110 AMEKICAN GAME BIKD SHOOTING. 



bia, especially if it were any distance away; but he had 

 no objection to it when it was in camp. Having cut 

 some branchlets of cedar, spruce, fir, and other trees, we 

 made a thick, soft, and fragrant bed for ourselves in the 

 further part of the tent, and then sat down to revel in 

 the majestic sylvan scenery which environed us. Few men 

 who are at all impressible could gaze on the landscape that 

 surrounded us without being elevated by it, and having 

 their thoughts raised above the more sordid feelings of 

 life. 



It makes man better, it seems to me, to be alone some- 

 times with wild, primeval natui'e, for it softens the heart, 

 ennobles the mind, and causes him to look more kindly 

 upon the errors of his fellow-creatures. There is some- 

 thing so exalting and majestic in grand scenery, es- 

 pecially if it is softened by sylvan beauty, that a person 

 sympathizes keenly with the jjoet who wrote 



" There is a pleasure in the pathless wood, 

 There is a rapture on the lonely shore; 



There is society where none intrude, 

 By the deep sea, and music of its roar." 



I was so buoyant at the time that I felt like repeating 

 the lines aloud, but as it was evident that all were con- 

 templating the scene with a profound enjoyment, I re- 

 strained my impulses, and gave myself up to a placid and 

 pleasurable meditation, which was not disturbed by any 

 sound for fifteen or twenty minutes. Having filled my 

 mind Avitli the delights of the scene, I proposed that we 

 should go to work at once, as it was nearly ten o'clock, 

 and the suggestion proving acceptable, each person be- 

 gan giving his opinion about the kind of game we ought 

 to pursue. After all had been heard, it was decided that 

 we should travel in pairs, and that some should go after 

 birds, and others after deer, in order to make onr repasts 

 as varied as possible. I accompanied the owner of the 

 terrier, as it was our duty to supply the feathered game 



