that you are NOBODY ?'

" ' Nobody, Mr. W ,' (I was simply Mr. W then;

I had not become, nor even dreamed that I should become

11

242 ARGUING THE MATTES.

a Doctor), 'Nobody, Mr. W ? Did you say no-
body ?'

" ' Absolutely nobody,' said I. ' A perfect nonentity.
You are less even than a legal fiction.'

" ' Look you/ said she, as she applied the whip to her
pony, in a way that brought him, with a bound, across the
road directly in fronts of me (she rode like a belted knight),

obstructing my progress, ' Look you, Mr. W / and there

was a red spot on her cheek, and her eye sparkled like
the sheen of a diamond, ' let us settle this matter now. I
can bear being of small consideration, occupying very little
space in the world, but to be stricken out of existence en-
tirely, to possess no legal identity, to be regarded as abso-
lutely nobody, is a thing I don't intend to stand — mark that,
Mr. W .'

" ' Keep cool, my dear,' said I ; 'let us argue this mat-
ter.' I was calm, for I knew the law was on my side ; I
had the books, and the courts, and the s'tatutes all in my
favor. I w£3 fortified, you see.

" ' Argue the matter !J she exclaimed ; ' not till it is ad-
mitted that I'm somebody. If I'm nobody, I can't be argued

with, I can't reason, nor talk. Now, Mr. W , Pve a

tongue.'

'"Gospel truth,' said I, 'whatever the authorities may
say. But we will admit, for the sake of the argument, that
you are somebody ; BLACKSTONE says '

" ' Out on BLACKSTONE,' she exclaimed ; ' what do I care
for BLACKSTONE, whose bones have been mouldering in the

A LEGAL ENTITY. 243

grave for more than a hundred years, for what I know.
Don't talk to me about BLACKSTONE.'

" ' But, my dear, you are my wife, and BLACKSTONE
says'

" ' I don't care a fig what BLACKSTONE says. If I am your
wife, I am my mother's daughter, and my brother's sister,
and Tommy's mother, and there are four distinct individu-
alities all centered in myself.'

" 'But,' said I again, ' BLBCKSTONE says'

" ' Confound that Blackstone,' she exclaimed ; ' I do be-
lieve he has driven the wits out of the man's head. Now,

look you, Mr. W , you invited me to ride with you ; you

now say I am nobody. Very well. If nobody leaves you,
I suppose you won't be without company, for somebody cer-
tainly left home with you this morning, and has rode with

you thus far. So, good-bye, Mr. W ; success to your

fishing, Mr, W ,' and she struck into a gallop towards

home.

" ' Hallo !' said I, ' I give up the point. I take back all
I said. CWpa mea, my good wife. IiBlackstone does
say'

" ' Not a word more about Blackstone,' said she, shaking
her whip, half serious half playfully, at me ; ' if I go with
you, I go as somebody — a legal entity.'

" ' Very well,' said I, ' we'll drop the argument.'

" ' Not the argument, but the fact, Mr. W ; and ad-
mit that Blackstone was a goose, and that his law, like his
logic, is all nonsense when measured by the standard of

244 A FINALITY.

common sense and practical fact. Admit that a woman,
when she becomes a wife does not become a mere nonentity,
or I leave you to jonrney alone.' .

« < Very well, my dear, let us see if we cannot compromise
this matter. Suppose we allow his philosophy to stand as a
general truth, making you an exception. We'll say that
wives in general are nobody, but that you shall be exempt
from the general rule, and be considered always hereafter,
and as between ourselves, as somebody.'

"You see the shrewdness of my proposition. Firstly, it
saved BLACKSTONE : secondly, it saved me, let me down easy ;
and thirdly, it appealed to the womanly vanity of my wife,
and it took.

" ' Oh, well,' she said, as she brought her pony alongside
of me, and we jogged along cosily together, ' I see no ob-
jection to that. Other wives can take care of themselves.

But this compromise, as between us, Mr. W , must be a

finality. No Nebraska traps, Mr. W . No Kansas

bills hereafter. It must be a finality, mind.'

" ' Very well,' said I ; and a robin that was building its
nest on a limb that hung over the road, paused in its labors,
and burst into song, and the burden of its lay seemed to be
a compromise, which, in truth, should be a FINALITY.

" We were successful in our fishing, and we followed the
old-fashioned custom as to bait. We discarded the fly, using
only the angle-worm. At the foot of the ripples ; under the
old logs ; where the water went whirling under the cavern-
ous banks ; in the eddies ; among the driftwood ; every-

STRONG-MINDED WOMEN. 245

where, we found trout — not large, none weighing over six
ounces, and few less than three. We caught my basket full
in less then two hours, and then rode home. It was a day
of enjoyment to us, you may be sure.

" And now I appeal to yon, in all seriousness, my friend,"
the Doctor continued, addressing himself to Spalding, " if
there is not something due to the wives and mothers of the
present generation ? Is there not some relaxation of the
law necessary in vindication of the civilization of the age,
against the legal barbarisms still remaining on the statute
books, and adhered to by the common law, in regard to
wives and mothers ? Is the current of progress to flow by
them for ever, bearing no reforms which shall affect them ?
Do not misunderstand me. I am no advocate of the practices
of the ' strong-minded women/ who hold their conventions
and public meetings, who unsex themselves by mounting the
forum, and, throwing off the retiring modesty of the true
woman, seek to secure notoriety at the price of popular con-
tempt. But there are evils which bear heavily, too heavily,
upon the women even of this country, and which, for the credit
of the civilization of the age, should be corrected. As calm-
minded, philanthropic men, we, the American people, should
look into this subject, and, regardless of jeer and scoff, do
what justice, humanity, and the right demand of Us, in
regard to some of the social and legal inequalities between
the sexes, pertaining to the married state."

" It is one of the mysteries of our system of jurisprudence,"
replied Spalding, " that while everything else is on the move,

246 LOVE OF ANCIENT MAXIMS.

while progress is written in letters of living light upon all
other things, that remains stationary — at least in a com-
parative sense. The world moves on, civilization advances,
science and the arts stride forward, but the law stands still.
A principle which may have been somewhat changed, modi-
fied, bent, if you please, into an adaptation to the exigencies
of the present, and a fitness for the changed circumstances
of the times in which we live, is suddenly thrown back into
its old position by the exhumation of some ' decision ' from
the dust of ages, made by some judge away back in the
olden tunes, resurrected by the research of some antiquarian
lawyer, who loves to delve among the rubbish of past genera-
tions. The learning, the wisdom, the philosophy of the pre-
sent is discarded, and the spirits of a lower civilization are con-
jured from the darkness of vanished centuries, to settle rules
for the government of commerce, personal conduct, and the
social relations of the times in which we live. There seems
to be something paradoxical in the idea that the older the
decision the better the law — the more ancient the commen-
tator, the profounder the wisdom of his axioms. This might
be well, were it true that civilization is ' progressing back-
wards,' the science of government retrograding. In that
case, it would of course be true, that the nearer you ap-
proach the fountain, the purer the stream would be. But
such is not the fact. In all these attributes the world is on
the advance, the science of government progressive ; and to
make the wisdom of centuries ago override the wisdom, or
overshadow the light of the present, is a paradox peculiar

ANECDOTE OF WILLIAM WTET. 247

to our system of jurisprudence. There are lawyers and
judges, who enjoy a high reputation, whose fame rests upon
their profound research among the worm-eaten tomes of
black-letter law, and whose glory consists in their familiarity
with the opinions and axioms of men who lived and died so
long ago that their very tombs are forgotten. This class of
lawyers and jurists hold in contempt all the learning, the
philosophy, the practical wisdom of the present — rejecting
everything that is not bearded and hoary with age. Seated
in their libraries, in the midst of their ponderous octavos,
their Roman and black-letter volumes, they reject with dis-
dain the commentators, the opinions of the jurists of the pre-
sent century ; and brushing away the cobwebs and dust
from the covers of their treasured relics of bygone ages, they
clasp them in a loving embrace close to their hearts, ex-
claiming, ' These are my jewels.' Whatever has not the
sanction of ancient authority, is folly to them — worse than
folly, for it is innovation, and that is rank impiety.

"I remember an anecdote of the celebrated WILLIAM
WIRT, related to show how ready his mind was, how instant
in activity, and how suddenly it would flash with an elo-
quence, superior to that exhibited by the most elaborate
preparation. He was arguing a cause before the Supreme
Court of the United States, and laid down, as the basis
of his argument, a principle to which he desired to call
the particular attention of the judges. The opposing counsel
interrupted him, calling for the authority sustaining his
principle, — ' The book — the book V demanded his adversary.

248 COMMON LAW PROGRESSIVE.

' Sir, and your honors/ Baid WIRT, straightening himself
up to his full height, ' I am not bound to grope my way
among the ruins of antiquity, to stumble over obsolete
statutes, or delve in black letter law, in search of a prin-
ciple written in living letters upon the heart of every man.'
If the idea contained in this answer of WIRT, were more
fully appreciated by our modern jurists, it would be all the
better for the country.

" The common law is said to be the perfection of reason.
This is doubtless true, but it is the perfection of the reason
of the present, as well as of the past. Its principles are
elastic, suiting themselves to the civilization of all ages.
They are progressive, keeping pace with the progress of
all times. They are not immutable, save in the element
of right, and they therefore shape themselves to all
circumstances, moving along with the onward march of
trade, the commerce, the social relations, and business of
the people. The learning of to-day, the wisdom, the phi-
losophy of to-day is profounder than that of any preceding
century, and it is folly to overthrow it by, or compel it
to give place to, the learning, the wisdom, the philosophy
of departed and ruder ages.

" In regard to your question, whether there is not some
relaxation of the law necessary, in vindication of the civili-
zation of the age, against the legal barbarisms remaining
upon the statute book, and in the common law in regard
to our wives, I answer frankly that I do not know about
that. The law, as you read it in Blackstone, and as you

LEGAL POSITION OF WOMEN. 249

expounded it to your wife, on your fishing excursion, has
been somewhat modified. Wives have been given a status
by modern legislation ; and a woman, by becoming a wife,
does not now cease to be a legal entity. The law permits
her to retain and control her property irrespective of her
husband, and she has, therefore, thus far, ceased to be
'nobody.' But my private opinion is, that, as a general
thing, the women of this country get along very well, even
under the pressure of the ' barbarisms ' of which you speak.
They manage, one way and another, to get the upper hand
of their legal lords, law or no law. If their existence, in
the light of authority, is 'less than a legal fiction,' they
come to be regarded, or make themselves felt in the world
as practical facts. They are quite as apt to be at the
top, as at the bottom of the ladder, notwithstanding what
'BLACKSTONE says' about their legal position. There is,
doubtless, a good deal of abuse of authority on the part
of husbands, but the women get their slj^re of the good
that is going in the world, as a general thing. If the
law is against them, they manage to usurp full an even
amount of privilege and authority, and keep along about
in line with the other sex. I never knew an out and out
controversy between a man and his wife, in which the
former did not get the worst of it in the end; and as to
the impositions, which as a melancholy truth are too fre-
quent, they are about as much on one side as the other.
It is not to legal enactments that we must look for the
cure of unhappiness incident to the married state, but

11*

250 EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN.

to a reform in temper and habits of life. Besides, I do
not believe the wives of this country would accept of a
strict legal equality at all, if it were tendered them as a
FINALITY. I believe they would prefer remaining as they
are ; for by being so, they are left to the resources of
their own genius, to win by their tact, what is not guaran-
teed by law. I know that there are a good many crazy-
headed people in pantaloons as well as petticoats, who
go about laboring for the 'emancipation of women,' as if
the heavens and earth were coming together. But those
of them who wear skirts, generally have delicate white
hands, flowing curls, flashing black eyes, and the gift of
oratory — and a desire to exhibit them all ; while those in
pantaloons have their hair combed smoothly back, as if
preparing to be swallowed by a boa-constrictor, wear white
cravats, talk softly, and show a good deal of the whites
of their eyes, from a chronic habit of looking up towards
the moon and^jitars. As a general thing, these latter are
of no practical use in the world, and make as good a tail
to the kite of the ' strong-minded women ' as anything else.
But these people represent a very small portion of the
American women, and until the masses demand 'emanci-
pation,' I rather think that matters had better be permitted
to remain as they are. The women will take care of them-
selves— no fear of that."

CHAPTER XXII.

A BEAUTIFUL FLOWER — A NEW LAKE — A MOOSE HIS CAPTURE

— A SUMPTUOUS DINNER.

WE started the next morning on an exploring voyage
up the right-hand stream, which enters this beautiful lake
some half a mile west of the one we had looked into the
day before. On either hand, as we passed along the narrow
channel, was a natural meadow, covered with a luxuriant
growth of rank grass and weeds, conspicuous among which
was a beautiful flower, the like of which I have never seen
anywhere else. I am no botanist, and therefore cannot
describe it in the language of the florist, so that the learned
in that beautiful science might classify it. It resembles
somewhat the wild lily in shape, growing upon a tall,
strong stem, almost like the stem of the flag. The flower
itself is double, and its deep crimson — the deepest almost of
any flower I have ever seen — shone conspicuously, as it
waved gracefully in the breeze above the surrounding vege-
tation. It has one defect, however; it is without fragrance,

261

252 A NEW LAKE DISCOVERED.

I infer from the fact that its roots spread far out every
way, and reach down into the water beneath, that it can
hardly be transferred to the garden, or become civilized.
It would be a great acquisition to the collection of the
florist if it could, for I know of no flower that excels it
in richness of color, gracefulness of appearance, or in gor-
geousness of beauty.

We saw abundance of deer feeding quietly upon the
narrow meadows, and upon the lily pads on our way.
We had no inclination to injure them, and we let them
feed on. Some of them were hugely astonished, however,
at our presence, and dashed away, whistling and snorting,
into the forest. Two miles from the lake, we came to a
rocky barrier, down which the stream, came rushing and
roaring, for fifty or sixty rods, in a descent of perhaps sixty
feet in all. Around these rapids the boats were carried,
and we found, above them, the water deep and sluggish,
flowing through a dense forest, the tall trees on the banks
stretching their leafy arms across the narrow channel, form-
ing above it an arch delightfully cool, through which the
sunlight could scarcely penetrate. We followed this chan-
nel a long way, when we came to a little lake or pond,
four or five miles in circumference. It was a perfect gem,
laying there all alone, so calm, so lovely in its solitude,
with no sign of civilization around it, no sound of civili-
zation startling its echoes from their sleep of ages, no
human voice having perhaps ever been heard upon its shore
since the red man departed from the hunting-ground of

MOOSE TRACKS. 253

his fathers. The shores all around it were bold and rocky,
save on the western side, where a broad sandy beach, of
a quarter of a mile in extent, lay between the water and
the shadow of the deep forest beyond. A solitary island
of half a dozen acres, covered with majestic pines and tall,
straight spruce trees, rises near the centre of the lake,
adding a new charm to its quiet beauty. The waters of
this little lake are clearer and more transparent than those
of any other we had seen ; we could see the white shells
on its sandy bottom, fifteen feet below the surface. This
peculiarity induced us to believe that we were above the
stratum of iron ore which seems to underlay most of this
wild region, coloring, while it does not render impure, the
waters of most of these lakes and rivers. I have frequently,
in my wanderings in these northern wilds, stumbled upon
outcropping orebeds, which, were they nearer market, or
more accessible to the energy and enterprise of the American
people, would be capable of building up gigantic fortunes,
but they are all valueless here, and probably will continue
so for generations to come.

We saw the fresh tracks of a moose on the sandy beach,
tracks that had been made that morning, and we concluded
to spend the day here, in the hope of securing one of these
gigantic deer. We rowed to the island, intending to encamp
there. We entered a little bay, of half an acre, the points
forming it coming within a few yards of each other, and the
branches of the trees intertwining their long arms lovingly
above. As we landed, our dogs began nosing and dashing

254 CHAsmo THE MOOSE.

about, as if suddenly roused into excitement by the hot
scent of some animal that had been disturbed by our com-
ing. They broke into a simultaneous cry, and plunged like
mad into the thicket. We pushed our boat back towards
the open water, when we heard the plunge of some animal
into the lake, on the other side of the island. Martin, who
was in the leading boat with me, by a few vigorous pulls at
the oar, rounded the point between us and the spot where
we had heard the plunge, and there, not ten rods from the
shore, making for the mainland, was the game which, of
all others, we most desired to see.

"A moose! by Moses!" exclaimed Martin, hi huge excite-
ment. "Hurrah! hurrah! A moose! he's ours! he can't
escape!" and away he dashed in pursuit. The other boats
now hove in sight, and a loud hurrah! went up from each,
when they saw the nature of the game that had been
started. There was no difficulty in overtaking the animal,
desperate as were his efforts to escape. We shot past him,
and turned him back in a direction towards the island again,
and I picked up my rifle to settle the matter.

