MOUNTAINS. WILDERNESS ROMANCES. 81 



they were, they arc now sinking features of scenery to one 

 climbing toilsomely up the mountains to the forest. And 

 if you journey thither, pray you may have a bright July 

 day over your heads, with a sea of sunshine rolling 

 its gently swelling tides from the foot of the mountains you 

 climb to the far oil' blue-ha/e mountains behind which the 

 Canadian wilds stretch away lo the Arctic Sea. 



There arc many romances connected with the wilderness; 

 of hermits who sought the depths of the forests to hide 

 some sorrow or crime from the ga/e of men: of refugees 

 from foreign lands, nobles and princes at home, who came 

 hither to bury themselves in utter obscurity until a new 

 political revolution should restore them lo favor and for- 

 tune. Even a Bonaparte c;ime to the solitudes, with wealth 

 and pom]), and left a story thai will In- repealed as long as 

 men love the marvellous. 



"Old .lolm r.n.un. for years, lived in the wilderness as 

 the friend and counselor of the colored settler* to whom 

 Gerrit Smith, with good will but poor wisdom, gave lands 

 for farms and homes, and "his body lies a mouldering in 

 the ground." at North Elba, where he had lived, while his 

 soul has been marching on in the events of well nigh a 

 quarter of a eenlury since lie died on the scalTold. 



Then come the homely and pitiful romances of gigantic 

 business enterprises in the wilderness, gone lo wreck and 

 ruin. This strange region is a vast bed of iron-ore. 

 Untold wealth i^ hidden in the mountains. Strong men 

 have grappled with the problem of ils removal ; money and 

 thought ;ind skill and tremendous toil have been expended 



