A SPORTSMAN'S EDEN. 



altogether free to choose, would not for a season 

 straighten our backs and swing a woodman's axe 

 in preference to driving a scraping quill along the 

 foolscap ! 



The men when lumbering live in gangs in 

 great wooden shanties in the depths of the forests 

 and in the midst of their work. Each shanty 

 has its cook and its store-chest, from which each 

 man purchases his week's provisions, his weekly 

 bill being deducted from his weekly wage. Round 

 the interior of the shanty (which is built of rough 

 logs) are bunks arranged tier above tier, and in 

 the centre burns a huge fire. The men begin 

 work early, and go back early to the shanty. 

 They are able to work fairly near each other, 

 and in the bright and bracing atmosphere blithe 

 songs mingle with the ring of the axe. At night 

 the shanty is their club. Together they dine 

 and smoke, play cards, spin yarns, and sing. On 

 Sundays there is no work to do, so some loaf, 

 others hunt or fish, or add to their earnings by 

 setting traps for otter, mink, or beaver, and 

 visiting those set last week. This sort of thing 

 lasts until the spring, and then the worst half of the 

 lumberer's work begins. Logs have to be hauled, 

 rafts made and floated down stream to the mills 

 at Ottawa and elsewhere, and in the miserable 

 thaw the lumberer is wet to his waist half a 



