CONSCIENCE. 239 



fellows could be encountered with far more firmness 

 than those of that invisible presence which seems there 

 to surround him. There is no way to escape himself 

 — nothing to resist or to dare. " The scowl of revenge 

 or stare of defiance, may be met, for there is a visi- 

 ble object" on which the passions can act ; but to 

 struggle with conscience — to hush the awful voice of 

 law which God's universe about him is thundering in 

 his ear, is a hopeless task. 



Near the last of this chain of lakes is a small sheet 

 of water called Moose Lake, from its being a favorite 

 haunt of moose. Like the first mentioned in the 

 group, it is embosomed in trees, but no mountains 

 rise from its shores. It has also a beach of incom- 

 parable whiteness, and the bottom of the lake looks 

 like a vast bed of fine white salt. As you sit in your 

 boat, you can see it glittering beneath at an immense 

 depth, while ever and anon a huge trout flits like a 

 shadow over it. A certain judge and his lady are ac- 

 customed in summer to come from the western set- 

 tlements, and camp out for two or three weeks at a 

 time on its shores, and fish. The lady, accomplished 

 and elegant, enjoys the recreation amazingly, and once 

 caught herself a trout weighing nineteen pounds. 



