108 THE PINE-TREE, OR 



from the swamp to the landing several times a day, on a solitary 

 "wilderness-road, for a term of several months, with only those 

 respites afforded in stormy weather and on Sundays, one might 

 think himself capable of entering into the feelings of a teamster, 

 and sympathetically share with him the pleasurable emotions 

 consequent upon the conclusion of his winter's work. While it 

 must be conceded that, of things possessing every element capa- 

 ble of contributing pleasure, we sometimes weary through ex- 

 cess, let it not be supposed that our knight of the goad has more 

 than usual occasion to tire, or sigh for the conclusion of the haul- 

 ing season. To be sure, " ta and fra" the livelong winter, now 

 with a load wending along a serpentine road, as it winds through 

 the forest, he repeats his visits to the swamp, and then the land- 

 ing ; but he is relieved by the companionship of his dumb but 

 docile oxen, for whom he contracts an affection, and over whom 

 he exercises the watchful vigilance of a faithful guardian, while 

 he exacts their utmost service. He sees that each performs his 

 duty in urging forward the laboring sled. He watches every 

 hool", the clatter of shoes, the step of each ox, to detect any lame- 

 ness. He observes every part and joint of the bob-sled while it 

 screeches along under the massive log bound to it. He exam- 

 ines the chains, lest they should pai't, and, above all, the objects 

 more watched than any others, the " fid-hook" and the " dog- 

 hook," the former that it does not work out, the latter that it 

 loose not its grappling hold upon the tree. Sometimes his little 

 journeys are spiced with the infinite trouble which a long, sweep- 

 ing stick will give him, by suddenly twirling and oversetting the 

 sled every time it poises over some abrupt swell in the road. 

 There is really too much to be looked after, thought of, and cared 

 for in his passage to the landing to allow much listlessness or 

 burdensome leisure. As well might a pilot indulge irresponsi- 

 ble dormancy in taking a fine ship into port, as for a teamster 

 to be listless under his circumstances. No ; the fact is, that, with 



