50 Reminiscences of 



cold morning, and my steps were light from elation 

 at my success, and I inwardly \'owed I would have 

 more of it. 



That following night was the coldest we experi- 

 enced on our trip, the mercury sinking down to twenty- 

 six degrees below zero, but we were very comfortable. 



It is not so cold as it would seem, in the dry alti- 

 tude of the lakes, 1500 feet above sea level, at twenty 

 degrees below zero, when top coats are discarded 

 in the woods and on the lake when knocking about. 

 But when the wind blows it is another matter, and 

 even with a gentle breeze at twenty degrees of freezing 

 it will cut, and with a gale or blizzard at fifteen or 

 twenty degrees below zero — which is not infrequent — 

 one must be well housed, or, if not, snugly ensconced 

 in the lee of the gale in a deep sunken pit in the snow 

 with plenty of firewood. 



When camping out in the snow one hardly needs 

 blankets, and it has not been my habit to pack 

 them in many camping-out trips I have made in the 

 winter, excepting sometimes a half one. I have de- 

 pended upon keeping up a good fire all night, and 

 of sleeping on a thick layer of hemlock boughs, 

 where with feet to the fire and fully clothed, with 

 sleeping-cap and ear-pads and thick woollen gloves, 

 I have passed many comfortable nights, and my 

 memory now often vividly reverts to the overflowing 

 happiness I experienced upon those excursions as the 

 most enjoyable of my life. 



