FOREST LIFE. 85 



said, uncnrsed, fresh from the hand of the Creator. To write of 

 those things makes the bustling city seem dull and irksome. 

 Fain would I hie away once more to those pleasant pastime labors. 

 Happily, all tastes are not alike. Yet there are few who, on 

 entering a beautiful native forest, would not experience delight ; 

 the varieties of trees set out by the hand of Nature, their grace- 

 ful forms and spreading branches interlocked with neighborly 

 affection and recognition ; the hartnonious confusion of under- 

 growth ; the beautiful mosses, the ever-varying surface — old age, 

 manhood and youth, childhood and infancy — massive trunks and 

 little sprouts ; the towering Pine and creeping Winter-green, in- 

 termingled by the artless genii of these wild retreats, all combined, 

 serve to explain the attachment of the Aborigines to their forest 

 abodes, and give to savage hfe the power of enchantment. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Tokens of Winter. — The Anticipation. — Introduction of Team. — Difficulties 

 attending it. — Uncomfortable Boating. — The Contrast. — Method of cross- 

 ing Streams and Rivers. — The Docihty of the Ox. — Facilities of Turnpikes. 

 — Stopping-places. — Arrival. — An Adventure. — Ten Oxen in the Ice. — 

 Method of taking them Out. — An uncomfortable Night. — The midnight Ex- 

 cursion. — Oxen running at large in the Wilderness. — Developments of 

 Memory. — Logging. — Division of Labor. — How to manage in the absence 

 of a Cook. — "Uncle Nat." — Anecdote. — Felling Pines. — Ingenuity of 

 Choppers. — Preparatory AiTaugements. — The Bob-sled. — Method of Op- 

 eration described. — The Excitement. — Comparison. — Immediate Length 

 of Pine-trees. — Conclusion. 



By the time these arrangements are made, serious indications 

 of winter appear in cold, freezing nights and light falls of snow. 

 It is now about time to look for the arrival of the team and ex- 

 tra hands. 



