204 HILLS AND LAKES. 



ory we found that day, in all its beatitude, among the 

 cool shades of those beautiful islands, beneath a balmy 

 sky, fanned by a cooling breeze, breathing the odors 

 of the wild flowers, and regaled by the songs of the 

 birds. 



" Did you ever think, Squire," said my guide, as 

 he plucked a wild rose, that reared its modest head 

 beside the boulder on which we were sitting, "how 

 quietly nater goes about her work, and how silently 

 she makes and finishes the beautiful things we see 

 around us ? It ain't so with man. He works with a 

 great noise and bustle ; when he builds his steam- 

 boat, or his house, or his great ship, he hammers 

 away, and the clank of the machinery is always thun- 

 derin' upon the ear. The big sledge rings against the 

 great anvil, and the hammer echoes as it drives home 

 the nail or the spike. His saw grates and hisses, as it 

 shapes the plank, and his axe speaks out as it hews 

 the timber. His huge water-wheel goes grumblin' on 

 its rounds, and his steam-engine puffs and blows, as if 

 its lungs were troubled with the asthma. I was down 

 to Plattsburgh one day, and went into a machine shop 

 where there were a great many men at work, ham- 

 merin', and turnin', and shapin' iron into machinery. 



