THE MOOSE DEEK. 51 



meval forest, in the gray and silvery moonlight, or in the 

 purple dawn of autumnal morning, the fierce and noisy 

 jousting of two of these great forest champions. 



There is another mode of pursuing these great deer 

 during the summer season, when they wade into the 

 deep waters to eschew the myriads of flies, which is 

 spoken of with rapture by those who have enjoyed it 

 that is, to make the wilderness your home, your hemlock- 

 bed and bark-roofed camp your dwelling-place, and with 



* 



canoe, and rod, and rifle, stealthily to paddle along the 

 winding water-courses, keeping as much as possible 

 within the shadows of the shore, and under the protec- 

 tion of the overhanging branches, when you can often 

 ^al up within easy gun-shot and bring them down with 

 one well-directed bullet. The liberty, the independence, 

 the rapturous excitement of this sort of life is entirely 

 indescribable ; the delight with which you sleep in the 

 free, fresh, odoriferous air of the forest, with your soft, 

 elastic hemlock-bed sure preventive of all rheumatic 

 pains beneath you, and the blue vault, with all its 

 diamond stars above you ; the zest with which you 

 enjoy the meal of fresh trout from the river, or sweet 

 digestible wild meat from the woods, the fruits of your 

 own prowess ; the health, the strength, the energy of 

 mind and body which you earn by your rugged toil, and 

 rude though savory food ; the perfect sense of hardihood 

 and self-reliance, which you derive from thus owing 

 every thing that ministers to your enjoyment, to your 