"Don't shoot him," said Martin; "don't shoot him yet;
he can't get away, and if you kill him, he'll sink; and if he
don't, we can't get him into the boat. Let us drive him
back to the island." The other boats were, by this tune,
up with us, every man in a wild state of excitement, eager
to be first in at the death. We had headed the aniuial
towards the island, with our three boats so arranged, as
that he could swim in no other direction, without running

MY FIRST MOOSE 8LAHST. 255

one of them down. The dogs had started a deer that had
taken to the water, on the other side of the island.

"Look here!" said I; "gentlemen, this game is mine. I
claim him by right of discovery, and my right must not be
interfered with."

"Very well," the Doctor answered, "we'll only take a
hand in his capture if he's likely to escape. So, go ahead."

As we came within a few yards of the shore, and we could
see that the animal's hoofs touched the bottom, I aimed
carefully at his head, and fired. He made one desperate
lunge forward, and turned over on his side, dying with
scarcely a struggle, the ball having passed directly through
his brain.

This was the first and only live moose I have ever seen.
He was not a large one, being, probably, a three-year-old,
but well-grown. We should have called him a monster,
had we not, before that time, seen in various museums the
stuffed skins of those a quarter or a third larger. He
would have weighed, as shot, probably between five and six
hundred pounds. He had made this solitary island his home,
as we ascertained by his spoor and other signs that we
found upon subsequent explorations. We saw his bed but
a few rods from where we landed, and from which our dogs
had aroused him, though they, in their excitement, had over-
run his scent, and dashed off after a deer.

We had now accomplished one of the objects of our jour-
ney in this direction, and as the law we had imposed upon
ourselves had reached its limits, prohibiting our shooting

256 ROASTING OUR GAME.

another moose that day, even should an opportunity occur,
we concluded to return to our shanty, on the lake below.
We, therefore, dressed our moose, and taking with us the
skin and hind quarters, started down stream to a late dinner
on Little Tupper's Lake. Indeed, there was a sort of neces-
sity for our doing BO. We had left our provisions there,
calculating to return in the afternoon, not having taken
with us even pepper or salt, wherewith to season the food
which, upon constraint, we might cook during our absence.
A few crackers, in the pockets of each, was all, in the pro-
vision line, that we had provided ourselves with, and though,
when we saw the moose-tracks in the sand, we had concluded
to rough it, for a single night, for the chance of securing
such rare game, yet having secured it, that part of our mis-
sion was accomplished, and we turned towards home.

On our return to the lake, Spalding and myself rowed
across to the mouth of a cold brook, to procure a supply of
fresh trout, upon which, with our moose and bear-meat, to
dine. This we soon accomplished, and on our arrival home,
we found huge pieces of moose and bear roasting before a
blazing. fire. The meat was supported upon long sticks, one
end of which was sharpened, and the meat spitted upon it,
and the other thrust into the ground, in a slanting direction,
so as to bring the roasting pieces into a proper position
before the fire. The meat was removed occasionally, and
turned, until the roasting process was completed, and the i
served up on clean birch bark, just peeled from the trees, in
the place of platters. We had tin plates, knives, and forks,

A HOME IN THE FOREST. 257

with us, also a tea-kettle, tin cups, and tea of the choicest
quality, sugar, pepper, salt, and pork. The man who can-
not make a meal where the viands present are moose-meat,
bear, jerked venison, fresh trout, and pork, and for drink
the best of tea and the purest and coldest spring water, had
better keep out of the Eackett woods.

The people, whoever they were, who prepared the camp
in which we were domiciled, had an eye to convenience and
comfort. The shanty was built of logs, on three sides, the
crevices between which were filled with moss, and the slo-
ping roof neatly covered with bark, in layers, like an old-
fashioned roof, covered with split shingles. The front was
open, and directly before it was a rough fire-place, with
jams, made of small boulders, laid up with clay, regularly-
fashioned, as if intended for a kitchen. This fire-place was
three or four feet high, and served an excellent purpose,
with reference to our cookery, and the lighting of our shan-
ty at night. It served, also, to conduct the smoke upward,
and prevented it from being blown into our faces, as we sat
in front, at once, of our sleeping-place and our camp-fire.
The only things that reminded us of civilization, aside from
what we carried with us, were the innumerable crickets that,
through all the night, kept up their chirruping in the cre-
vices of this rude fireplace. There was something old-fash-
ioned and sociable in their song. These, with the shrill
notes of the little peepers along the shore, were old sounds
to us, familiar voices, and they fell pleasantly on the ear.
We had finished our meal, and taken to our pipes in the

258 SEABCH FOB A PEEPEB.

evening, as the sun went down among the old forests, away
off in the west. The greyness of twilight came stealing over
the water, and grew into darkness in the beautiful valley
where that lake lay sleeping. The stars stole out silently,
and set their watch in the sky, and calmness and repose
rested upon everything around us.

" I remember," said Smith, " the first year that I was in
college, of hearing two learned professors disputing about
what sort of animal it w^s that made the piping noise
we hear in the marshy places, and stagnant pools,. in the
spring time, usually known as peepers. One insisted that it
was a newt, or small lizard; and I remember that he went
to his library, and brought a volume which proved his
theory to be correct. The other denied the authority of
the author, and insisted that the peeper was a frog. The
discussion excited my curiosity, and I made up my mind to
satisfy myself on the subject, if possible, by occular demon-
stration. There was a small marshy place, half a mile, or
so, from the college grounds, from which I had heard, in my
walks, the music of the peepers coming up every evening, hi
a loud and joyous chorus. I watched by it a number of
evenings, and though there were a plenty of peepers, piping
merrily enough, yet I could not get sight of one to save me.
I began to think it was a myth, the viewless spirit of the
bog, that made all the noises about which the learned pro-
fessors had been disputing. At last, however, I got sight
of a peeper, caught him in the act, and saw that it was, in
fact, a little frog, nothing more, nothing less. He was not

A CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE. 259

more than three feet from me, and though, when I moved,
he hid himself in the muddy water, yet I managed to cap-
ture and take him home alive. He was a little animal, cer-
tainly, not larger than a half-dollar piece, and,it was mar-
vellous how a thing so small could make such a loud and
piercing noise. I took him to my room, and placed him in
a water-tight box, in which I fashioned an artificial bog, in
the hope that he would confirm my testimony by his piping.
The second evening, as I sat in my room, poring over the
recitations of the morrow, he lifted up his voice, loud, shrill,
and clear, as when singing in his native marsh. I hurried,
in triumph, to the learned disputants about his identity, and
in their presence, he furnished unanswerable evidence that
the peeper was a frog, and not a newt. I was complimented
by both the learned pundits, as though I had added a great
item to the aggregate of human knowledge."

" You did do a great thing, my friend," said Spalding,
" you solved a mystery about which men, wise in the learn-
ing of the books, had perhaps been disputing for centuries.
What are the peepers ? asked the naturalist, who listened to
their piping notes from the marshy places in the spring
time. It was a matter of small practical importance, what
they were. Still it was a question which MIND wanted to
have .solved. Its solution would do no great amount of
good to the world. But then it was a mystery which it was
the business of mind to lay bare ; and what more has sci-
ence done in tracing the history and progress of this earth
of ours, as written upon the rocks, among which geology

260 FACT STRONGER THAN THEORY.

has been so long delving ? ' What are the peepers ? '
asked the naturalist. ' They are newts, little lizards,'
answers a learned pundit. ' They are spirits of the bog,
myths, that hold their carnival in the early grass of the
marshy pools,' says the theorist and poet, who believes in the
idealities of a poetic fancy. ' They are frogs,' says a third,
who is ready to chop any amount of logic in favor of his
system of frogology, and hereupon columns of argument, and
pages of learned discussion, have been held over the identity
of the jolly peepers of the spring-time.

" But you discarded logic, threw away argument, and came
down to the sure demonstrations of sober fact. You watched
by the marshy pool, and caught the ' peeper ' in the act,
took him ' in flagrante, delicto,' as the lawyers say, and thus
ended the theoretical discussion about the ' peepers.' You
placed another fixed fact upon the page of natural history.

" And how often has the wisdom of the schools, the philo-
sophy of the profoundest theorists, been overthrown by the'
simple demonstrations of practical facts ? For a thousand
years the world was hi pursuit of the giant power that lay hid-
den in heated vapor, the steam that came floating up from
boiling water. That power eluded the grasp and baffled the
research of human genius, which was looking so earnestly
after it, until ingenuity gave it up, and philosophy pro-
nounced it a delusion. Not far from the beginning of the
present century, practical experiment began to develop the
mysterious power of steam. Rudely and imperfectly har-
nessed, at first, it still made the great wheel revolve, and

PHILOSOPHY BEFUTED. 261

men talked about making it a great motor for mechanical
purposes. Philosophy volunteered its demonstrations of the
absolute impossibility of such a thing. Still human inge-
nuity felt its way carefully onward, until the great fact was
developed, that steam was in truth capable of moving ma-
chinery, was endowed almost with vitality, and could be
made to throw the shuttle and spin. Ingenious men hinted
that it might be made to propel water-craft in the place of
wind and sails, and thus be harnessed into the service of
commerce, as it had already been into that of manufactures.
Here again philosophy interposed its axioms, and declared
the scheme among the wild vagaries of a distempered fancy.
But years rolled on, and the tall ship that swung out upon
the broad ocean, and moved forward when the air was still
and calmness was on the face of the deep, forward in the eye
of the wind — forward in the teeth of the storm, that stopped
not for billow or blast, gave the lie to philosophy, and scat-
tered the theory of the wise like chaff.

"The lightning, that fierce spirit of the storm, that darted
down on its mission of destruction from the black cloud
floating in the sky, became a thing of interest to the mechan-
ical world, and the question was asked, ' Why cannot the
lightning be harnessed into the service of man, and be made
utilitarian ?' Philosophy sneered at the wild delusion, but
see how that same subtle and mysterious agency has been
conquered ? Note how truthfully it carries every word in-
trusted to its charge, along thousands of miles of the tele-
graph wire, with a speed, in comparison with which, sound

MODERN RESEARCH FOB THE PRACTICAL.

is a laggard, a speed that annihilates alike space and time.
Men looked into a mirror, and seeing their own counterpart,
a fac-simik of themselves reflected there, began to ask,
' Why may not that shadow be fixed ; fastened in some
way, to remain upon the polished surface that gives it back,
even after the original may be mouldering in the grave ? '
Here again philosophy laid its finger upon its nose, and
winked facetiously, as if it had found a new subject for ridi-
cule, in the stupendous folly of such an inquiry. But from
that simple question, rose up the Daguerreian art ; an art
which fixes upon metallic plates, upon paper, the shadow of a
man, of palace and cottage, of mountain and field, giving
thus a picture ten thousand times truer to nature than the
pencil of the cunningest artist. These and a thousand other
mighty triumphs of human ingenuity have fought their way
onward to their present position, against the fogyism of
philosophy, the inertia of the schoolmen. They have been
the sequence of cold, resistless demonstrations of experiment
and fact. The world would stand still but for the spirit of
research for the practical ; for experimental, and not theo-
retical knowledge, that is abroad. It is this spirit that moves
the world in all its present matchless career of progress, and
distinguishes our era above all others of the world's exist-
ence. You may be thankful, my friend, that you have been"
able to add another fixed fact to the stock of human know-
ledge, even though it be only that the ' peeper ' is a frog,
and not a ' newt ' or a ' myth.'

" But who would suppose that such a tiny little frogling

PAST MEMOEJB8. 263

could make such a loud, shrill, and ear-piercing sound ?
.Who would think that a million of such puny things, could
make the air of a summer evening so full of the music of
their songs ? I remember how, in my boyhood, I listened to
their voices, which came up loudest, shrillest, merriest, when
twilight was spreading its grey mantle over the earth ;
while the song of the birds was hushing into silence, and
the coming darkness was lulling the things of the day into
repose ; Oh 1 how merrily they sang along the little brook-
let that took its rise in a spring in the meadow, and wended
its way among the young grass, just springing into verdure,
to the beautiful lake beyond. Their song is in my ear now,
and that meadow, that beautiful lake, the tall hills on the
summits of which the departing sunlight lingered, the tall
maples that clustered in their conelike beauty around that
gushing fountain, the clustered plum trees, the giant oak,
spared by the woodman's axe when the old forest was
swept away, the fields, the ' Gulf in the hill-side, and the
beautiful creek, that came cascading down the shelving
rocks, and leaping over precipices in which the speckled
trout sported : all these are before me now — a vision of
loveliness, all the more dear because stamped upon the
memory when life was young. Oh 1 Tune I Time 1 the
wrecks that lie scattered in thy pathway I That little
brooklet, and the peepers, the fountain, the maples, and the
meadow, are all gone. The brave old oak was riven by the
lightning. The fields have crept up to the very summit of
the hills, and even the stream that came down from the

264 TIME'S CHANGES.

mountain has vanished away, save when the rains, or the
melting snows send it in a freshet over the rocks where,
when I was a boy, it was cascading always. That beautiful
meadow, too, is gone, and the streets of a modern village,
with blocks of houses, and stores, and shops, occupy the
place where I swung my first scythe. The old log-house
vanished years and years ago. A steamboat ploughs its way
through that beautiful lake, and the things of my boyhood
are but visions of memory, called up from the long, long
past. Not one landmark of the olden time remains. Oh !
Time I Time I n

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE CRICKET IN THE WALL — THE MINISTER'S ILLUSTRATION —
OLD MEMORIES.

WE spent the following day in drifting quietly around the
lake, floating lazily in the little bays, under the shadow of
the tall trees, and lounging upon small islands, gathering
the low-bush whortleberries which grew in abundance upon
them. We filled our tin pails with this delicious fruit for a
dessert for our evening meal. On one of these islands we
found indications of its being inhabited by wood rabbits, and
we sent Cullen to the shanty for the dogs to course them,
not however witn any intention of capturing them, but to
enjoy the music of the chase, and hear the voices of the
hounds echoing over the water. We landed them upon the
island, and began beating for the game. The hounds under-
standing that their business was the pursuit of deer, and
having hunted the island over thoroughly, came back to us,
and sat quietly down upon their haunches, as much as to say
there was nothing there worth looking after. But we had seen

12 2««

266 CULLEN "8PKEAD8 HIMSELF."

X

one of the little animals that had been roused from its bed by
the dogs, and we called their special attention to the fact by
leading them to the spot, and bidding them to " hunt him
up." They understood our meaning, and started on the trail,
with a loud and cheerful cry. For half an hour, they coursed
him round and round the island, making the lake vocal with
their merry music. We might haye shot the game they
were pursuing fifty times, but we had no design against its
life. The little fellow did not seem to be greatly alarmed,
for we noted him often, when by doubling he had tempo-
rarily thrown off the dogs, squat himself down, and throw his
long ears back in the direction of the sound that had been
pursuing him ; and when the dogs straightened upon his trail,
and approached where he sat, he would bound nimbly away
among the thick bushes to double on them again.

We called off the dogs and passed on to float along
under the shadow of the forest trees and the hills, and take
an occasional trout by way of experiment among the broken
rocks along the shore. We had dispatched Cullen to the
shanty to prepare dinner for us by six o'clock, at which
hour we were to be at home. Cullen had promised, to use his
own expression, " to spread himself" in the preparation of
this meal, and he kept his promise. On our return, we found
a sirloin of moose roasted to a turn, a stake of bear-meat
broiled on the coals, a stew of jerked venison, and as pleas-
ant a dish of fried trout and pork as an epicure could desire.
Our appetites were keen, and we did ample justice to his
cookery. This was one of the most delightful evenings

MEMORIES OF THE PAST. 267

that I have ever spent in the northern woods. There was
such a calm resting upon all things, such an impress of
repose upon forest and lake, such a cheerful quiet and
serenity all around us, that one could scarcely refrain from
rejoicing aloud in the beauty and the glory of the hour. As
the sun sank to his rest behind the western hills, and the
twilight began to gather in the forest and over the lake, the
moon rose over the eastern high lands, walking with a
queenly step up into the sky, casting a long line of brilliant
light across the waters, showing the shadows of the moun-
tains in bold outline in the depths below, and paling the
stars by her brightness above. We all felt that we were
recruiting in strength so rapidly in these mountain regions,
where the air was so bracing and pure, under the influence
of exercise, simple diet, natural sleep, and the absence of
the labors and cares of business, that we were contented, not-
withstanding the monotony that began to mark our every-
day proceedings.

