A GREAT mSTITUTION. 23 



where beautiful lakes lay sleeping in their quiet loveliness ; 

 where the rivers flow on their everlasting coarse through 

 primeval forests ; where the moose, the deer, the panther 

 and the wolf still range, and where the speckled trout sport 

 in the crystal waters. I had made up my mind to throw 

 off the cares a,nd anxieties of business, and visit that great 

 institution spread out all around us by the Almighty, to 

 make men healthier, wiser, better. I had resolved to go 

 into the country. That was a fixed fact. But where ? 



There stood my rifle in one corner of the room, and my 

 fishing rods in the other. The sight of these settled the 

 matter. " I will go to the North," I said. 



" Go to the North !" said Mrs. H . " Do tell me if 



you've got another of your old hunting and fishing fits ou 

 you again ?" 



" Yes," I replied, " I've felt it coming on for a week, and 

 I've got it bad." 



" Very well," said my wife, " if the fit is on you, there's 

 no use in remonstrating ; your valise will be ready by the 

 morning train." And so the matter was settled. 



But I must have a companion, somebody to talk to and 

 with, somebody who could appreciate the beauties of nature ; 

 who loved" the old woods, the wilderness, and all the wild 

 things pertaining to them ; to whom the forests, the lakes, 

 and tall mountains, the rivers and streams, would recall the 

 long past ; to whom the forest songs and sounds would bring 

 back the memories of old, and make him " a boy again." 

 So I sallied out to find him. I had scarcely traversed a 



