412 Reminiscences of 



31, and we were strict observers of the game laws. We 

 came to enjoy the cold bracing weather, to enjoy the 

 sports of winter, and to view the beautiful ice-bound 

 lakes and the forest and mountains ; to witness the dark 

 and purple hues of the fringing woods, and of the dis- 

 tant ravines; to observe the countless minor features 

 incidental to the season at the lakes, of which a re- 

 counting would be tiresome perhaps, but of constant 

 note and attention to all lovers of the woods and waters. 

 The woods and waters are always fascinating, be it 

 winter or summer, the former equal to the latter — the 

 woods in their dark green or with their coatings of 

 white, the water delightful with its calm and changing 

 surface, or clasped with mantles of ice or snow. This 

 is the sanitarium for many invalids, while enervating 

 warm climates are pernicious. Here will be found 

 the enemy of insomnia, here the stimulator of appetite 

 and the true pepsin of digestion, here the conqueror of 

 ennui and care. 



Our party of nine, four being children and two 

 ladies, exclusive of guides and assistants, came in safely 

 from Andover, Maine, on the last day of the year. 

 We were held up two days at that town by the gen- 

 eral blizzard, which coming from the west gave the 

 New England coast a cold blocking storm. The weather 

 during the two days at Andover was simply howling, the 

 mercury holding obstinately below zero, and the air most 

 of the time filled with cyclonic whirls of snow. But we 

 were comfortable at French's Hotel. On the morning 

 of the 31st it was still and clear, with the thermometer 

 18 degrees below zero, and it held below zero all day, 

 closing at sundown at 10 below and opening the 

 following morning at camp 22 below. 



