54 AX ANGLER'S REMINISCENCES. 



of the North have their common sources. So close together, and so near akin by 

 fluvial births, that the deities of the woods have always marveled why they turned 

 their backs to each other and took opposite directions, one to the freezing Arctic, 

 and the other to the tepid, sun-kissed waters of the South Atlantic. In the very 

 cradle of these variant temperaments and erratic moods, in this sylvan nursery of 

 flippant streams, we find a congregation of lakes and feeders so numerous that they 

 are hardly named or numbered. The state geologist enumerates ten thousand. 

 In aggregation and arrangement they seem the very counterpart oi the galaxy 

 across the sky. There are lakes of every conceivable conformation and outline: 

 round lakes with pebbly shores ; oblong lakes margined with wild rice and reeds ; 

 lakes spangled with pond lily pods in June ; lakes with deeply indented bays and 

 projecting points half submerged and bristling with rushes; lakes with shores 

 wooded to the brink and filled with wooded islands ; lakes with flat shores, bold 

 shores, sloping shores, lakes with confronting bluffs and promontories. There 

 are lakes detached and isolated ; lonesome lakes ; lakes in clusters and in pairs ; 

 spectacle lakes and lakes in connecting chains, stretching far across the country, 

 and forming uninterrupted thoroughfares for boats and canoes for a hundred 

 miles or more. 



These chains of lakes constitute the chief charm of the Park Region. The 

 same feature makes the Adirondacks fascinating. I should say, it made them 

 fascinating years ago, when the whole tract was free to random footsteps set 

 thitherward, but measurably restricted now. 



An active temperament tires of the monotony of a fixed cottage by the side 

 of an individual lake, with the diurnal row, the bath, and the still fishing, the 

 hammock and the book, and the protracted lullaby of idleness and loafing. It 

 ioves to spread its wings and launch out into the unseen and unknown, expectant 

 at every sharp curve of the sinuous river, emerging from the umbrageous covert 

 of the forest into the broad expanse of a far-reaching lake, swinging the oars with 

 a long stoke across its bosom ; seeking an outlet where the rushes conceal it, and 

 camping, perchance, where night overtakes, with the veil drawn tightly over the 

 uncertainties of tomorrow. It is only the agnostic who is truly happy, that is, 

 if he appreciates the good gifts of the Great Giver through whom alone he is 

 manifested, or ever can be. What would it satisfy or profit to be omniscient? 

 Dare any one declare that the lapse from time into eternity will vouchsafe a 

 perfect and comprehensive revelation? or that the pursuit of knowledge will ever 

 reach an ultimate fullness of that which is knowable? And if it were attainable, 

 who can say that lethargy would not follow repetition, as surfeit overcomes the 

 anaconda? 



Now the wilderness attracts most when it is presented in new and constantly 

 varying aspects ; and it was because the Rev. Adirondack Murray was able to so 

 present it that he drew after him a large and enthused following. He did not 

 daze the novice by turning all at once upon his unaccustomed eyes the full 

 effulgence of the sportsman's paradise, but he opened momentary vistas towards 

 the light of truth and read aloud the simple narrative of personal experience and 

 impressions which touched a sympathetic chord in the hearts of his listeners, and 

 it aroused a latent impulse, and provided a new sensation for those who had 

 become surfeited with the perfunctory sound of watering-place festivities. 



Already the itineraries of the Park Region of Minnesota are as well defined 

 and substantially fixed as are those of the Adirondacks. Tourists encounter 

 tourists in their incoming and outgoing by lake and river ; the whole territory is 

 alive with boats and guides, and the welkin rings with the clarion laughter of 



