410 THE ADIRONDACK. 



knocking. The man and his wife, and two or three 

 great black-eyed daughters, looked at us without saying 

 a word, while two rough-looking men sitting before the . 

 fire scarcely turned to notice us. Not a word of greet- 

 ing — not a word of inquiry " respecting who we were or 

 where we came from, or a remark about the storm. 

 This strange reception made me at first feel a little 

 nervous, but I soon saw that the guides took it all as a 

 matter of course. There was nothing said about our 

 staying — that was taken for granted; nothing about 

 supper — that we wanted it was taken for granted, too ; 

 and soon the good woman had the rude table spread with 

 the best her house afforded. "Woman — the glory and the 

 light of every house — is the same in the cabin of the 

 hunter as everywhere else. Her presence is a guarantee 

 of safety and kind treatment, and when she begins to 

 lay the table a sort of home feeling creeps over you 

 wherever you may be. 



Yours truly. 