" I have been listening," said Spalding, as we sat upon the
rude benches in front of our camp-fire, indulging in our usual
season of smoking after our meals, " to the song of the
crickets in those rude jams, and they call up sad, yet pleasant
memories from the long past ; of the old log house, the quiet
fire-place, the crane in the jam, the great logs blazing upon
the hearth of a cold winter evening, the house dog sleeping
quietly in the corner, and the cat nestled confidingly between
his feet. Oh ! the days of old 1 the days of old I These
crickets call back with these memories the circle tha,

268 THE CKICKET IN THE WALL.

gathered around the hearth of my home, when I was young.
Father, mother, brothers, sisters, playmates, and friends.
How quietly some of them grew old and ripe, and then
dropped into the grave. How quietly others stole away in
their youth to the home of the dead, and how the rest have
drifted away on the currents of life and are lost to me in the
mists and shadows of tune. Even the home and the hearth
are gone ; they

•Battled with time and slow decay,'

until at last they were wiped out from the things that are.
The song of the peepers is a pleasant memory, and comes
welling up with a thousand cherished recollections of our
vanished youth. ; but the song of the cricket that made its
home in the jams of the great stone fire-place is pleasanter,
and the memories that come floating back with his remem-
bered lay are pleasanter still. He was always there. He
was not silent, like the out-door insect, through the spring
month and the cold of winter, piping only in sadness when
the still autumnal evenings close in their brightness and
beauty over the earth ; but he sang always, and his chir-
rup was heard at all seasons. In the winter the fire on the
hearth warmed him ; in the summer he had a cool resting
place, and he was cheerful and merry through all the long
year. And this reminds me of an anecdote of a venerable
minister, who passed years ago to his rest. He was a
Scotchman, and when preaching to his own congregation
at Salem, in Washington county, he indulged in broad

THE MINISTER'S ILLUSTRATION. 269

Scotch, which to those who were accustomed to it was
exceedingly pleasant. I was a boy then, and was return-
ing with my father from a visit to Vermont. We stopped
over the Sabbath at Salem, and attended worship in the
neat little church of that pleasant village. There were no
railroads in those days. The iron horse had not yet made
his advent, and the scream of the steam whistle had never
startled the echoes that dwell among the gorges of the
Green Mountain State. Oh ! Progress 1 Progress ! I have
travelled that same route often since, more than once within
the year, and I flew over in an hour what was the work of
all that cold winter day that brought us at night to that
neat little village of Salem. I thought, as I dashed with a
rush over the road I once travelled so leisurely, how change
was written upon everything ; how time and progress had
obliterated all the old landmarks, leaving scarcely anything
around which memory could cling. Well 1 well I it is so
everywhere. All over the world, change, improvement,
progress are the words. The venerable minister, for his
locks were grey, and time had ploughed deep furrows down
his cheeks, and drawn palpable lines across his brow, was,
as my memory paints him, the personification of earnestness,
sincerity and truth. The text and the drift of the sermon
I have forgotten, save the little fragment that fixed itself in
my memory by the singularity of the figure by which he
illustrated his meaning. He was speaking of the operation
of the Holy Spirit upon the human heart, and how gently it
won men from their sinful ways. He said, ' It was not

270 "ONWAED!" THE WATCHWORD.

boisterous, like the rush of the tempest ; it was not fierce,
like the lightning ; it was not loud, like the thunder ; but it
was a still sma' voice, like a wee cricket in the wa'a.' I
regard the cricket that chirruped in the wall as an institu-
tion. One of the past to be sure, swept away by the cur-
rent of progress, whose course is onward always ; over
everything, obliterating everything, hurling the things of to-
day into history, or burying them in eternal oblivion. In
this country there is nothing fixed, nothing stationary, and
never has been since the first white man swung his axe
against the outside forest tree ; since the first green field
was opened up to the sunlight from the deep shadows of the
old forests that had stood there, grand, solemn, and bound-
less since this world was first thrown from the hand of God.
There will be nothing fixed for centuries to come. The
tide of progres will sweep onward in the future as it has
done in the past. Onward is the great watchword of
America, and American institutions ; onward and onward,
over the ancient forests ; onward, over the log-houses that
stood in the van of civilization ; over the great fire-places ;
over the cricket in the wall ; over the old house dog that
slept in the corner ; over the loved faces that clustered
around the blazing hearth in the days of our childhood ;
over everything primitive, everything, my friends, that you
and I loved when we were little children, and that comes
drifting along down on the current of memory — bright visions
of the returnless past. Ah, well ! it is best that it should
be so. It is best that the world should move on ; that

RECUPERATION STRONGER THAN DECAY. 271

there should be no pause, no halting in the onward march.
What are we that the earth should stand still at our bid-
ding, or pause to contemplate our tears ? Dust to dust is
the great law, but so long as a phoenix rises from the ashes
of decay, what right have we to murmur ? Time may deso-
late and destroy, but man can build up and beautify. True,
his works perish as he perishes, but new works and new men
are -rising forever to fill, and more than fill, the vacancies
and desolations of the past. Go ahead then, world ! Sweep
along, Progress ! Mow away, Time ! Tear down temple
and stronghold ; sweep away the marble palace and log-
house ! sweep away infancy and youth, manhood and old
age ; wipe out old memories, and pass the sponge over
cherished recollections. The energy and the ingenuity of
man are an over-match even for time. From the ruins of the
past, from the desolations of decay, new structures will rise,
and a new harvest, more abundant than the old, will spring
up from the stubble over which Time's sickle has passed.
Recuperation is a law stronger than decay, and it is written
all over the face of the earth."

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE ACCIDENTS OF LIFE " SOME MEN ACHIEVE GREATNESS,

AND SOME HAVE GREATNESS THRUST UPON THEM" A SLIDE

RATTLESNAKES AT THE TOP AND AN ICY POOL AT THE

BOTTOM — A FANCIFUL THEORY.

WHILE we sat thus conversing, our boatmen went down
along the beach, and around a little point that ran out into
the lake, to bathe. They were jolly, but uncultivated men,
given to rudeness and profanity of speech when out of our
immediate presence, and by themselves, and we heard from
them, while they were splashing and struggling in the water,
expressions somewhat inelegant as well as profane.

" I have often thought," said Spalding, as we listened to
the rude and sometimes profane speech of our men, " how
vast the influence which circumstances or accident, over
which men have no control, have upon their conduct and
destiny in this world, if not in the next. The poet has well
said,

272

THE ACCIDENTS OF LIFE. 273

1 Full many a gem of purest ray serene

The dark unfathomed caves of Ocean bear ;
And many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.'

" These rude men are but testifying to the great truth,
that man is the creature, in a greater or less degree, of cir-
cumstances ; that he is great or small, polished or rude,
wise or simple, according to the accident of his birth, or the
surroundings in the midst of which his journey of life lays.
True, there are intellects that will work themselves into
position, men who will hew their way upward in spite of the
difficulties which beset them, as there are others who will
plunge down to degradation and dishonor, in defiance of ten-
der rearing, of education, of association, and all the allure-
ments to an -upward career that can be presented to the
human understanding. But these are so rare, that they may
be properly regarded as exceptions to the general rule ; so
rare, indeed, as to prove its truth. You and I can look
around us, and from among our acquaintances select many
men and women, whose genius and solid understanding, and
whose virtues too, have remained undeveloped, and probably
will do so till they die, from lack of opportunity for their ex-
ercise. Accident seems to have stricken them from their
legitimate sphere. Circumstances, for which they were not
responsible, and over which they could exercise no control,
have barred them out from their seeming true position in
the world, and the genius which was intended for the day-
light and the eagle's flight towards the sun, is left to skim

12*

274 THE ACCIDENTS OF LIFE.

in darkness along the ground, like the course of the mousing
owl. We have all seen another thing, which baffles our
philosophy, while it proves the truth of the theory of which
I am speaking. We have seen men, and see them every
day, who, from no quality of heart or mind seem fitted to
rise in the world, occupying commanding positions to which
accident has lifted them ; whose genius commands no admi-
ration, whose virtues are of a doubtful character, and who
possess no one quality which entitles them to our respect or
the respect of the world. As the former are the victims of
circumstance, these latter are its creatures. Both are the
sport of fortune ; the one class its victims, and the other its
favorites. How is all this to be accounted for ? And where
rests the responsibility of failure, and where the credit of
success ? Are there accidents floating about among the
paths marked out on the chart of life by the Deity, which
jostle his creatures from the destiny intended for them ?
Or were men thrown loose upon the currents of life, to take
their chances of good and evil, to be virtuous or vile,
according to the influences among which they were floating,
to be fortunate or otherwise, as the means of advancing
themselves drifted within their reach ? If so, where rests
the responsibility, I ask again, of failure, and where the
credit of success ? Children are born into the world under
strangely different influences. One first sees the light in the
haunts of vice and crime, amidst the corruptions which fester
away down in the depths of a great city. The influences
which surround it are only and always evil. They are such

VITALITY OF THOUGHT AND EXPRESSION. 275

in infancy, in childhood, in youth, and in manhood. Another
is cradled under the influence of intelligences, piety, virtue ;
having around it always the safeguards of refined and Chris-
tian civilization. What is the difference in the degree of
responsibility attached to the future of these antipode begin-
nings ? Can you tell me where, and how these wide, terri-
bly wide distinctions are to be reconciled ? When and
where the career of these germs of being, starting from
points so wide asunder, are to meet, and how the balances
of good and evil, of suffering and enjoyment, of sinning and
retribution, are to be adjusted at last ? I have been asking
myself, too, while listening to the speech of these men, so
thoughtlessly uttered, where these profane epithets, these
impious expressions, are to rest at last ? Who can tell
whether they do not go jarring through the universe, mar-
ring the music of the spheres, throwing discord into the an-
thems of the morning stars when they sing together, a wail
among the glad voices of the sons of God, when they shout
for joy ? In this world, and to the duluess of human per-
ception, when the sound of the impious words has died
away, or a smile comes back to the face clouded by the
angry thought, the effect seems to have ceased ; but it may
not be so. The word or the thought may be wandering for
ages, vibrating still, away off among the outer creations of
God. The angel that bore them at the beginning from the
lips or the heart, may be flying still, and generations and
centuries may have passed, before his journeying with them
shall have ceased.

276 VITALITY OF THOUGHT AND EXPRESSION.

" It is a fanciful idea, that whatever we say or think, is
immortal ; that every word we utter goes ringing through
the universe forever ; that every thought of the heart be-
comes a creation, a thing of vitality in some shape, starting
forward among the things of some sort of life, never to die 1
I have sometimes, in my dreamy hours, speculated upon the
truth of such a theory, and reasoned with myself in favor of
its reality. All I can say in its favor, however, is that I
cannot disprove it. It may be true,, or it may not. There
are other mysteries quite as incomprehensible, the results of
which we can see, without being able to penetrate the dark-
ness in which they dwell. But assuming its truth, and ap-
preciating the consequences which would follow, we should
rule the tongue with a sterner sway, and guard the heart
with a more watchful care than is our wont. Think of the
obscene word becoming a living entity, the profane oath, a
thing of life ; the filthy or impure thought, assuming fonn
and vitality, all starting forward to exist forever among the
creations of infinite purity. Who would own one of these
ogres in comparison with the beautiful things of God ? Who
would say of the obscene word, the profane oath, or the
filthy or impious thought, ' this is mine. I made it. I am
the author of its being — its creator I' And yet it may be
so. If it is, there are few of us who have not thrown into
life much, very much to mar the harmonies of nature, to
throw discord among the spheres."

" Your statement," remarked Smith, " that accident has
much to do with making or marring the fortunes of men, is

A CASE IN POINT. 277

doubtless true. Men are destroyed by accident, and their
lives are sometimes saved by it. And if you'll put away
metaphysics, come out of the cloud in which you have hid
yourself in your dreamy speculations, I will furnish you with
a case in point, showing that a man may get into a very
unpleasant predicament, where he runs a great risk and gets
some hard knocks, and yet be able to thank God for it, in
perfect earnestness of spirit. A case of the kind came under
my own observation, and while there was not much philoso-
phy, or abstract speculation about it, there was a great deal
of hard practical fact. It happened when I was a boy, at
the old homestead, in the valley that stretches to the south-
west from the head of Crooked Lake. That valley is
hemmed in by high and steep hills, and at the time of which
I speak, was much more beautiful in my view than it is now.
There was no village there then, and the farms which
fetched from hill to hill were greatly less valuable than
they are now ; but the woods and pastures, and meadows,
lay exactly in the right places, and had among them par-
tridges, and squirrels, and pigeons, and cattle, and sheep
enough to make things pleasant ; besides, there were plenty
of trout in those days, in the stream that flows along through
the valley midway between the hills. On the north side,
coming down through a gorge, or ' the gulf,' as we used to
call it, was a stream which, in the dry season of the year,
was a little brook, trickling over the rocks, but which, in
the spring freshets, or when the clouds emptied themselves
on the mountain, was a wild, foaming, roaring, and resistless

278 CLIMBING THE FALLS A SLIDE.

torrent. In following this stream into ' the gulf,' yon
walked on a level plain between walls of rock, rising two or
three hundred feet on either hand, and a dozen or more rods
apart, until you came to ' the falls,' down which the stream
rushed with a plunge and a roar, when its back was up, or
over which, in the dry season, it quietly rippled. These
' falls ' were not perpendicular, but steep as the roof of a
Dutch barn, and it was a great feat to climb them when the
stream was low. Ascending about fifty feet, you came to a
broad flat rock, large and smooth as a parlor floor, and
which in the summer season was dry. Well, one day, in
company with a boy who was visiting me, I went up to the
' falls/ and we concluded to climb the shelving rocks to the
' table ;' and taking off our shoes and stockings, entered upon
the perilous ascent — for such to some extent it was. Hands
and feet, fingers and toes, were all put in requisition. My
friend began the ascent before I did, and was half way%p
when I started. I ought to have said, that at the foot of
the ' falls/ was a basin, worn away by the torrent, and in
which the water, clear and cold, then stood to the depth of
three or four feet. We were toiling painfully up, when I
heard a rush above, and in an instant my friend came like
an arrow past me, sliding down the shelving rocks on his
back, or rather in a half-sitting posture, his rear to the
rocks. I won't undertake to say that the fire flew as he
went by me, for the rocks were slate, and therefore such a
phenomenon was not likely to occur, but the entire absence
of the seat of my friend's pantaloons, and the blood that

AN ESCAPE FROM RATTLESNAKES. 279

trickled down to his toes, showed that the friction was con-
siderable. As he passed me, I h^eard him exclaim, ' thank
God,' and the next instant he plunged into the cold water at
the base of the falls. What there was to be thankful for in
such a descent over the rocks, I could not at the tune com-
prehend, as the chances were in favor of a broken back, or
neck, or some other consummation equally out of the range
of gratitude, in an ordinary way. He came up out of the
water blowing and snorting like a porpoise with a cold in
his head, and waded to the shore. ' Come down,' he
shouted, which I did, not quite so far or fast as he did, but
fast enough to make an involuntary plunge, head foremost,
into the pool at the bottom. The occasion of his catastro-
phe was this : he had ascended so near the table rock,
that his hands were upon it, and was lifting himself up,
when, as his eyes came above the surface, the edge upon
which his hands with most of his weight rested, gave way,
and he started for the basin below. But he had a view of
what satisfied him that to this accident he owed his life, and
it was a sense of gratitude for bis escape, that prompted
the exclamation I heard as he went bumping past me.
Coiled on the rock above, and within reach of his face, were
several large rattlesnakes, and he always insisted that one
made a spring at him, as his hands gave way, and he put
out for the basin into which he plunged. He was a good
deal bruised, but his escape from the poisonous reptiles
reconciled him to that."

CHAPTER XXV.

HEADED TOWARDS HOME — THE MARTIN AND SABLE HUNTER —
HIS CABIN AUTUMNAL SCENERY.

WE concluded that we would break up our camp in the
morning, and drift leisurely back towards civilisation. We
had tarried upon this beautiful lake until we had explored
its romantic nooks, and we started on our return to our old
camping ground at the foot of Round Pond. We had
refrained for two days from disturbing the deer, and our
supply of fresh venison was entirely exhausted. Just at the
outlet of the lake we were leaving, is a little bay, towards
the head of which are a great number of boulders, laying
around loose, scattered about like haycocks in a meadow,
only a great many more to the acre. The water about these
boulders is shallow, and the lily-pads and grasses make a
luxuriant pasture for the deer. Among these boulders, and
concealed by one of them, save when his head was up, was a
deer. While he fed we could see nothing of him, but when
he raised his head to look around him, that alone was visible

SMITH IS WONDERFULLY ELATED. 281

above the rock. Smith and myself were in the leading boat,
he in the bow with his rifle. As the current swept near the
rocks where the deer was feeding, we let our little craft drift
quietly in that direction. As we came within shooting dis-
tance, say from fifteen to twenty rods, Smith adjusted his
rifle, and as the animal raised its head above the rock, he
sighted him carefully, and fired. It was a beautiful shot.
There was nothing of the animal but the head visible, and
the bullet, true to its aim, struck it square between the eyes,
and it fell dead. This shot, together with the glory of kill-
ing the bear, elated Smith wonderfully, and upon the
strength of them, he assumed the championship of the expe-
dition.

