34 LAKE SUPERIOR. 



the band mentioned in the advertisements, but sup- 

 plied its place with a crazy piano strummed by 

 amateur performers ; we had not partaken of all the 

 luxuries of the season, but had appreciated with 

 sharpened appetites the substantials that were fur- 

 nished ; we had not enjoyed the company of fair 

 excursionists from Cleveland or Detroit, but had 

 formed the acquaintance of one or two kind beings 

 in crinoline ; we had not had an exciting trip, but 

 had been transported safely and slowly, and at 

 eight o'clock that morning we raached the Sault 

 Ste. Marie. 



A weary waste of waters lay behind ; our track 

 lengthening into the dim distance, stretched out to 

 many thousand miles ; we had crossed deep streams, 

 had burrowed through high mountains, had darted 

 along broad meadows, had swept across majestic- 

 lakes, had ascended mighty rivers ; less than a 

 hundred years ago many months would have been 

 expended in completing this same journey ; serious 

 difficulties would have had to be overcome and dan- 

 gers encountered ; we had condensed a year of our 

 grandfathers' lives into three days ; we had spanned 

 one-half our great continent, fled from the metropo- 

 lis of civilization to the native haunts of the savage ; 

 in fact, gone back from the nineteenth into the 

 eighteenth century. We had been carried by steam 

 upon the track of iron or in the moving palace ; in 

 future we were to embark in the voyageur's bateau, 

 and be propelled by oars or sail. Heretofore the 

 unnatural wants of civilized life had been indulged 



