110 THE ST. REGIS AND SAKANAO. 



ning about upon the stunted grass, or peerin<: at us from 

 behind their modest mothers in the doorways, as we passed, 

 while the humble school-house uave evidence that even 

 here the American idea ol' education \\a> not forgot ten. 

 The men looked honest and sincere, but sad. 1 thought, as 

 it', after all, this life of poverty and seclusion was far from 

 satisfying. 



Passing this peculiar and exceptional feature of the wil- 

 derness, we were airain amont!; the In-ex, el'mibim: and 

 descending hills where the forest growth wa< spars.-, or in 

 the midst of heavy timber, sometimes crossing streams, 

 and skirting lakelets and the more ambitious waters. Osirood 

 Pond and IJarmmi's Tond. At one point we came upon a 

 "Toup of tall Norway spruces that looked like importations 

 indeed. Ait another, we passed the borders oi a tamarack 

 swamp. Qotable as the place where man} a deer had been 

 stealthily hunted and shot. In the sandy road way we 

 saw the fresh, clear cut tracks of a doe and her fa\\n. 



Suddenly, amoiiir the trees appeared a telegraph pole, 

 and another, and a single wire stretched between, and we 

 wheeled into a travel worn road alonn' which the telegraph' 

 line ran. the most startling symbol of civili/ation that one 

 could come upon in the wilderness. \Ye followed this line 

 a mile or less, and drew up in front of a spacious and ini- 

 posing hotel. Paul Smith's. Had this dropped, a palace, 

 from the skies: Were we waking, or dreaming? Whence 

 came all these fastidiously dressed men and women and 

 children? The entire picture presented was a marvel to one 

 for many days a dweller at the quiet little lo-' house on 



