316 I GO A-FISHING. 



Then we went down to a vast timber-jam, which covered 

 the entire river and hid its surface for a half-mile below. 

 We tried various openings in this, but although chubs rose 

 in abundance we saw no fin of a trout. It was discour- 

 aging, and when it became profoundly dark we went back 

 to the house in poor spirits, and began to talk of return- 

 ing to Diamond Pond. 



The evening in the house was cheery. We gathered 

 around a blazing fire in the little parlor, and made merry 

 over our position. As the hours wore on we heard a 

 sound of singing in the other end of the house, and at 

 length the swell of clear, strong voices came in, chant- 

 ing old sacred tunes. St. A had found the group of 



lumbermen, and tested their musical abilities to good ef- 

 fect. They made the night, now light with the moon, 

 ring with the grand old songs which, however rudely 

 sung, if but with spirit, are full of power, and stir one's 

 heart to its depths. I stood for a little while on the bank 

 by the house over the river, and heard the songs strug- 

 gling in the air with the tremendous roar of the dam. It 

 was the old struggle of nature against the influences of 

 Christianity and civilization. The river asserted its an- 

 cient right, in hoarse and expressive voice. The song in 

 the house mingled with the sound of the river, and gently 

 insinuated its tones so that it took possession of the for- 

 est forces, and while I listened the song burst into chorus, 

 and there was no longer any sound of river to be heard. 

 Much so is it with the actual advance of civilization in 

 these regions. First come the wood-cutters, using the 

 lakes and rivers in their original force ; then follow the 

 farmers and schools and churches ; and the land and the 

 water are subjected to the power of man and the pres- 

 ence of art and Christianity. 



