86 Reminiscences of 



habitations and the sound of human voice, is in itself 

 for the nonce a sensation of reUef . 



The reaches of pine groves and of beech and of 

 maple, all interspersed with birch — the loveliest tree of 

 northern climes — are inspiring. They say: 



' ' Come and explore me. We have waited long and 

 you came not. Now you shall bear witness to our 

 grandeur and solitude, and have contemplation. See 

 in us the prototypes of your own race, how we rise and 

 fall. We flourish in prosperity and topple in misfor- 

 tune. We stand apart, some rugged and gnarled as 

 some of your own kind, defying the wintry blast, but 

 others are nurtured in protection. Some are comely 

 and others scarred. See in us your own history, to 

 start forth and bear and die. Your sun of light is ours, 

 and the sky to all, and the air you breathe is our life. 

 Yonder broad stump is the monument of a patriarch 

 of old. There were giants in those days, but none 

 now, for they have been taken to rib your homes and 

 deck your ocean messengers." 



At the hour of noon the stalker rests before a dead 

 and broken pine, which with match and birch peelings 

 is soon ablaze. His simple luncheon becomes a precious 

 blessing, and may be followed by the incense of fra- 

 grant pipe. What more shall be required to fill the 

 day's cup of happiness than the comfort of the home 

 fire at night and the panacea of Nature's most enjoy- 

 able fatigue? 



After my first winter fishing trip in 1858 to the 

 Rangeleys I made perhaps a dozen more in succeeding 

 years, generally in the months of December and Janu- 

 ary, finding much satisfaction in the change from the 

 confinement of town life, with the attractiveness of 



