282 Life of Auduhon. 



men ; for in them, as indeed in most of the inhabitants of 

 our Eastern States, education and habit have tempered 

 the passions and reduced the moral constitution to a 

 state of harmony nay, the sobriety that exists in man) 

 of the villages of Maine I have often considered as car- 

 ried to excess, for on asking for brandy, rum, or whiskey, 

 not a drop'could I obtain ; and it is probable there was 

 an equal lack of spirituous liquors of every other kind. 

 Now and then I saw some good old wines, but they were 

 always drunk in careful moderation. But to return to 

 the management of the oxen. Why, reader, the lumber- 

 ers speak to them as if they were rational beings : few 

 words seem to suffice, and their whole strength is applied 

 to the labor, as if in gratitude to those who treat them 

 with so much gentleness and humanity. 



" While present, on more than one occasion, at what 

 Americans 'call ploughing matches,' which they have an- 

 nually in many of the States, I have been highly gratified, 

 and in particular at one of which I still have a strong 

 recollection, and which took place a few miles from the 

 fair and hospitable city of Boston. There I saw fifty or 

 more ploughs drawn by as many pairs of oxen, which per- 

 formed their work with so much accuracy and regularity, 

 without the infliction of whip or rod, but merely guided 

 by the verbal mandates of the ploughmen, that I was per- 

 fectly astonished. 



" After surmounting all obstacles, the lumberers, with the 

 stock they have provided, arrive at the spot which they 

 have had in view, and immediately commence building a 

 camp. The trees around soon fall under the blows of 

 their axes, and, before many days have elapsed, a low 

 habitation is reared and fitted within for the accommoda- 

 tion of their cattle, while their provender is secured on a 

 kind of loft, covered with broad shingles or boards. Then 

 their own cabin is put up ; rough bedsteads, manufactured 



