14 ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS. 



He " went in " the first of June, carried in the 

 arms of liis guide. The second week of Novem- 

 ber he " came out " bronzed as an Indian, and as 

 hearty. In five months he had gained sixty-five 

 pounds of flesh, and flesh, too, " weU packed on," 

 as they say in the woods. Coming out he car- 

 ried tlie boat over all portages ; the very same 

 over which a few months before the guide had 

 carried him, and pulled as strong an oar as any 

 amateur in the wilderness. His meeting with 

 his family I leave the reader to imagine. The 

 wilderness received him almost a corpse. It re- 

 turned him to his home and the world as happy 

 and healthy a man as ever bivouacked under its 

 pines. 



This, I am aware, is an extreme case, and, as 

 such, may seem exaggerated ; but it is not. I 

 might instance many other cases which, if less 

 startling, are equally corroborative of the general 

 statement. There is one sitting near me, as I 

 write, the color of whose cheek, and the clear 

 brightness of whose eye, cause my heart to go out 

 in ceaseless gratitude to the woods, amid which 

 she found that health and strength of which they 

 are the proof and sign. For five summers have 

 we visited the wilderness. From four to seven 

 weeks, each year, have we breathed the breath of 

 the mountains ; bathed in the waters which sleep 

 at their base ; and made our couch at night of 



