130 THE PINE-TREE, OR 



associates, to remove an immense pine log from its bed during 

 the day; and as he strikes the heated iron into the perforated 

 timber, the curling smoke, in two little spiral columns, rises grad- 

 ually and gracefully, spreading as they ascend, until his head is 

 enveloped in a dense cloud. 



There sits another fellow staring into vacuity, while between 

 his lips, profusely covered with a heavy beard, the growth of a 

 quarter of a year, sticks a stub-stemmed pipe. Opening and 

 shutting those ample lips, volumes of smoke roll out, like dis- 

 charges from the side of a moss-grown battery, the very beau 

 ideal of all that is exquisite in "tobaccoing." Bestride the dea- 

 con seat, a little removed, sits the cook, with a large pan be- 

 tween his knees, with shirt-sleeves furled, and in the dough to 

 his elbows, kneading a batch of bread to bake for breakfast. The 

 sweat rolls from his half-covered forehead, and, unable to relieve 

 his hands, he applies now one elbow, then the other, to dry up 

 the mizzle from his moistened brow. Yonder, at the further end 

 of the camp, in close proximity to the fire, sits a lean, lank little 

 man, with thin lips, ample forehead, and eyes no larger than a rifle 

 bullet, piercing as the sun, poring over the dingy pages of an old 

 weekly, perhaps for the tenth time. Songs, cards, or stories pos- 

 sess but little attraction for him. Intellectually inclined, but mis- 

 erably provided for, still the old newspaper is a more congenial 

 companion for him. 



Behind the deacon seat, lounging upon the boughy bed, you 

 may see half a dozen sturdy fellows — the bone and sinew of the 

 crew — telling " yarns," or giving expression to the buoyancy of 

 their feelings in a song, while the whole interior of the camp is 

 lighted with a blazing hard- wood fire, which casts upward its 

 rays through the capacious smoke-hole, gilding the overhanging 

 branches of the neighboring trees. All within indicates health, 

 content, and cheerfulness. 



Card-playing is often resorted to as an evening pastime. If 



