IN THE HEMLOCKS 39 



northern hare and the red fox are. In the last cen- 

 tury a colony of beavers dwelt here, though the 

 oldest inhabitant cannot now point to even the tra- 

 ditional site of their dams. The ancient hemlocks, 

 whither I propose to take the reader, are rich in 

 many things beside birds. Indeed, their wealth in 

 this respect is owing mainly, no doubt, to their rank 

 vegetable growths, their fruitful swamps, and their 

 dark, sheltered retreats. 



Their history is of an heroic cast. Ravished and 

 torn by the tanner in his thirst for bark, preyed 

 upon by the lumberman, assaulted and beaten back 

 by the settler, still their spirit has never been 

 broken, their energies never paralyzed. Not many 

 years ago a public highway passed through them, 

 but it was at no time a tolerable road; trees fell 

 across it, mud and limbs choked it up, till finally 

 travelers took the hint and went around; and now, 

 walking along its deserted course, I see only the 

 footprints of coons, foxes, and squirrels. 



Nature loves such woods, and places her own seal 

 upon them. Here she shows me what can be done 

 with ferns and mosses and lichens. The soil is 

 marrowy and full of innumerable forests. Standing 

 in these fragrant aisles, I feel the strength of the 

 vegetable kingdom, and am awed by the deep and 

 inscrutable processes of life going on so silently about 

 me. 



^No hostile forms with axe or spud now visit these 

 solitudes. The cows have half-hidden ways through 

 them, and know where the best browsing is to be 



