AN OWL'S HEAD HOLIDAY. 



MY trip to Lake Memphremagog was by the 

 way, and was not expected to detain me for 

 more than twenty-four hours ; but when I went 

 ashore at the Owl's Head Mountain-House, and 

 saw what a lodge in the wilderness it was, I 

 said to myself, Go to, this is the place ; Mount 

 Mansfield will stand for another year at least, 

 and I will waste no more of my precious fort- 

 night amid dust and cinders. Here were to be 

 enjoyed many of the comforts of civilization, 

 with something of the wildness and freedom 

 of a camp. Out of one of the windows of my 

 large, well-furnished room I could throw a stone 

 into the trackless forest, where, any time I 

 chose, I could make the most of a laborious 

 half-hour in traveling half a mile. The other 

 two opened upon a piazza, whence the lake was 

 to be seen stretching away northward for ten or 

 fifteen miles, with Mount Orford and his sup- 

 porting hills in the near background ; while I 

 had only to walk the length of the piazza to 



