314 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



rosity and honesty, their simplicity and skill, their gentleness 

 and prowess; and, above all, to honour their spiritual attitude 

 toward this world and the next. How different they were 

 from the city dwellers' conception of them! But still you may 

 want further proof. You may want first-hand knowledge of 

 those northern men. You may want to study their minds and 

 to look into their hearts. Then may I ask you to read the 

 following letter, written a few years ago by an old Canadian 

 woodsman — Mr. A. B. Carleton — who was born and bred in 

 the northern wilderness. Then you may become better ac- 

 quainted with at least one of the men I have been trying to 

 picture to you. 



"I was born in the heart of the northern forest, and in my 

 wanderings my steps have ever gone most willingly back 

 toward the pine-covered hills and the grassy glades that slope 

 down to cool, deep waters. The wanderlust has carried me 

 far, but the lakes and waterfalls, the bluffs and the bays of the 

 great northern No-Man's Land are my home, and with Mukwa 

 the bear, Mah-en-gin the wolf, Wash-gish the red deer, and 

 Ah-Meek the beaver, I have much consorted and have found 

 their company quite to my liking. 



"But the fates have so dealt with me that for two years I 

 have not been able to see the smile of Springtime breaking 

 forth upon the rugged face of my northern No-Man's Land. I 

 have had glimpses of it, merely, among crowded houses, out 

 of hospital windows. Still, my mind is native to the forest, 

 and my thoughts and fancies, breaking captivity, go back, like 

 the free wild things they are, on bright days of springtime to the 

 wild land where the change of season means what it never can 

 mean in the town. 



"What does Spring mean to you town folk, anyway? I will 

 tell you. It means lighter clothing, dust instead of sleet, the 

 transfer of your patronage from fuel man to ice man, a few days 

 of slushy streets and baseball instead of hockey. 



