156 THE ADIRONDACK. 



the delusion that I was in the midst of the ocean. 

 I could not sleep, so rising from my couch of boughs, 

 I went out and sat down on the ground, and looked 

 and listened. The steady roar of the waves on the 

 beach below mingled in with the rush of the blast 

 above, the tall trees rocked and swung on every 

 side, and flung out their long arms into the night 

 — their leafy tresses streaming before them — and 

 groaned on their ancient foundations with a deep and 

 steady sound — till my heart was filled with emotions 

 at once solemn and fearful. To add to the sublimity 

 and terror of the scene, ever and anon came a dull and 

 heavy shock, like the report of distant cannon. It was 

 made by a tree falling all alone there, in the depths of 

 the forest. Oh, what strange emotions those muffled 

 echoes awoke within me. Sometimes I thought one 

 of these gigantic forms near me, must also fall in the 

 struggle, and crush some of our company into the 

 earth ; and then again forgetting the danger, my soul 

 would bow to the lordly music, till that great pri- 

 meval forest seemed one vast harp — its trunks and 

 branches the mighty wires, and the strong blast the 

 fierce and fearless hand that swept them. Now faint 

 and far in the distance T could catch the coming 