We drew the deer into the baggage-boat, and sent for-
ward our pioneer to erect our tents, and prepare a late din-
ner, at our old camping ground, while we landed with the
dogs on the island near the head of Round Pond, or Lake,
to course whatever game they might find upon it. They
soon burst into full chorus, and dashed away. The island is
small, containing only a few acres, and the game could not,
therefore, take a wide range. After a single turn, a deer
broke, like a maddened war-horse, from the thicket, and
plunging into the lake, struck boldly for the mainland,
five hundred yards distant. We were near by with our two
boats when he took to the water, and we thought we would
accompany him as an escort to the shore ; so we rowed up,
and with a boat on each side, and within ten feet of him, as
he swam, escorted him towards the forest. We treated him

282 A TRAPPER'S HUT.

with great respect, offering him no indignity, interfering with
him in nothing ; and yet the old fellow seemed very far from
appreciating our politeness, or relishing our company. The
truth is, he was horribly frightened, and he struggled despe-
rately to rid himself of our association ; but we stuck by him
like his destiny, talking kindly to him, endeavoring to im-
press upon his mind that we meant him no harm — indeed,
that we were his friends. But, I repeat, he did not appre-
ciate our politeness. By-and-by his feet touched the sand,
and he bounded forward, as much as to say, "Good-bye,
gentlemen," when a simultaneous yell from all six of us, and
the discharge of four rifles in quick succession over him,
added wonderfully to the energy of his flight. He will be
likely to recognise us if he ever meets us again, and if the
past furnishes any admonitions to his kind, he will give us
a wide berth.

We rowed leisurely along the eastern shore, and in a deep
bay found excellent fishing, at the mouth of a cold mountain
brook. On the banks of this bay we found the whiter hut
of a martin and sable trapper. It had an outer and inner ap-
partment, the latter almost subterranean. The hut was com-
posed of small logs, which a single man could lay up, the
crevices between which were closely packed with moss, and
the roof covered with two or three layers of bark. The
doorway was sawed through these logs, and a door, con-
structed of bark, was made to fit it ; a rude hearth of sand-
stone was built in one corner, and a hole was open above it
to let out the smoke. Against the outside of this pen, only

WE ARRIVE AT OTJR CAMP. 283

about ten feet square, logs were leaned up, the ends of which
rested upon the ground, the interstices between them care-
fully stopped with moss, and the whole covered with bark ; the
ends consisted of stakes, driven into the ground and chinked
with moss. Into this sleeping apartment a door was cut from
the parlor, large enough for a man to pass by getting down
on all-fours ; while within was a plentiful supply of boughs
from the spruce and fir tree. In this hut, now so dark", and
in which the air was so dead and fetid, a solitary trapper
had wintered, pursuing his occupation of martin and sable
hunting — the which, if tolerably successful, would yield him
some two or three hundred dollars the season. He carried
into the woods a bag of flour or meal, a few pounds of pork,
pepper, salt, and tea ; and this, with the game he killed,
made up his supply of food. With no companion but his
dog, he had probably spent two or three months, and very
possibly more, in this lonely cabin.

We arrived at our camp towards evening, and dined
sumptuously on fresh venison and trout. Our pioneer had
provided a luxurious bed of boughs within, and had fashioned
rude seats in front of our tents. He had rolled the butt of a
huge tree, which he had felled, to the proper place, against
which to kindle our camp-fire, and we had a pleasant place
to sit, with our pipes, in the evening, looking out over the
water, listening to the pile-drivers, half a dozen of which
were driving their stakes along the reedy shore, with com-
mendable diligence. The sunlight lay so beautifully on the
hillsides, and contrasted so admirably with the deep shadows

284 GLORIES OF SPKING-TIME.

of the valley beneath, the lake was so calm and still, the old
woods stood around so moveless and solemn, that one could
scarcely persnade himself that he was not looking upon some
gigantic picture, the fanciful grouping and transcendent
coloring of some ingenious and winning artist.

" The hillsides about these lakes," remarked the Doctor,
" must be superlatively beautiful in the fall, when the forest
puts on its autumnal foliage. They present such a variety
of trees, of so many different kinds, and the hills and moun-
tains are so admirably arranged, that they must be gorgeous
beyond description. However we may prefer the green and
living beauty of spring, when everything is so full of vitality,
so buoyant and free, yet the autumn scenery is the most
magnificent of any in the year."

" Every season has its charms," said Spalding, " Even
the winter, with its cold, its dead and cheerless desolation,
has its robe of chaste and peerless white, which, as well as
that of the spring-time, the summer, and the autumn, has
been the theme of song. I agree with you, that in gorgeous-
ness of beauty, there is no season so rich as the autumn.
Spring-time has its pleasant scenery, its genial days, its deep
green, its flowers, and its singing birds ; and these are all
the more lovely because they follow so closely upon the cold
storms, and bleak winds, the chilling and blank desolation
of winter. We love the spring because of its freshness, its
pervading vitality, its recuperating influences. Everybody
loves the spring-time ; everybody talks about the spring-time ;
poets sing of it ; orators praise it ; ' fair women and brave

AUTUMNAL SCENERY. 285

men ' laud it ; so that were spring-time human, and posses-
sing human instincts, and subject to human frailties, it would
have plenty of excuse, for becoming a very vain personage.

" Somebody has called the autumnal days the ' saddest of
the year.' I have forgotten who he was, if I ever knew ;
but in my judgment, he was all wrong. Dark days there
are — damp, chilly, misty, wet, and unpleasant days in
autumn ; days that make one relish a corner by an old-
fashioned fire. There are gusty, windy, capricious days in
autumn, which nobody cares to praise, when the northwest
wind goes sweeping over the forest, roaring among the trees,
and whirling the sere leaves along the ground, and which,
to tell the truth about them, are anything but pleasant.
But ' some days must be dark and dreary,' and they serve to
give the sunlight of a bright to-morrow a keener relish, and
a lovelier comparative beauty. To call the fall days the
' saddest of the year ' is an absurdity, poetical I admit, but
still an absurdity. There is nothing sad in a cold, or a
wet, a drizzly, a gusty, or a stormy day ; much there may be
that is unpleasant, much that one may be disposed to quar-
rel with, but they are anything but sad.

A calm autumnal day in the country is a great thing, a
beautiful thing, a thing to thank God for ; a thing to make
one happy, buoyant of spirit, full of gratitude to the great
Creator ; a thing to make one merry, too, not with a loud
and boisterous mirth, but with a heart full to overflowing
with cheerfulness, and a calm joy. To see the bright sun
standing in his glory up in the sky, shedding his placid light

286 AUTUMNAL SCENERY.

over the earth, when the air is clear, the winds hushed, and
the leaves are still and moveless on the trees ; and then to
look along the hillsides, and mark the bright sunlight, and
the deep shadows, the green of the fir, the hemlock, and the
spruce, the yellow of the birch, the crimson of the maple,
the dark brown of the beech, the grey of the oak, the silver
glow of the popple, and the varying shades of all these,
mingling and blending in all the harmony of brilliant color-
ing. Why, these hillsides are decked like a maiden in her
beauty, like a bride robed for the altar ! Talk about spring-
time, or summer ! Green on the hillside ! green in the
meadows and pastures ! green everywhere — all around is
changeless and everlasting green ! as if hillside and valley,
forest and field, had but a single dress for morning, noon,
and night, and that only and always green ! True, there is
the music of the birds, joyous notes and variant, happy and
hilarious, in the spring-time, but there is no cricket under
the flat stone in the pasture, his song is not heard in the
stone wall, or in the corner of the fences ; no music of the
katydid ; no tapping of the woodpecker on the hollow tree,
or the dead limb ; no chattering of the squirrel, as he
gathers his winter store ; no pattering of the faded leaves,
as they come so quietly down from their places ; no falling
of the ripened nuts, loosened from their burs or shucks by
the recent frosts. All these sounds belong to the calm
autumnal days, and while they differ the whole heavens from
the merry songs of spring, there is nothing sad about them.
No ! No ! nothing sad. I remember (and who that was

MEMORIES OF YOUTH. 287

reared in the country does not) when I was a boy, how I
went out in the sunny days of autumn, after the frosts had
painted the hillsides, to gather chestnuts ; and when the
breeze rustled among the branches, how the nuts came
rattling down ; and how if the winds were still, I climbed
into the trees and shook their tops, and how the chestnuts
pattered to the ground like a shower of hail. I remember
the squirrels how they chattered, and chased each other up
and down the trees, or leaped from branch to branch,
gathering here and there a nut, and scudding away to their
store houses in the hollow trees, providing in this season of
plenty for the barrenness of the winter months. I remem-
ber, too, how we gathered, in those same old autumnal days,
hickory-nuts and butter-nuts by the bushel ; and how plea-
sant it was in the long cold winter evenings, to sit around
the great old kitchen fire-place, cracking the nuts we had
gathered when the green, the yellow, the crimson, the brown,
the grey, and the pale leaves were on the trees. Pleasant
evenings those seem to me now, as they come floating down
on the current of memory from the long past, and dear are
the faces of those that made up the tableaux as they were
grouped around those winter fires. Logs were blazing on
the great hearth, and the pineknots, thrown at intervals on
the fire, gave a bold and cheerful light throughout that
capacious kitchen. I remember how the wfnter wind went
glancing over the house-top, whirling, and eddying, and
moaning around the corners, hissing under the door and
sending its cold breath in at every crevice ; and how the

288 MEMOBIES OF YOUTH.

windows rattled when the blast came fiercest, and how the
smoke would sometimes whirl down the great chimney. I
remember well where my father's chair was always placed ;
and where my mother sat of those winter evenings, when
her household cares were over for the day, plying her needle,
or knitting, or darning stockings, or mending garments, for
such employment was no dishonor to the matrons of those
days. With these for the leading figures, I remember how
seven brothers and sisters were grouped around, and how
the old house dog had a place in the corner, and how
lovingly the cat nestled between his feet. Cherished memo-
ries are these pleasant visions and they come to me often,
vivid as realities. But the dream vanishes, the vision fades -
away, and I think of the six pale, still faces as I saw them
last, and of the names that are chiseled upon the cold
marble that stands through the sunny spring-time, the heat
of summer, the autumnal days, and the storms and tempests
of winter, over the graves of the dead."

CHAPTER XXVI.

A SURPRISE— A SERENADE A VISIT FROM STRANGERS — AN

INVITATION TO BREAKFAST — A FASHIONABLE HOUR AND A
BOUNTIFUL BILL OF FARE.

THE evening was calm, and the lake slept in stirless
beauty before us. The shadows of the mountains reached
far out from the shore, lieing like a dark mantle upon the
surface of the waters, above and beneath which the stars
twinkled and glowed like the bright eyes of seraphs looking
down from the arches above, and up from the depths below.
The moon in her brightness sailed majesticaliy up into the
sky, throwing her silver light across the bosom of the lake ;
millions of fireflies flashed their tiny torches along the reedy
shore ; the solemn voices of the night birds came from out
the forest ; the call of the raccoon and the answer, the
hooting of the owl, and the low murmur of the leaves, stirred
by the light breeze that moved lazily among the tree-tops,
old familiar music to us, were heard. This latter sound is
always heard, even in the stillest and calmest nights. There

13 »

290 A SURPRISE. »

may be no ripple upon the water ; it may be moveless and
smooth as a mirror, no breath of air may sweep across its
surface, and yet in the old forest among the tree-tops, there
is always that low ceaseless murmur, a soft whispering as if
the spirits of the woods were holding, in hushed voices, com-
munion together. We had retired for the night under the
cover of our tents. My companion had sunk into slumber,
and I was just in that dreamy state, half sleeping and half
awake, which constitutes the very paradise of repose, when
there came drifting across the lake the faint and far off_
strains of music, which, to my seeming, exceeded in sweetness
anything I had ever heard. They came so soft and melo-
dious, floating so gently over the water, and dying away so
quietly in the old woods, that I could scarce persuade my-
self of their reality. For a while I lay luxuriating as in the
delusion of a pleasant dream, as though the melody that
was abroad on the air was the voices of angels chanting
their lullaby into the charmed ear of the sleeper. Presently,
Smith raised his head, supporting his cheek upon his hand,
his elbow resting upon the ground, and after listening for a
moment, opened his eyes in bewilderment exclaiming, as he
looked in utter astonishment about him, "What, in the
name of all that is mysterious, is that ?"

Spalding and the Doctor followed, and their amazement
was equalled only by their admiration when

" Oft In the stilly night "

came stealing in matchless harmony over the water,

• A SERENADE. 291

" A serenade from the Naiads, by Jupiter 1" exclaimed
Smith.

" A concert, by the Genii of the waters 1" cried the
Doctor.

" Hush 1" said Spalding, " we are trespassing upon fairy
domain ; the spirits of these old woods, these mountains and
rock-bound lakes, are abroad, and well may they carol in
their joyousness in a night like this." .

In a little while the music changed, and

" Come o'er the moonlight sea "

came swelling over the lake. And again it changed and

" Come mariner down in the deep with me"

went gently and swiftly abroad on the air. The mnsic
ceased for a moment, and then two manly voices, of great
depth and power, came floating to our ears to the words :

" ' Farewell ! Farewell I To thee, Araby's daughter,'
Thus warbled a Peri, beneath the deep sea,
' No pearl ever lay under Onan's dark water,
More pure in its shell than thy spirit in thee.' "

" That's flesh and blood, at least," exclaimed the Doctor,
"and I propose to ascertain who are treating us to this
charming serenade in the stillness of midnight."

We went down to the margin of the lake, and a few rods
from the shore lay a little craft like our own, in which were
seated two gentlemen, the one with a flute and the other
with a violin. They had seen our campfire from their shanty

A VISIT FKOM STRANGERS.

on the other side of the lake, and had crossed over to
surprise us with the melody of human music. And plea-
santly indeed it sounded in the stillness and repose of that
summer night in that wild region. The echoes that dwell
among those old forests, those hills and beautiful lakes, had
never been startled from their slumbers by such sounds
before, and right merrily they carried them from hill to hill,
and through the old woods, and over the calm surface of
that sleeping lake, and with a joyonsness, too, that told
how welcome they were among those wild and primeval
things.

After listening to their music for half an hour, we invited
our new friends ashore. We found them to be two young
gentlemen from Philadelphia, who had just graduated at
one of the Eastern colleges, and who had concluded to spend
a month among these mountains and lakes, before entering
upon the study of the profession to which they were to
devote themselves. They had been close friends from their
childhood, and room-mates during their collegiate course.
They had cultivated their taste for music, until few mere
amateurs could equal their skill upon their respective in-
struments, or in harmony of voice. They were highly
intelligent and courteous gentlemen, and if their future shall
equal the promise of the present, they will make their
mark in the world. We accepted, at parting, their invita-
tion to breakfast with them on the morrow, and at one
o'clock they left us to return to their shanty over the lake.
We sent one of our boatmen to row them home ; and as

SWEETNESS OF THE HUMAN VOICE. 293

they started across the water, they treated us to a concert
to which it was pleasant to listen. There is something
surpassingly sweet in the music of the flute and violin in
the hands of skillful performers ; and yet, to my thinking,
it falls far short of the melody of the human voice. I
have listened to some of the most celebrated singers, and
of the most distinguished performers, but it appears to
me now, that I never, on any other occasion, heard the
melody of the human voice, or instrumental music half so
enchanting, as that which came floating over the lake on
that calm summer night. There was a volume and compass
about it which can never be reached in a concert room.
It was not loud, but it seemed to fill all the air with its
sweetness. It came over the senses like a pleasant dream,
as it went swelling up to the hills that skirted the lake,
floating away over the water, and dying away in length-
ened cadence in the old forests. Every other sound was
hushed ; the voices of the night-birds were stilled ; even
the frogs along the shore suspended their bellowing, and
all nature seemed listening to the new harmony that thus
fell like enchantment upon the repose of midnight. The
music grew fainter and fainter as it receded, until only
an occasional strain, wavy and dream-like, came creeping
like the voice of a spirit over the water, and then it was
lost in the distance. The frogs resumed their roaring,
the night-birds lifted up their voices ; the raccoon called
to his fellow, and was answered away off in the forest ;
the pile-driver hammered away at his stake, the old owl

294: A WOODLAND BEEAKFABT.

hooted solemnly from his perch, and we retired to our tents
to talk over the romance of our serenade, and to dream
of Ole Bull and the Swedish Nightingale.

