FOREST LIFE. 105 



applies the rule, and the result gives either the one or the other 

 party " whereof to glory." If not " teetotalers," the vanquished 

 " pay the hitters" when they get down river. Men love and 

 will have excitement ; with spirits never more buoyant, every 

 thing, however trifling, adds to the stock of " fun alive" in the 

 woods. Every crew has its " Jack," who, in the absence of other 

 material, either from his store of " mother-wit" or " greenness," 

 contributes to the merry shaking of sides, or allows himself to be 

 the butt of good-natured ridicule. 



But while the greater part of swamp life is more or less merry, 

 there are occasional interruptions to the joyousness that abounds. 

 Logging roads are generally laid out with due regard to the con- 

 veniences of level or gently descending ground. But in some 

 instances the unevenness of the country admits only of unfavor- 

 able alternatives. Sometimes there are moderate rises to ascend 

 or descend on the way to the landing ; the former are hard, the 

 latter dangerous to the team. I knew a teamster to lose his life 

 in the following shocking manner : On one section of the main 

 road there was quite a " smart pitch" of considerable length, on 

 which the load invariably " drove" the team along on a forced 

 trot. Down this slope our teamster had often passed without sus- 

 taining any injury to himself or oxen. One day, having, as usual, 

 taken 1 lis load from the stump, he proceeded toward the Landing, 

 soon passing out of sight and healing. Not making his appear- 

 ance ai the expiration of the usual time, it was Buspected that 

 thing more than usual had detained him. Obeying the im- 

 pulses of a proper solicitude on his behalf, some of the hands 

 Btarted to render service i i ' it w.-re needed. Coming to the head 



of the hill down which the read ran. they saw the team at the 



foot of it, Btanding with the forward oxen faced aboul up the 

 read, but no teamster. On reaching the spot, a mosl distres 

 spectacle presented itself; there lay the teamster on the hard 

 road, with one of the sled runners directl] i which, 



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