IN THE LUMBER WOODS 225 



danger from fire, or else, floating off, would obstruct the river. 

 This well illustrates the cheapness of wood in a lumbering country. 

 Forest fires are the greatest destroyers of valuable timber, and 

 dreaded scourges they may indeed become, sometimes swallowing 

 up millions of dollars' worth of trees in a few days, as well as scores 

 of human lives. 



Perhaps the lumberman's gravest fault is his improvidence, 

 for, like Jack ashore for a spree, he wastes in a few days of revelry 

 the earnings of months. Frequently he vows the hardships of the 

 life are too severe, and that he can do better on his farm, but when 

 the fall arrives and the gangs gather to move off to the great log 

 shanties, the old spell generally asserts its sway, and off he hies once 

 more to taste the bliss of a whole winter spent amid the serene 

 peace of the forest, free from the incubus of almost every mundane 

 care. 