The morning broke bright and balmy. A pleasant breeze
swept lazily over the lake, lifting the thin mist that hung
like a veil of gauze above the water. We left our tents
standing, and crossed over to the shanty of our friends
of the previous evening to breakfast. We found them
living like princes. Their two boatmen had built them
a log shanty ; open in front, and covered with bark so
as to be impervious to the ram, while within was a lux-
urious bed of boughs. Around the campfire were benches
of hewn slabs, and a table of the same material. A few
rods from the door a beautiful spring came bubbling up into
a little basin of pure white sand, the water of which was
limpid and cold almost as ice-water. They had been here
for a week, hunting and fishing. They had employed their
leisure in jerking the venison they had taken, of which
they had some four or five bushels, and which they intended
to take home with them, to serve, together with the skins
of the deer they had slain, as trophies of their success.

They received us cordially, and we sat down to a break-
fast, which, for variety, at least, rivalled the elaborate
preparations of the Astor or the St. Nicholas ; albeit, the
cookery, as an abstract fact, might have been of the
simplest. We had venison-steak, pork, ham, jerked venison
stew, fresh trout, broiled partridge, cold roast duck, a
fricassee of wood rabbits, and broiled pigeon upon oar table,

THE HERO RELATES HIS ACHIEVEMENT. 295

coming in courses, or piled up helter-skelter on great plat-
ters of birch bark, some on tin plates, and now and then
a choice bit on a chip ! We had coffee, and tea, and the
purest of spring water, by way of beverage, and truth
compels me to admit, that under the advice of the Doctor,
a drop or two of Old Cognac may have been added by
way of relish, or to temper the effect of a hearty meal
upon the delicate stomachs of some of the guests. We
were exceedingly fashionable in our time for breakfasting
this morning, and it was eleven o'clock before we rose from
table. The sun was travelling through a cloudless sky,
and his brightness lay like a mantle of glory upon the
water, while his heat gave to the deep shadows of the
old trees, whose long arms with their clustering foliage
were interlocked above us, a peculiar charm. The descrip-
tion which we gave of the beautiful lake we had left the
day before, the story of the moose and the bear we had
killed, together with our quit-claim of the shanty we had
inhabited, brought our friends to the conclusion to drift
that way for a week or so.

It was amusing to hear Smith relate the manner of cap-
turing the bear, the glory of which achievement he had won
by the tossing up of a dollar; how he had started out alone
in one of the boats with his rifle to look into a little bay
half a mile below the shanty, where he left the rest of
us sleeping after dinner ; and how, as he was floating along
under the shadow of the hills, at the base of a wall of rocks
some forty feet high, rising straight up from the water,

296 PASTING COMPANY.

he heard something walking just over the precipice ; and
how he picked up his rifle that lay in the bottom of the
boat, to be ready for any emergency; and then how as-
tonished he was to see a great black bear walk out into
view along the edge of the rocks above, and how carefully
he sighted him; and how, at the crack of his rifle, the
animal came tumbling down the cliff, and how quick he
reloaded and gave him a settler hi the shape of a second
bullet ; and how he tugged, and strained, and lifted to
get him into the boat, and how astonished we all were
when he returned with his prize to camp. While relating
this wonderful achievement, he winked at the Doctor, as
much as to say, "fair play; remember our compact ; stand
by me now." And the Doctor did stand by him, boldly
endorsing, with a gravity that was refreshing, every inven-
tion of Smith's prolific imagination, on the subject of his
slaughtering the bear.

We left our new friends in the afternoon; they to start
in the morning for our old camping-ground on the lake
above, and we down the stream on our retreat from the
wilderness. We came back to our tents, after securing a
string of trout from the mouth of the little stream across
the bay. Our evening meal was over, and we sat around
our campfire just as the sun was hiding himself behind
the western highlands, when, from a little hollow in the
forest behind us, and but a short way off, we heard the
call of a raccoon. Martin started over the ridge with the
dogs, and in five minutes he hallooed to us to come with

"TKEEING" A COON. 297

our rifles for he had the animal "treed," and ready to
be brought down at "a moment's warning." We went
over to where he was, and sure enough, away up in the
top of a tall birch, sat his coonship, looking quietly down
upon the dogs that were baying at the foot of the tree.

" Gentlemen," said Spalding, " we will not all fire at
this animal as we did at Smith's bear. One bullet is
enough for him, and if he gets down among us, I think
six men will be a match for one 'coon,' so we need not
be inhuman through a sense of danger. Whose shot shall
he be ?"

" I move that Spalding have the first shot," said Smith ;
and the motion was carried.

"Do I understand you, gentlemen," Spalding inquired,
adjusting himself, as if preparing to bring down the game,
"that I am to have this first shot, and that no one is
to fire until I have taken a fair shot at him ?"

We all answered, " Yes."

"Are you perfectly agreed in this, and do you all
pledge yourselves to abide the compact ?" Spalding inquired
again, bringing his rifle to a present, and looking up at the
game.

" All agreed," we answered, with one voice.

"Very well, gentlemen," said Spalding, shouldering his
rifle, " there's one life saved anyhow. That animal up there
has been in great peril, but he's safe now. I don't intend
to fire at him sooner than ten o'clock to-morrow, and if

298 THE COON SAFE.

I understand our arrangements, we leave here in the morn-
ing at six."

" Sold, by Moses 1" exclaimed Martin, as he broke out
into a roar that you might have heard a mile ; " I thought
the Judge meant something, by the time he wasted in
talkin' and gettin' ready to shoot."

"Spalding,"- inquired Smith, "do you expect us to keep
this compact ?"

" Of course I do," he replied; "did any of us peach when
you opened so rich in the matter of your bear ? Did any
one break his compact with you on that subject ? Absolve
us from our agreement about the bear, and you may take
my shot at that animal up hi the tree."

" I wasn't born yesterday," Smith replied, " and I can't
afford to exchange the glory of killing the bear in my
own way, and having three responsible endorsers, for the
honor of shooting a coon. Gentlemen," he continued, " I
move that that coon be permitted to take his own time to
descend from his perch up in the tree-top there;" and the
motion was carried unanimously.

CHAPTER XXVII.

WOULD I WERE A BOY AGAIN.

" WE have played the boy again, yesterday and to-day,
pretty well," remarked Smith, as we sat in front of our tents
in the evening, smoking our pipes. " And I am half in-
clined to think we have started for home too soon, after all.
Spalding's moralizing for the last two or three days deceived
me. I thought, as he was becoming so serious, he must be
getting tired of the woods ; but his proposition yesterday to
escort that deer to the shore, and frighten him almost to
death, his jolly humor with our young friends over the way,
and the trick he played on us in regard to the raccoon this
evening, satisfies me that he's got a good deal of the boy in
him yet. We shall have to retreat from the woods slower
than I thought, to exhaust it."

" If the cares of business or the duties of life did not call
us back to civilization" said the Doctor, "I could almost
spend the summer among these lakes, only for the luxury of
feeling like a boy again. When I listen to the glad voices
of the wild things around us, I can almost wish myself .one
of them."

299

300 WOULD I WEBB A BOY AGAIN!

" That coon, for instance," interrupted Smith, " that came
so near getting shot by his chattering."

" I call the gentleman to order," said I ; "the Doctor has
the floor."

" I sometimes think that it is no great thing after all
to be human ; " the Doctor continued, bowing his acknow-
ledgments for my protecting his right to the floor. " Mind
is a great thing, but there is more of sorrow, anxiety, and
care clustering about it, than these wild things we hear and
see around us suffer through their instincts. Eeason, know-
ledge, wisdom, are great things. To stand at the head of
created matter, to be the noblest of all the works of God,
the only created thing wearing the image, and stamped with
the patent of Diety, are proud things to boast of. But
great and glorious and proud as they are, they have their
balances of evil. They bring with them no contentment, no
repose, while they heap upon us boundless necessities and
limitless wants. We are hurried through life too rapidly
for the enjoyment of the present, and the good we see in
prospect is never attained. When we were boys we longed
to be men, with the strength and intellect of men ; and now
that we are men, with matured powers of body and mind,
true to our organic restlessness and discontent, we look back
with longing for the feelings and emotions of our boyhood.
What a glorious thing it would be if we could always be
young — not boys exactly, but at that stage of life when the
physical powers are most active, and the heart most buoy-

WOULD 1 WERE A BOY AGAIN. 301

ant. That, to my thinking, would be a better arrangement
than to grow old, even if wa^ive on until we stumble at last
from mere infirmity into the grave, looking forward in dis-
content one half of our lives, and backward in equal discon-
tent the other."

" You remind me," said Spalding, " of a little incident,
simple in itself, but which, at the time, made a deep impres-
sion upon my mind, and which occurred but a few weeks
ago. Returning from my usual walk, one morning, my way
lay through the Capitol Park. The trees, covered with their
young and fresh foliage, intertwined their arms lovingly
above the gravelled walks, forming a beautiful arch above,
through which *the sun could scarcely look even in the splen-
dor of his noon. The birds sang merrily among the branches,
and the odor of the leaves and grass as the dews exhaled,
gave a freshness almost of the forest to the morning air.
On the walk before me were two beautiful children, a boy
of six and a little girl of four. They were merry and happy
as the birds were, and with an arm of each around the waist
of the other, they went hopping and skipping up and down
the walks, stopping now and then to waltz, to swing round
and round, and then darting away again with their hop and
skip, too full of hilarity, too instinct with vitality, to be for a
moment still. The flush of health was on their cheeks, and
the warm light of affection in their eyes. They were confid-
ing, affectionate, loving little children, and my heart warmed
towards them, as I saw them waltzing and dancing and skip-
ping about under the green foliage of the trees.

302 WOULD I WEBB A BOY AGAIN.

*

" ' Willy/ said the little girl, as they sat down on the low
railing of the grass plats, to^breathe for a moment, and
listen to the chirrup and songs of the birds in the boughs
above them, ' Willy, wouldn't you like to be a little bird ? '

" ' A little bird, Lizzie,' replied her brother. ' Why should
I like to be a little bird?'

" ' Oh, to fly around among the branches and the leaves
upon the trees,' said Lizzie, ' and among the blossoms when
the morning is warm, and the sun comes out bright and
clear in the sky. Oh ! they are so happy.'

" ' But the mornings aint always warm, and the sun don't
always come up bright and clear in the sky, Lizzy,' said her
brother, ' and the leaves and blossoms aint always on the
trees. The cold storms and the winter come and kill the
blossoms and scatter the leaves, and what would you do
then ? I shouldn't like to be a bird, but I should like to be
a big strong man like father.'

" ' Please tell me what time it is ? ' said the little boy,
addressing me.

" I told him, and he turned to his little sister, saying,
' Come, Lizzie, we must go ; mother said we must be home
by half-after seven, and it's most that now ;' and he put his
arm lovingly around her neck, and she put hers around his
waist, and they walked away towards home, talking about
the leaves and the blossoms on the trees, the merry little
birds, the bright sunshine, and the pleasant time they had
had in the park that morning.

" It was a pleasant thing to see those two little children,

WOULD I WERE A BOY AGAIN. 303

*

so coufidiug, so earnest and true in their young affections,
clinging to each other so closely, as if no shadow could
ever come between them, or turn their hearts from each
other. How natural was that simple question put by that
little girl to her brother, ' Wouldn't you like to be a little
bird ?' It was the thought of a pure young mind, that sees
only the bright sunshine of to-day, whose life is in the pre-
sent, and to which there is no forebodings of darkness in the
future. There was philosophy, too, in the answer of her
brother, a simple but suggestive sermon, 'But the sun'
said he, ' don't always come up bright and clear ; the morn-
ings aint always warm ; the leaves and blossoms aint always
on the trees. The cold storms, and the winter come and
kill the blossoms and scatter the leaves, and what would
you do then ?' To finite minds like ours, it would seem to
have been a more beautiful arrangement of nature, could
it have been, that we could always have the spring time in
its glory with us ; if the leaves and the blossoms were
always young and fresh and fragrant ; if the cold storms of
winter could never come to ' kill the blossoms and scatter
the leaves ; ' if the sun would always come up bright and
clear ; if the birds were always merry, and their glad voices
always on the air. This world would be a paradise then,
and one older and wiser in the learning of the schools, but
not wiser or better in the heart's affections, than that little
girl, might well wish to be a little bird, to fly around among
the branches, the green leaves, and the blossoms on the
trees. And yet what presumption in finite man to sit in

304: WHATEVER IS, IS BEST.

»

judgment upon, or criticise the wisdom of the Omnipotent
God ! How know we but that a single change, the slight-
est alteration of a simple law, would go jarring through all
the universe, throwing everything into confusion, and bring-
ing utter chaos, where now all is order. The mother sees
her little child die, she lays it in its coffin, and surrenders it
to the grave, and her heart rebels against the Providence
that snatched away her treasure. In her agony, she appeals
reproachfully to Heaven, and asks, ' Why am I thus be-
reaved ?' Foolish mother I impeach not the wisdom of
your bereavement. Mysterious as it may be, know this, that
in the councils of eternity your sorrows were considered, and
the decree which took from you your darling, was ordered
in mercy. Pestilence sweeps over the land ; a wail is on
the ah*. Peace, mourners, be still ! The pestilence has a
mission of mercy, mysterious as it may be .to us. The storm
lashes the ocean into fury ; tall ships, freighted with human
souls, go down into its relentless depths ; a shriek of agony
comes gurgling up from the devouring waters ; a cry of woe
is heard from a thousand homes over the wrecked and the
lost. Peace, again, mourners I The storm has a mission of
mercy. It may never be comprehended by us here, but
when the veil shall be lifted, as in God's good time it doubt-
less will be, we shall see how the pestilence and the storm,
that cost so many tears, were essential to the harmony of a
glorious system, a perfect plan, and that seeming sorrow was
at last the occasion .of unspeakabie joy. -Let no man say
that this or that law, or operation of nature, were better

YOUTHFUL ASPIRATIONS. 305

changed, until he can fathom the designs of God ; till he
can create a planet, and send it on its everlasting round ;
till he can place a star in the firmament ; till he can breathe
upon a statue, the workmanship of his own hands, and be
obeyed when he commands it to walk forth a thing of life ;
till he can dip his hand into chaos and throw off worlds.
The ' cold storms of winter ' are essential to the enjoyment
of the brightness and glory, the genial sunshine, the pleasant
foliage, the blossoms and the odors of spring. They have
their uses, and chill and dreary and desolate as they may be,
they are parts of an arrangement ordered by infinite good-
ness and omnipotent wisdom.

" ' I should like to be a big strong man like father is !'
How like a boy was this ? Thirsting for the strength, the
might and power of manhood ! And this is the aspiration
of the young heart always ; to be mature, strong to grapple
with the cares, and wrestle with the stern actualities of life.
How little of these does childhood know I How little does
it calculate the chances, that when, in the long future, it
shall have attained the full strength and maturity of life,
when manhood shall be in the glory and strength of its
prime, and it looks forward into the dark cloud beyond, and
backward into the bright sunshine of the past, the aspira-
tion, the hope will change into regret, and the yearning of
the heart, speaking from its silent depths, will be, ' would I
were a boy again I' "

CHAPTER XXVIII.

HEADED DOWN STREAM — RETURN TO TUPPER's LAKE — THE CAMP
ON THE ISLAND.

WE started down stream again at six o'clock in the morn-
ing, intending, if possible, to reach Tupper's Lake before en-
camping for the night. It would make for us a busy day to
accomplish so much ; but going down stream and down hill
are very different things from going up, as any gentleman
may satisfy himself by rowing against a current of two miles
the hour, or toiling up an ascent of three or four hundred
feet to the mile, and then retracing his steps. We accom-
plished more than half the distance, and that over the worst
of the journey, by twelve o'clock, and we halted for dinner
and a siesta. If there is one thing in life which can lay any
claim to being considered a positive luxury, it is a nap
on a mossy bank, in the deep shadows of the forest trees,
after a hearty meal, of a warm summer day. There should
be, in order to its full appreciation, a mixture of weariness
with a due proportion of laziness. Too much of either de-

* 806

PROVISIONS GETTING 80ABCE. 307

tracts from the enjoyment of its beatitudes. To fed the sen-
sation of resting, that weariness is leaving you, and that the
process of recuperation is an active, living agency, going on
all through the. system, while the natural love of repose is
being gratified as an independent emotion, constitute the
very perfection of mere animal enjoyment. The musquitoes
at midday have gone to their rest, or if a straggler comes
buzzing and singing about your ears, you are lulled rather
than disturbed by his song. If he takes his drop of blood
from your veins, the tickling of his tiny lance is but a plea-
sant titilation, and you let him feed on, almost grateful for his
kindness in keeping you from sleeping too soundly, or losing
in utter oblivion the full extent of the luxury of perfect repose.
After an hour's rest, we launched our little fleet upon the
river again, and while the sun was yet above the western high-
lands, we stood upon the broad flat rock at the mouth of
Bog River, looking out over Tupper's Lake, one of the most
beautiful sheets of water that the sun or the stars ever looked
upon. Our sea-biscuit was getting low, and our egress from
the wilderness was therefore becoming, in some sort, a neces-
sity. There was no lack of venison, or fish, but these are
rather luxuries than actual necessaries, and they were be-
coming somewhat stale to us. The staff of life is bread, and
of this we had but two days' supply. It is entirely true that
our jerked venison, now dry and hard as chips, could, if
necessary, be made to furnish, to some extent, a substitute ;
still, while " it is written that man shall not live by bread

308 A QUERY.

alone," it is equally the law that he cannot very well get
along without it.

