164 RIVER LIFE. 



Alas ! for life's all changeful scene, 

 How soon must perish that fond dream 

 For him on whom her thoughts doth pore ; 

 His hopes and schemes of earth are o'er !" 



Brook-drives are, as has "before been remarked, usually distinct 

 parcels of logs belonging to an individual or company. These va- 

 rious parcels are often thrown together in one mass on the ample 

 current of the main river, to the number of twelve or thirteen 

 thousand pieces ; in which case the different crews unite and 

 make common cause. As the water rises suddenly, and falls as 

 rapidly on the river, by which, in the first instance, many logs 

 run upon intervale and meadow land, or upon high rocks and ledg- 

 es, and, in the other case, from the rapid decline of water, there 

 is necessarily much activity called for to clear such logs from the 

 position in which they are placed, else they must be left behind, 

 or require great physical exertion to disengage and bring them 

 on with the rest. A steady current or pitch of water is prefer- 

 able to one either rising or diminishing, as, when rising rapid- 

 ly, the water at the middle of the river is considerably higher 

 than at the shores — so much so as to be distinctly perceived by 

 the eye of a spectator on the banks, presenting an appearance 

 like a turnpike road. The lumber, therefore, is always sure to 

 incline from the center of the channel toward either shore. On 

 the falls, and the more difficult portions of the river, sometimes 

 immense jams form. In the commencement, some unlucky log 

 swings across the narrow chasm, striking some protruding por- 

 tions of the ledge, and stops fast ; others come on, and, meeting 

 this obstruction, stick fast also, until thousands upon thousands 

 form one dense breast- work, against and through which a boiling, 

 leaping river rushes with terrible force. Who that is unaccus- 

 tomed to such scenes, on viewing that pile of massive logs, now 

 densely packed, cross-piled, and interwoven in every conceivable 

 position in a deep chasm with overhanging cliffs, with a mighty 