We launched our boats upon the lake and rowed to the
head of Long Island, where we put up our tents for the
night. I have spoken so often of the loveliness of the even-
ings on these beautiful lakes, that to attempt a description
of the one we enjoyed on this romantic island, would be only
a tiresome repetition. But there was a splendor about the
heavens above, and their counterpart in the depths below,
which I have scarcely ever seen equalled. There was no
moon in the early evening, and so pure and clear was the
atmosphere, so moveless and still the waters, that the stars
seemed to come out in vaster numbers, and with an intenser
glow, and to be reflected back from away down in the lake
with a brighter refulgence ; the hills along the shore seemed
to stand up in bolder outline ; the bays to lay in deeper
shadow ; while the tall peaks stood in grim solemnity, like
pillars supporting the mighty arches of the sky.

" I was asking myself," said Smith, as we sat looking out
over the water, in the evening, or gazing down into the
glowing depths, and listening to the night voices, faint and
far off in the old forests, as they came floating over the lake,
" I was asking myself, as we journeyed around the falls to-day,
and as we stood on the rock where the river comes leaping
down and plunging into the lake, whether the march of im-
provement would ever spread a Lowell around those falls, or
subject those wild waters to the uses of civilization. Whether

309

progress would ever invade those mountain regions ; or the
ingenuity of man ever discover uses for these rocks and
boulders, or coin wealth from the sterile and sandy soil of
this old wilderness ? Hitherto a country like this has been
regarded of no value, save for the timber which it grows ;
and when that is exhausted, as fit only to be abandoned to
sterility and desolation. But who can tell whether there
may not be iij these boulders, these rocks, this sandy and
unproductive soil, unknown wealth, held in reserve to reward
the researches of science in its utilitarian explorations. I
am not now speaking of gold, or silver, or any other dross,
which men have hitherto wasted their toil to accumulate ;
but of new discoveries, and new purposes to which these now
useless things may be applied ; discoveries which may send
the tide of emigration surging up from the valleys to moun-
tain regions like these. May it not be that science, while
delving among the wrecks of vanished ages, may stumble
upon some new principle, or combination of the elements of
which these old rocks are composed, that shall give them a
value beyond that of the richest lowlands, and make them
the centre of a derive and cultivated population ?"

" Your question," answered Spalding, " is suggestive.
Did you ever think what gigantic strides the world has made
within the memory of men now living, and who are yet un-
willing to be counted as old ? Look back for only fifty years,
and note what a stupendous leap it has taken ! Where
then were the iron roads over which the locomotive goes
thundering on its mission of civilization ? where the tele-

310 CAUSES OF PROGRESS.

graph, that mocks at time and annihilates space ? Hark 1
there is a new sound breaking the stillness of midnight, and
startling the mguntain echoes from their sleep of ages ! It
is the scream of the steam-whistle, the snort of the iron horse,
the thunder of his hoofs of steel, rushing forward with the
speed of the wind, shaking the ground like an earthquake as
he moves. A new motor has been harnessed into the service
of man, and made to fly with his messages swifter than sound ?
It is the winged lightning ; and as it flashes along the wires
stretched from city to city, and across continents, carries
with unerring certainty every word committed to its charge.
Ocean steamers have made but a ferriage of seas. The
photographic art has made even the light of the sun a sub-
stitute for the pencil of the artist. Everywhere, in all the
departments of science, in every branch of the arts, improve-
ment, progress, has been going on with a sublimity of
achievement unknown in any age of the past. These things
are mighty motors which push along civilization, throwing a
wonderful energy into the forward impulse of the world.
But remember, that though these results are brought about
by the advance in the mechanic arts, yet that advance is
based upon a deeper philosophy, a profounder wisdom, than
mere perfectability in those arts. Take the steam-engine — it
is a great contrivance, a wonderful invention ; but the great-
est of all was the discovery of the principle and operation, the
practical phenomena of steam itself. The telegraphic ma-
chine was a great invention ; but the great thing was the
development of the science of electricity, the discovery of

EFFECT OF PROGRESS. 311

the secret agency which sent forward the thought entrusted
to it swifter than light. The daguerrian instruments, the
metailic plates, the prepared paper, were great inventions j
but vastly greater was the discovery and development of
the phenomena and affinities of light, the mystery of solar
influences.

" There is hope for the world in all this mighty progress,
for with it will one day come the development of the true
nature and theory of government, the true solution of the
great theory of the social compact, the proper adjustment
of the relations of man to man, a right appreciation of the
nature and value of human rights. It is bringing forward
the masses, elevating the millions who work. It will rouse
into activity their innate energies, and bring forth their
inward might. It creates THOUGHT to guide the hands that
set all this vast machinery in motion. It diffuses and
strengthens intellectuality, and the pride of intellectuality,
making of the men who work something more than mere
machines themselves. It is developing and perfecting a
mightier engine than any of man's invention ; one that
tyrants cannot always control, that kings cannot always
manage. That engine is the human mind. Like the steam-
engine, it is gathering power, and capability for the exercise
of power, and the time will come when it will go crashing,
with resistless energy, among thrones, overturning despot-
isms, upheaving dynasties, sweeping away those false theo-
ries of governmental institutions, which guarantee to one
class of people a life of luxurious idleness, coupled with a

312 MAN'S FUTUKE DESTINY.

prerogative to rule; and which dooms another class to an
hereditary servitude, changeless as fate, and relentless as
the grave. It will vindicate the rights, and ennoble the
destiny of the masses of the people who work.

" But where is this career of progress to end ? Is there a
limit to this onward movement ? We know that the world
has made greater advancement in the present century, than
it did in the five thousand years preceding it, and that new
discoveries in the sciences and the arts are being made
every day. Nature has been compelled, and is still being
compelled, to yield up secrets which have been for centuries
regarded as beyond the power of human capacity to pene-
trate. How is this ? Is the world to go on thus, always ?
Is this rush of progress to remain unchecked, always ? If
so, what mystery, even of Omnipotent wisdom, will remain
unsolved at last ? What results will not human energy be
able to accomplish ? Is the tune to come when man shall
be able to shape out of clay, fashion from wood, or stone,
an image of himself, and, breathing upon it, command it to
walk forth a thing of life, and be obeyed ? Will he be able
to search out a universal antidote to disease ? Will he dis-
cover the means of supplying the human frame with such
recuperative power as will nullify the law that prescribes to
all flesh the dilapidation and decay of age, of weakness and
of death ? Will he search out some secret agency which
will hold his body in perpetual youth, defying alike the
attritions of age, and the ravages of disease ? Will he dis-
cover how it is that time saps the strength, and steals away

A NEW ELIXIE. 313

the vigor of the human system, and a remedy for exhausted
and wasted energies ? It is not my purpose to advance a
theory based upon an affirmative answer to these inquiries,
but when we contemplate the stupendous pace at which the
world is moving forward, who will venture to assert where
the limit to this progress is to be found ? Yon tell me that
man cannot create; that he can only combine into new
shapes elements which God has furnished to his hands. I
do not know this. That he has not created I admit; but
that he has not capabilities, as yet undeveloped, as a crea-
tor, I do not KNOW. I will not venture the assertion that
the tune will ever come when he will have discovered
wherein lies the mystery of life; that he will ever find an
antidote to disease; that he will search out some recupera-
tive agency stronger than the law of decay, and that will
hold the human system in the perpetual vigor, and bloom,
and beauty of maturity. I will not assert that science will,
at last, be carried to such perfection, that there shall be no
more infirmities of age; that the pestilence will be stayed
from walking in the darkness, and destruction from wasting
at noonday; that men will cease to grow old, save in years,
or that death will be compelled to seek its victims only =
through the channel of accidents, against which forecast
will not, and science has no opportunity to guard. What
I mean to say is, that I do not KNOW that just such results
are beyond the capabilities of human progress. Measuring
the future by the past, I cannot demonstrate that such
results may not one day be attained.'-

14

314: CAUSES OF HUMAN DECAY.

" The good time of which you speak," said the Doctor,
" when there shall be no more infirmity of age, no growing
old, save in, years ; when there shall be no wasting by
disease, through the perfectability of the curative science,
or the discovery of some recuperative agency, stronger than
the law of decay, will never come. When it is granted, as
an abstract proposition, that the capabilities of science are
sufficient to counteract the mere wasting influence of time
upon the human system, you are met by a great practical
fact which will overturn your theory. The excesses of the
world are a much more fruitful source of disease and death
than the attritions of age. There is a constant struggle on
the part of nature to build up and beautify, to strengthen
and recuperate, against the results of human excesses. Not
one in a million of those who pass away every year, die from
the effects of age, as a primary cause. Hence, you must not
only perfect science, but you must perfect the morals and
the habits of the human family, before you can exempt them
from decay and death. The instincts of men, the appetencies
which they possess in common with the whole animal crea-
tion, are each made the source of disease, and premature
decay. Some men eat too much ; some drink too much;
some sleep too much ; some waste their vital energies in
sensual indulgence, while all have some vicious habit (I
mean with reference to the preservation of life), known or
unknown to the world, which, sooner or later, undermines
the constitution, and helps on the work of dilapidation.
These excesses will always exist; they are inherent in the

CAUSES OF HUMAN DECAY. 315

human constitution, resulting from the very nature of man;
they are an inevitable sequence of his physical structure,
and his intellectual life. To avoid them implies absolute
perfectability in every attribute, and that makes him a god.
Until man shall have become infinite in wisdom, as well as
immaculate in purity, he will continue to indulge, to a
greater or less extent, in excesses of some sort, and those
excesses will always be an overmatch, when superadded to
the natural law of decay, for the recuperative efforts of
science. You must create a radical reform in every depart-
ment of life; in business, in social habits, in the fashions,
in the mode of living, in everything, before you can hope to
reach the Utopia of which you speak. The outrages perpe-
trated upon nature by the conventionalities of the world
alone, would be an insurmountable barrier to the realization
of your idea. The necessity for excessive labor to satisfy
artificial wants hews away at one end of society, and the
indulgence of idleness and ease, at the other. Exposure to
the elements, to heat and cold, buries its millions; and too
great seclusion, in pursuit of comfort in heated rooms, and
a confined and corrupted atmosphere, buries its millions
also. Lack of wholesome food fills thousands of graves,
and the results of abundance fill other thousands. Lack of
appropriate clothing, fitted for the constitution and the sea-
sons, engenders disease and death; and an excess of the
same article, fashioned as stupendous folly only can fashion
it, engenders vastly more disease and death. There are ele-
ments of decay and death' furnished to men and women,

316 FAITH IN A HEREAFTER.

tempting their weakness, and forced upon their adoption by
the conventionalities of life, every day, every hour, and
everywhere. It is a part of our civilization, an offshoot of
the very progress of which you speak, a sort of necessity in
practical results, at least, that men shall so live as to wage
war against nature, and against themselves; that they shall
hurry themselves, or be hurried by inevitable circumstances,
into the grave at the earliest possible moment. You may,
therefore, dismiss from your mind, my friend, the fanciful
idea, that science will ever enable the world to dispense
with the cemeteries, or that the cities of the dead will,
through its agency, cease to flourish. You will find that as
science closes up one avenue to the grave, men will force a
way to it through another. We shall have to live as our
fathers lived, be subject to disease as they were, grow old
as they grew old, and die as they died. We must submit
to the law which has written the doom of decay upon all
things, which has made us mortal, and when our time comes
we must be content to pass away as the countless millions
who preceded us have done."

" Well," said Spalding, as he knocked the ashes from his
pipe, and rose to retire, under the cover of the tent, for the
night, "be it as you say, what matters it ? 'I would not
live always.' Give to us the hope of an hereafter, a faith
that looks through the valley of the shadow of death, and
sees immortality, a world of glory beyond, and what matters
it how soon the hour of our departure shall come ?"

CHAPTER XXIX.

A MYSTERIOUS SOUND — TREED BY A MOOSE — ANGLING FOB
A POWDER HORN — AN UNHEEDED WARNING AND THE CON-
SEQUENCES.

As Spalding ceased speaking, there came from away off,
over the forest in the direction of the tall mountain peaks,
a faint sonnd like the boom of a cannon, so distant that it
could scarcely be heard, and yet it was distinct and palpable
to the senses. I say^that it came from the direction of the
mountains, seen dim and shadowy in the distance, and yet
none of us were quite sure of this. We all heard it, but
not one of us could assert that the direction from which it
came was a fixed fact in his mind.

" There, Judge " said Cullen, " I've hearn that sound
often among the mountains, and when I've been driftin'
about on these lakes, i! never seems much louder or nearer.
It always seems to come from the mountains, and yet you'll
hear it while shantyin' at their base, and it sounds just as
faint and far off as it did just now. What it is, or where it

817

318 •- A MY6TEBIOU8 PHENOMENON.

comes from, I won't undertake to say. The old Ingins who,
five and twenty year ago, fished and hunted over these regions,
told of it as a thing to wonder at, and that it was handed
along down from generation to generation, as one of the
mysteries of this wilderness. I mind once I was out among
the Adirondacks, trappin' martin and sable. I shantied for
a week with Crop, under the shadow of Mount Marcy. It
was twenty odd year ago, and that old mountain stood a
good deal further from a clearin' than it does now. Crop
and I had a good many hard days' work that trip ; but we
got a full pack of martin and sable skins, and two or three
wolf scalps, besides a bear and a painter, and we didn't com-
plain. Wai, one afternoon, we put up a shanty in an open
spot two miles from our regular campiu' ground, and built
our fire for the night. There was no moon, and though the
stars shone out bright and clear, yet in the deep shadow of
the forest it was dark and gloomy enough. We had eaten
our supper, and I was smokin' my last pipe before layin'
myself away, when all at once the forest was lighted up
like the day. It was all the more light from the sudden
glare which broke upon the darkness, and there, for an
instant, stood the old woods, lighted up like noon, every
tree distinct, every mountain, every rock, and valley, as per-
fect and plain to be seen as if the sun was standin' right
above us in the sky. Crop was as much astonished as I
was, and he crept to my feet and trembled like a coward, as
he crouched beside them. I looked up, and flyin' across the
heavens was a great ball of fire, lookin' for all the world as

A BULL MOOSE SOMETIMES DANGEKOTTS. 319

if the son had broke loose, and was runnin' away in a fright.
A long trail of light flashed and streamed along the sky
where it passed. It was out of sight in a moment, and the
fiery tail it left behind faded into darkness. A little while
after, maybe ten minutes after it disappeared, that boomin'
sound came driftin' down the wind, and I somehow tho't
it was mixed up hi some way with that great ball of fire
that flew across the sky. Maybe I was wrong, but I've
always tho't it was the bustin' into pieces of that fiery thing
that lighted up the old woods that night, that broke the
forest stillness, like a far off cannon. I never heard it so
loud at any other time, and when I hear it now, I always
say to myself, there goes another of Nater's fireballs into
shivers. I've hearn it in the daytime, when the air was still,
and the forest voices were hushed, but I never at any other
time, day or night, saw what I suspicioned occasioned it.
The Ingins used to say it came from the mountains, but
it don't. I've hearu some folks pretend that it comes from
the bowels of the airth, but it don't ; its a thing of the air,
and I've a notion it travels a mighty long way from its
startin' place afore it reaches us.

" Talkin' about that trip among the Adirondacks, puts me
in mind of an adventer I had with a bull moose, on one
occasion among them. There are times when sich an ani-
mal is dangerous. I've hearn tell of elephants gittin' crazy
and breakin' loose from their keepers, or killin' them, ami
makin' a general smash of whatever comes hi their way. 1
believe its so sometimes with a bull moose ; and when

320 CROP CHASED BY THE BUCK.

the fit is on the animal forgets its timid nater, and is bold
and fierce as a tiger. I've seen two sich in my day ; one of
'em sent me into a tree, and the other put me around a great
hemlock a dozen or twenty times, a good deal faster than I
like to travel in a general way, and if I hadn't hamstrung
him with my huntin' knife, maybe he'd have been chasm' ine
round that tree yet. Wai, as I was sayin' I was out among
the Adirondacks one fall, airly in November ; J'd wounded a
deer, and sent Crop forward on his trail to overtake and
secure him. It was a big buck, with long horns, and Crop
had a pretty good general idea of what sich things meant.
He was cautions about cultivatin' too close an acquaintance
with such an animal, unless something oncommon obligated
him to do so. I heard him bayin' a little way over a ridge
layiu' gist beyond where I shot the buck. I warn't in
any great hurry, for I knew Crop would attend to his case,
and I tho't I'd wipe out my rifle afore I loaded it again. I
was standin' by the upturned roots of a tall fir tree that had
been blown down, and in fallin' had lodged in a crotch of a
great birch, maybe twenty feet from the ground, and broke
off. I stepped onto the butt of the fallen spruce, and was
takin' my time to clean my gun, when I heard a crashin'
among the brush on the other side of the ridge, as if some
mighty big animal was comin' my way. I walked pretty
quick along up the slopin' log till I was, maybe fifteen feet
from the ground, and I saw Crop comin' over the ridge, in
what the Doctor would call a high state of narvous excite-
ment, with his tail between his legs, lookin' back over his

TEEED BY A MOOSE. 321

shoulder, and expressin' his astonishment in a low, quick
bark, at every jump, at something he seemed to regard as
mighty onpleasant on his trail. I didn't have to wait long
to find out what it was, for about the biggest bull moose I
ever happened to see, came crashin' like a steam-engine after
him. He wasn't more than two rods behind the dog, and if
I ever saw an ugly looking beast, that moose was the one.
Every hair seemed to stand towards his head, and if he
wasn't in earnest I never saw an animal that was. He was
puttin' in his best jumps, and the way he hurried up Crop's
cakes was a thing to be astonished at. The dog didn't see
me, and seemed to be principled agin stoppin' to inquire
my whereabouts. He dashed under the log where I stood,
and the moose after him like mad. He seemed to be
expectin' aid and comfort from me, as the papers say, and
was wonderin', no doubt, where me and my rifle was all this
tune. I called after him, but he was in a hurry and couldn't
stop, for there was a thing he didn't care about shakin'
hands with, not three rods from his tail. He heard me,
though, and took a circle round a great boulder, and the
moose after him, and as he got straightened my way, I
called him again, and he saw me. He leaped onto the log
and came runnin' up to where I stood, and was mighty glad
to be out of the way of them big hoofs and horns that were
after him. He was safe now, and he opened his mouth and
let off a good deal of tall barkin' at his enemy. The moose
saw us, and his fury was the greater because he couldn't get
at ua. He kept chargiu' back and forth under the log

322 CTJLUEN IN A FIX.

we were perched on, and if there wasn't malice in his eye, I
wouldn't say so.

" When I first saw him, I was standin' with the butt of my
rifle on the log, my hand graspin' the barrel, and as I caught
it up suddenly to load, the string of my powder-horn caught
between the muzzle and the ramrod, broke, and the horn
fell to the ground. Here was. a fix for a hunter to be in.
My rule was empty, and every grain of powder I had in the
world was in the horn, fifteen feet below me, on the ground.
To go down after it was a thing I was principled agin
undertaking considerin' the circumstance of that bull moose
with his great horns and the onpleasant temper he seemed
to be in. What to do I didn't know. I hollered and
shouted at the kritter, thinkin', maybe, that the voice of a
human might scare him ; but it only made him madder, and
every time I hollered he charged under the log more furi-
ously than before. I threw my huntin' cap at him, but he
pitched into it, and if he didn't trample it into the ground,
as if it was a human, you may shoot me. After a while, he
got tired of dashiu' back and forth, under the log, and took
a stand two or three rods off, and as he eyed us, shook his
great horns and stamped with his big hoofs, as much as to
eay, ' very well, gentlemen, I can wait, don't hurry your-
selves, take your time ; but I shall stay here as long as you
stay up there. And when you do come down, we'll take a turn
that won't be pleasant to some of us.' Crop and I took the
hint and sat still, thinkin' maybe he'd get over his pet and
move off ; but he did'nt lean that way at all. He seemed

BROUGHT TO TERMS. 323

to 've made up his mind to stay there as long as we stayed
on the log, be the same more or less. We'd sat there may-
be an hour, when I happened to think of a trolliu' line and
some fishhooks I had in my pocket, and it came across me
that possibly I might fish up my powder horn. So tyin'
half a dozen hooks to the end of my line, I laid down on the
log to angle for my powder-horn. When I laid down, the
old bull made a pass under the log, as if he expected me
down there, and charged back again, as if he was disap-
pointed in not runnin' agin me. But he saw 'twan't no use,
and took his old stand agin. I dropped down the grapnel,
and after a great many failures, I hooked into the string of
the powder horn, and hoisted away. I hauled it up mighty
quick, for the old bull seemed to be suspicious that some-
thing was goin' on that might have something to do with
his futer happiness, and when he got sight of it, the pass he
made was a thing to stand out of the way of. But he was
too late ; the powder-horn was safe, and I notified him, as
Squire Smith did the cats, to leave them parts in just one
minute by the clock. He did'nt pay any attention to the
waruin'. I loaded my rifle carefully, and while I was put-
tin' on the cap, asked the gentleman if he calculated to
move on, and let peaceable people alone. He didn't conde-
scend to answer a word, looking for all the world like a
tiger in savageness. ' Very well/ said I, as I sighted him
between the eyes, ' on your head be it,' and pulled. The
ball went crashin' through his skull into his brain, and he
went down. Crop knew what that meant. He didn't wait

324: A LESSON LEARNED.

to run down the log, but leaped to the ground, and had hia
teeth in the animal's throat before the echoes of my rifle
were done dancin' around among the mountains. I loaded
my gun before I came down, thinkin' maybe there might be
another bad tempered moose about, but there wasn't. Crop
and I learned what we ought to 've know before, and that
was that it's a safe thing for a hunter to have an extra
horn of powder in his pocket, and a loaded rifle in his hand
when a mad bull moose is on his trail, and that a slantin'
tree is a good thing to get onto at sich a time."

CHAPTER XXX.

GOOD-BYE — FLOATING DOWN THE RACKETT — A BLACK FOX —
A TRICK UPON THE MARTIN TRAPPERS AND ITS CONSE-
QUENCES.

WE rose with the dawn the next morning, and before the
snn was above the hills we were on our way down the lake,
to separate as we struck the Rackett; the Doctor and Smith
to return by the way of Keeseville and the Champlain, and
Spalding and myself to drift down that pleasant stream to
Pottsdam, and thence to the majestic St. Lawrence, to spend
a fortnight among the " Thousand Islands " of that noble river.
Near the outlet of the lake is a bold rocky bluff, rising right
up out of the deep water twenty feet, against which the
waves dash, and around which a romantic bay steals away
to hide itself in the old woods. This beautiful bay is
always calm, for even the narrow strait which connects it
with the open water is divided by a rocky, but wooded
island, shutting out alike the winds and the waves from dis-
turbing its repose. It is surrounded by gigantic forest trees,

820

326 A PARTING INJUNCTION.

whose shadows make it a cool retreat in the heat of noon,
and whose dense foliage fills the air with freshness and fra-
grance when the sun is hot in the sky. Towards its head, a
cold stream comes creeping around the boulders, and danc-
ing and singing down the rocks from a copious spring, a short
way back in the forest. Near where this brook enters we
landed at seven o'clock to breakfast. We supplied ourselves
with fish by casting across the mouth of the little stream,
while our boatmen were preparing a fire. Our sail of eight
miles down the lake furnished us with appetites which gave
to the beautiful speckled trout we caught there a peculiar
relish. We arranged matters so that the Doctor and Smith
were to return in one boat to the Saranacs, while Spalding
and myself were to move on down the Rackett with the
other two. Cullen and Wood were to go with us to Potts-
dam, from whence our route lay by railroad to Ogdens-
burgh. We had, on entering the woods, dispatched our
baggage to the former place to await our arrival there. At
nine o'clock we launched out upon the lake again. There
are two outlets which enter the Rackett, half a mile apart,
down the right hand one of which the Doctor and Smith's
course lay, and ours down the left. We shook hands with
our friends, and lay upon our oars while they passed on
towards home, wishing them a pleasant voyage, and a safe
return.

" I say," shouted Smith, as they were about rounding a
point that would hide them from our view, " remember our
compact about killing the bear. The glory of that achieve-

REGRETTING TO LEAVE. 327

ment belongs to me, you know. Don't say a word about it
when you get home till you see me. I haven't fully made up
my mind as to the manner of capturing him, and there must
be no contradictions on the subject."

" Go ahead," replied Spalding, " we'll be careful of your
honor. Drop us a line at Cape Vincent, when you've
digested the matter, and we'll stand by you. Good-bye I"

" Good-bye 1" And our friends disappeared from our
sight on their voyage* home.

" And so," said Spalding, " we are to leave this beautiful
lake, and these old forests so soon. I could linger here a
month still, enjoying these shady and primitive solitudes.
To you and I, the quiet which one finds here is vastly
more inviting than it is to the friends who have just left us.
The Doctor, of necessity, leads a life of activity, feeling phy-
sical weariness as the result of his labors, but little of that
strong yearning for intellectual repose which those in your
profession or mine so often feel. Smith's life demands ex-
citement. The absence of the cares and toil of business
occasions a restlessness and desire of change,, which makes
him discontented here. With them the great charm of this
wild regbn is its novelty. They enjoy its beauties for a
season wit\ peculiar relish, but as these became familiar, the
spell is broken, and they turn towards home without a
regret. ToWou and I, there is something beyond this.
We, too, feeiand appreciate the beauty of these lakes and
mountains, me hill-sides and placid waters, the forest
songs, and wit scenery are pleasant to us ; but we enjoy

328

them the more from the intellectual relaxation, the mental
quiet and repose, which we find among them. We feel that
we are resting, that the process of recuperation, intellec-
tual as well as physical, is going on within us. We can
almost trace its progress, and we feel that the time spent by
us here is full of profit as well as pleasure. . At all events, it
is so with me, and if duty to others, whose interests it is my
business to serve, did not demand my return, I could enjoy
another month here with unabated pleasure."

" You have left me little," I replied, " to add to what you
have already said, in expressing the sources of my enjoy-
ment among these beautiful lakes. Fishing and hunting,
considered in the abstract, are things I care but little about.
They are pleasant enough in their way, but what brings me
here is the strong desire as well as necessity for the repose
of which you speak. There is a luxury in intellectual rest,
when the brain is wearied with protracted toil, which far
surpasses the mere animal enjoyment which follows relaxa-
tion from physical labor. That rest I cannot find ic society.
I must seek it among wild and primeval solitudes, where I
can be alone with nature in her unadorned simplicity, away
from the barbarisms, so to speak, of civilization, where I
can act and talk and think as a natural, and n>t an artifi-
cial man, where I can be off my guard, and n*ee from the
weight of that armor which the conventionalites of life, the
captious espionage of the world compels us to wear, un-
tempted by the thousand enticements whicl society every-
where presents to lure us into unrest."

GAME DISCOVERED. 329

We drifted leisurely down the left hand channel, and en-
tered the Rackett, bidding good-bye to the beautiful lake as
a bend in the river hid it from our view. A mile below the
junction, the river runs square against a precipice some
sixty feet in height, wheeling off at a right angle, and stretch-
ing away though a natural meadow on either hand, of hun-
dreds of acres in extent. At the base of this precipice,
formed by the rocky point of a hill, the water is of unknown
depth. Above, and fifty feet from the surface of the river,
there are ledges of a foot or two in width, like shelves, along
which the fox, the fisher, and possibly the panther, creep,
instead of travelling over the high ridge extending back
into the forest. As we rounded a point which brought us
in view of this precipice, Spalding, who was in the forward
boat, discovered a black object making its way along the
face of the rocks. A signal for silence was given, and the
boats were permitted to float with the current in the direc-
tion of the precipice. We were forty rods distant, and the
animal, whatever it was, had no suspicioon of danger. It
paused midway across the rocks, looked about, nosing out
over the water, and sat down upon its haunches, as if enjoy-
ing the beauty of the scenery around it. In the meantime,
the boats had drifted within twenty rods, and Spalding, tak- .
ing deliberate aim, fired. At the crack of the rifle, the ani«
mal leapt clear of the ledge, struck once against the face of
the rock some twenty feet below, and then went, end over
end, thirty feet into the river. As he struck the water
he commenced swimming round and round in a circle, evi-

330 A BLACK FOX.

dently bewildered by Spalding's bullet, or the effect of his
iu voluntary plunge down the rocks. Our men bent to their
oars, and had got within five or six rods of it, when it
straightened up in alarm for the shore.

" Hold on, Cullen," said I, " lay steady for a moment."
I drew upon the annual, and just as it reached the shore,
fired, and it turned over dead. We found it to be a black
fox, that had walked out upon the ledge, and thus been
added another victim to the indulgence of an idle curiosity.
Spalding's bullet had grazed its belly, raking off the hair
and graining the skin ; mine had gone through its head.

" There, Judge," said Cullen, as he lifted the animal into
the boat, " is a kritter that isn't often met with in these parts,
and the wonder is, that he didn't discover us as we floated
down the stream. He's about the cunningest animal that
travels the woods. He's got an eye that's always open, a
delicate ear, and a sharp nose, and he keeps 'em busy, as a
general thing. He never neglects their warnin', but puts
out about the quickest, whenever they notify him that
there's an enemy about. I've had a good deal of trouble
with them in my day, when I've been out trappin' martin.
They'll manage to spring the trap and carry off the bait.
When one of them chaps gets on a line of traps, there's no
use in talkin'. The game's up, and the trapper may make
up his mind to get rid of the varmint in some way, or locate
in another range of country. He'll find his traps sprung
and his bait gone. Or if a martin has been in ahead of the-
fox, he'll find only the skull, the end of the tail, the feet,

A TBICK UPON THE MABTTN TRAPPERS. 331

and a few -of the larger bones, and they'll be picked mighty
clean at that. You've seen a martin trap, or if you hav'n't,
I'll try and describe one so that you'll understand it. It's a
very simple contrivance, and if a martin was not a good
deal more stupid than a goose, he'd never be caught in one
of them. We drive down a couple of rows of little stakes,
plantin' the stakes close together, and leaving between the
rows a space of six or eight inches. The rows are may be a
foot and a half long. We then cut and trim a long saplin',
say five or six inches across at the butt, and leaving one end
on the ground, set the other, may be two feet high, with a
kind of figure four, so that when it falls, it will come down
between the rows of stakes. We fix the bait so that a mar-
tin in getting at it, will have to go in between the rows of
stakes, and displace the trap sticks, when down comes the
pole upon him and crushes him to death. We talk about a
line of traps, because we blaze a line of trees, sometimes for
miles, and set a trap every twenty or thirty rods. I've had
a line of a dozen miles or more, in my day, in a circle
around my campin' ground. In minding our traps, we fol-
low the line of marked trees from one to the other, and so
never miss a trap, nor get lost in the woods.

«' I mind once, a good many years ago, Crop and I was
over towards the St. Eegis, on a cruise after martin and
sable, and anything else in the way of game we could pick
up. I'd laid out my trappin' arrangements on a pretty large
scale, and was doin' a little better than midlin', when 1
found that my traps were sprung by some animal that helped

332 KEEPING WATCH FOB A THIEF.

himself to the bait, without leavin' his hide as a considera-
tion for settin' of 'em. After a few days, I found that what-
ever it was, understood the line as well as I did, for he took
the range regular, and not only stole the bait, but ate up
half a dozen martin, that had given me a claim on their
hides by springin' my traps. This was a kind of medlin'
with my private concerns that I didn't like, and I was bound
to find out who the interloper was, and if possible, to make
his acquaintance. There was no snow on the ground, and I
could't get at his track. So I made up my mind to watch
for him. Well, one day I spoke to Crop to stay by the shanty
and take care of the things, while I went to find out who it
was that was medlin' with our property, and started off on
my line of traps. I got up into the crotch of a great birch
near one of 'em, and sat there with my rifle, waitin' for
something to turn up. It was a little after noon when I got
located. The sun travelled slowly along down towards the
western hills, his bright light, in that calm November day,
makin' the rocky ranges and the bare heads of the tall
peaks shine out in a blaze of glory. The livin' things of the
old woods were busy and jolly enough. An old owl came
flying lazily out of the thick branches of a hemlock, and
lightin' within a dozen feet of me, opened his great round
eyes in astonishment, and as the bright sunlight dazzled
' him, he squinted and turned his cat-like face from side to
side, as if^ makin' up his mind that he'd know me the next
time we met. By-and-by he opened his hooked beak, and
great red mouth, and roared out, ' Hoo ! hohoo ! hoo !' as

A FEIGHTENED OOON. 333

much as to say, * who the devil are you ?' I didn't answer a
word, and after a little, he flew back to his shadowy perch
among the dense foliage of the hemlock. A black squirrel
came hopping along with his mouth full of beech nuts, and
running nimbly up the tree on which I was perched, and out
upon one of the great limbs, deposited his store in a hollow
he found there. He caught sight of me as he came back,

. and seating himself upon a branch, not six feet from my
head, began chatterin' and barkin' as if givin' me a regular
lecter for invad^n' his premises, and takin' possession of his
tree. He didn't seem to understand the matter at all, and
I didn't undertake to explain the reason of my being there.
After a little, he went off about his business, and left me to
attend to mine. A raccoon came nosing along, stoppin'
every little way to turn over the leaves, or pull away the
dirt from a root with his long hands, tastin' of one thing
and smellin' of another in a mighty dainty way. When he
came to my tree, he seemed to think that there might be
something, among its branches worth looking at. So he
came clambering up its rough bark towards where I sat.
He came up on the other side of the tree from me, till he
got about even with my huntin'-cap, and then came round
to my side, and there we were, face to face, not two feet
apart. I reckon that coon was astonished when our eyes
met, for with a sort of scream he let right loose, and drop-
ped twenty feet to the ground like a clod, and. the way he
waddled away into the brush, mutterin' and talkin' to him-

, self, was a thing to laugh at.

334: THE THIEF DISCOVERED.

" The sun was, may be, an hour high, when lookin' along
the line of marked trees, I saw a black animal come trotting
mighty softly towards the trap I was watchin'. I knew him
at once. He was a black fox, and I knew that he was the
gentleman that had been makin' free with my property for
the last few days. He trotted up to the trap, and walked
carefully around it, nosin' out towards the bait, but keepin'
out from under the pole. He seemed to understand what
that pole meant, and that if it fell on him, he'd be very
likely to be hurt. After a little, he trotted^out to the other
end of the pole, and gettin' on to it, walked carefully along
to within ten or twelve feet of the bait ; if he didn't begin
jumpin' up and down till he sprung the trap, you may shoot
me. When he'd done that job, he went back, and gettin'
hold of the bait with his teeth, drew it out and began very
cooly to eat it. By this time I'd brought my rifle to bear
upon the gentleman, but I gave him a little law, to see what
his next move would be. After he'd finished the bait, and
found there warn't any more to be come at, he stretched
himself on his belly along the ground, and began lickin' his
paws, and passing them over his cheeks, as you've seen a
cat do. After he'd washed his face awhile, he sat himself
down on his haunches, curled his long bushy tail around his
feet, and looked about as if considerin' what he should do
next. Just then I paid my respects to him, and as my rifle
broke the stillness of the forest, he turned a double summer-
set, and after kickin' around a little, laid still. I came down

THE REMEDY EFFECTUAL. 335

from my perch, and took the gentleman to the shanty and
added his hide to those of the martins I'd taken. My traps
warn't disturbed after that, and I carried home a pack of
furs that bro't me near two hundred dollars."

CHAPTER XXXI.

OUT OF THE WOODS — THE THOUSAND ISLANDS CAPE VINCENT —

BASS FISHING HOME — A SEARCHER AFTER TRUTH — AN IN-
TERRUPTION FINIS.

WE floated quietly down the Rackett, carrying onr boats
around the falls, shooting like an arrow down the rapids,
or gliding along under the shadows of the gigantic forest
trees that line the long, calm reaches of that beautiful river.
We shook hands and parted with our boatmen at the plea-
sant village of Pottsdam, where we arrived the second even-
ing after leaving Tupper*s Lake. We found our baggage,
and it was a pleasant thing to change our long beards for
shaved faces, and our forest costume for the garniture of the
outer man after the fashion of civilization. We took the
cars for Ogdensburgh, and the next morning found us
steaming up the majestic St. Lawrence, towards that para-
dise of fishermen, the Thousand Islands. We stopped a
couple of days at Alexandria Bay, and passed on to Cape
Vincent, a beautiful village situated a mile or two .below

BASS FISHING. 337

where the river takes its departure from the broad lake be-
yond. This pleasant little town is built upon a wide sweep
of tableland, overlooking the river in front, and the open
lake on the west. It is accessible both by the lake and river,
having two or three arrivals and departures of steamboats
each way daily, and being the terminus of the Borne and
Watertown Railroad, the great thoroughfare between King-
ston and the central portion of the Upper Provinces and
the States. It is a delightful place in the hot summer
months, with a climate unequalled for healthfulness, a cool
breeze always fanning it from the water, and in the vicinity
the best bass fishing to be found on this continent.

Opposite, and just below the town, is Carlton Island, on
which stand the ruins of an old French fortification, the
walls and trenches and the solitary chimneys, from which
the wooden barracks have rotted or been burned away, re-
main as melancholy testimonials of the bloody strifes be-
tween the red men of the forest, and the pioneers of civiliz-
ation who were driving them from the hunting grounds of
their fathers.

The black bass of the St. Lawrence and Ontario, are the
" gamest " fish that swim, and they are nowhere found in
such abundance as in the neighborhood of Cape Vincent.
On the outer edge of the bar, near the head of Carlton Island,
we caught between seventy and eighty in ome afternoon,
weighing from three to five pounds each, every one of which
fought, like a hero, diving with a plunge for the bottom,
skiving with a rush down, across, or up the river ; leaping

15

338 NECESSARY TACKLE.

clear from the water and shaking his head furiously, to throw
the hook loose from his jaw, before surrendering to his fate.
In Wilson's Bay, a sweet place, three nriles from the village
by water, or one and a half by land, we caught as many
inore on another afternoon. We took a sail-boat and glided
round Lighthouse Point (a pleasant drive of two miles from
the village), out into the lake, and steered for Grenadier
Island, five miles distant, on which we tented for the night,
and the bass we brought home the next day were something
worth looking at. Near the upper end of Long Island are
other prolific bass shoals, where the fisherman may enjoy
himself. Indeed, he can scarcely go amiss in the surround-
ing waters.

The black bass of the St. Lawrence are not only game
fish, but are, in excellence of flavor, scarcely excelled by any
fish of this country. Baked or boiled, they have few supe-
riors, and as a pan fish, are excelled only by the brook-trout
of the streams. The season for taking them commences in
July, and continues through September. August is the best
month in the year for the bass fishermen. If, during that
month, he will supply himself with a strong bass-pole, a
strong treble-action reel, stout silk lines, and proper hooks,
and visit Cape Vincent, he will find boatmen with a supply
of minnows, ready to serve him ; and if he fails to enjoy
himself for a fortnight among the black bass of the St Law-
rence and Ontario, he may count himself as a man who is
very hard to please.

We spent a pleasant week at Cape Vincent, and then

NEW VERSION OF THE BEAR STORY. 339

turned our faces homeward, invigorated in strength and
buoyant in spirits, 10 begin again a round of toil, from which
we, at least, could claim no further exemption.

"H ," said a friend of mine, as he stalked into my

sanctum, a few days after my return, and seated himself
at my elbow, as if for a private and confidential talk,
"did Smith really shoot the bear, the skin of which he
brought home, and which he exhibits with such triumph.
Tell me, honestly, as between you and me, did he in fact
shoot him ?"

" Smith certainly did shoot that bear," I replied.

" But is the marvellous story he tells about the manner
of killing him really true ?"

" That, of course, I cannot tell," I replied, " as I have
never heard the story."

" Why," said my friend, " he tells about a beautiful lake,
lying away back in the northern wilderness, above which
Mount Marcy, and Mount Seward, and other nameless peaks
of the Adirondacks, rear their tall heads to the clouds,
throwing back the sunlight in a blaze of glory ; on which
the moonbeams lie like a mantle of silver, while away down
in its fathomless depths the stars glow and sparkle, like the
sheen of a million of diamonds. Of the old forests and
trees of fabulous growth, stretching away and away on
every hand, throwing their sombre shadows far out over
the water, in whose tangled recesses countless deer and
moose, and panthers, and bears range, and among whose
branches birds of unknown melody carol. That one side

340 INTERRUPTED BY THE "DEVIL."

of this beautiful lake is palisadoed by a wall of rocks, stand-
ing straight up sixty feet high, near the top of which is
a shelf or narrow pathway, along which two men can
scarcely walk abreast. That he was passing along this
pathway one afternoon, examining the rocks, and looking
for geological specimens. Below him was a precipice of
fifty feet, against the base of which the waves, when the
winds swept over the lake, dashed. Around him the birds
that build their nests in the crevices of the rock were
whirling and screaming, while before him lay the beautiful
lake, motionless and calm, as if it had fallen asleep aud
was slumbering sweetly in its forest bed. That he was
passing leisurely along with his rifle at a trail, admiring the
.transcendent loveliness of the scenery around him, where
the rugged and the sublime, the placid and the beautiful,
were so magnificently mingled, when, in turning a sharp
angle, a huge bear "

" Copy !" shouted the printer's devil, as he came plung-
ing down three steps at a bound from the compositors' room
above. " Copy !" he screamed, as he dove into the outer
office where that article was usually kept, but found none.

"Mr. H ," said he, as he opened my door so gently,

with a voice so quiet, and a look so innocent, that one
might well be excused for believing that he had never

spoken a loud word in his life, " Mr. H , the foreman

desired me to ask you for some copy."

"You see, my friend," said I to the anxious inquirer
after truth, "that I am exceedingly busy just now. You

A WORD TO THE READER FINIB. 341

will excuse me, therefore, for referring you to the Doctor
and Spalding, who know all about the matter. Good day."
And my friend departed without finishing the story Smith
told him about his killing the bear. I have never heard
the balance of that story yet.

And now, Reader, a word to you, and I have done. When
the sun comes up over the city, day after day, pouring
his burning rays along the glimmering streets, shining on
and on in a changeless glare, till he hides himself in the
darkness again ; when your strength wilts under the ener-
vating influences of the summer heats, and you pant for the
forest breezes and the " cooling streams," remember that the
same wild region I have been describing, the same pleasant
rivers, beautiful lakes, tall mountains, and primeval forests
are there still, all inviting you to test their recuperative
agencies. The same singing birds, the fishes and the game
are there waiting your pleasure. Visit them when the
summer heat makes the cities a desolation. Give a month
to the. enjoyment of a wilderness-life, and you will return
to your labors invigorated in strength, buoyant in spirit —
a wiser, healthier, and a better man.

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. Lii'eof Gen. Sam Houston.

The only Authentic Memoir of him
ever published, ilius., 12mo... Cloth, 1 00
Lives of Eminent me-
chanics, together with a Collec-
tion of Anecdotes, Descriptions,&c.,
relating to the Mechanic Arts, illus-
I trated with fifty Engravings, 12mo.

Cloth, gilt back, 1 00
Lives of the Signers of the
Declaration :;£ American
Independence, with a Sketch
of the Leading Events connected
with the Adoption of the Articles
of Confederation, and the Federal
Constitution, by B. J. Lossing, steel
frontispiece, and fifty portraits,

12mo Cloth, 1 00

Life cf < ei serai Andrew
Jackson, including an Au-
thentic History of the Memorable
Achievements of the American
Army, under General Jackson, be-
fore New Orleans, in the Winter o'f
1814-15, by Alexander Walker, with

a frontispiece, 12mo Cloth, 1 21

Life of James Buchanan.

by R. G. Horton, 12mo Cloth, 1 00

Lii'e o ,'ohn C. Fremont,
by John Bigelow, 12mo Cloth, 1 00

Lii'e o- Patrick j;.enrj'5by

William Wirt, with portraits on

steel, 12mo Cloth, 126

Life of Charles X» I.. *. ing

of Sweden, by Voltaire, 12mo.
Cloth,

T5

LIBRARY OF TRAVELS AND ADVENTURE.

Adventures of Gerard the
Lioit Killer, comprising a His-
tory of his Ten Years' Campaigns
among the Wild Animals of North-
ern Africa, translated from the
French, by Charles E. Whitehead,
illustrated, 12mo Cloth, 1 25

Travels and Adventures

in the Far AVest, by S. L. Car-

valho, illustrated, 12mo Cloth,

The War in Kansas :

1 00

or, a

Bough Trip to the r or-
der, among New Homes and a
Strange People, by George Douglas
Brewerton, author of " A Hide with
Kit Carson," &c., illustrated, 12mo.

Cloth, 1 00

Bell Smith's Tra.vels
Abr :id illustrated, 12mo. Cloth 100

Hunting Adventures in
th - IN."! them Wilds : or, a

Tramp in the Chateauguay Woods,
over Hills, Lakes, and Forest
Streams, by S. H. Hammond, with 4
colored illustrations, 12mo. . . Cloth, 1 00

Indian Battles, Captivi-
ties, and Adventures, from
the earliest periods to the present
tune, by John Frost, LL. D., with
illustrations, 12mo. Cloth, 1 00

Cumniing's Hunter's I >ii'e
among Li< ns. Elephants
and other Wild Animals, edited by
Bayard Taylor, colored illustra-
tions, thick 12mo Cloth, 1 00

Female Life Among the
Mormons, with illustrations,
12mo Cloth, 1 00

Layard's Popular Discu-
\ cries at Nineveh, illus-
trated, 12mo Cloth, 1 00

The <>'reen Mountain Tra-
veller's Entertainment*
by Josiah Barnes, Sen., colored
frontispiece, 12mo Cloth, 1 00

Travels in Greece ana
Turke- , by the late Stephen
Olin, P.O., illustrated, 12mo. Cloth, 1 00

Hnmboldt's Travels in
Cuba, with an Essay, by J. S.
Thrasher, 12mo Cloth, 1 85

fackson's

STANDARD FEMALE NOVELISTS.

Tbe Works of Jane Ans-
ten, comprising " Pride and Pre-
judice," "Sense and Sensibility,"
" Mansfield Park," " Northanger
Abbey," "Emma," "Persuasion."
First American edition, with por-
trait, complete in 4 vola. 12mo.
Cloth,

400

Half calf, extra or antique, 8 00

The Works oi Hannah
More, comprising "Coelebs in
Search of a Wife," and her Tales
and Allegories Complete. Portrait

on steel, 2 vols. 12mo Cloth, 2 00

Half calf, extra or antique, 4 00

Work* of Charlotte Bronte

(Currer Bell), comprising "Jane
Eyre," " Shirley," and " Villette,"

8 vols. 12mo Cloth, 8 00

Half calf, extra or antique, 0 00

The Works of Jane Porter,

comprising " The Scottish Chiefs,"
and "Thaddeus of Warsaw." With
steel portrait, 2 vols. 12mo. . . Cloth, 2 00
Half calf, extra or antique, 4 00

The Works of Anne Rad-

i cliife, comprising "The Mysteries

! of Udolpho," and " Romance of the

Forest." Withsteel portrait, 2 vols.

I 12mo : Cloth, 200

Half calf, extra or antique, 4 00

The Works of Frances
| Barney (Madame D'Arblay),
comprising "Evelina," and "Ce-
cilia," with a copious Biography
of the Author by T. Babington Ma-
caulay. Complete in 2 vols. 12mo.

with portrait Cloth, 200

Half calf, extra or antique, 4 00

-*«*-

••Familiar at Household

BE-PUBLICATION OF THE OLD NOVELISTS.

NEW LLBEAEY OF CLASSIC AUTHORS.

Standard fictions-People's I2mo. Edition.

*** Each volume is embellished with one or more illustrations, and all are bound in neat
uniform binding, red or black cloth, full gilt backs, and sold for One Dollar, or in
gilt sides and edg«s Two DoUart.

The Scottish Chiefs, 1 00

Thaddeus of Warsaw, .... 1 00

Children of the Abbey, .... 1 00

Oil Bias, by Le Sage, 1 00

Don Quixote, by Cervantes, ... 1 00

Arabian Nights, 1 00

Kobinson Crusoe, by Defoe, 1 00

Swiss Family Robinson, . . 1 00

Pilgrim's Progress, 1 00

Holy "War, by John Bunyan,.. 1 00
Vicar of Wakefield, and

Rasselas (two in one), 1 00

Paul and. Virginia, and The

Exiles of Siberia, (two in one) 1 00

Qulliver's Travels, 1 00

Romance of the Forest, ... 1 00

The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1 00

Tristram Shandy, 1 00

Crelebs In Search of a Wife, 100

Tom Jones, by Fielding, 1 00

Amelia, by Fielding, 100

Roderick Random, 1 00

Humphrey Clinker, 1 00

Evelina, by Miss Burney, 1 00

Cecilia, by Miss Burney, 1 00

Emma, by Jane Austen, 1 00

Sense and Sensibility, and

Persuasion (in one volume), . . 1 00

Pride and Prejudice, and
Northanger Abbey (two

in one), 1 00

Mansfield Park, 1 00

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