1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEH. 



547 



and other domestic utensils were upon the table 

 and elsewhere ; articles of clothing were scattered 

 about — some of them hanging upon the limbs of 

 the trees. At a convenient distance from the 

 •'leafy bower," and about half-way down the gen- 

 tle slope towards the shore, a fire-place had been 

 formed of flat rocks, in which a fire was burning ; 

 a kettle was suspended over the fire by a cross- 

 stick between two trees. In the centre of this 

 really cozy looking place, stood a little, old man 

 ■who was staring at us as if he was trying to make 

 up his mind whether we were friends or enemies. 

 He was soon relieved of his suspense, however, 

 and began to talk with a rapidity of utterance 

 which was only equalled by the shallowness of his 

 thoughts. By certain unmistakable signs, which, 

 alas ! are very common and well known, we soon 

 discovered the secret of his volubility — he was 

 drunk ! And the beast of prey which had robbed 

 him of his manhood, and, for the time being, of 

 his naturally small share of intellect, stood calmly 

 by his side, in the shape of a keg of rum ! 



Reader, did you ever, in passing through a beau- 

 tiful flower-garden on a balmy summer's morning, 

 and while breathing the rich fragrance, and ad- 

 miring the varied beauties of its countless blos- 

 soms, suddenly pause, and feel an icy chill creep 

 through your veins, at the sight of an enormous 

 adder coiled up in your path, with head erect, 

 darting tongue, and Satanic malice in his eye ? 

 'If such has been your experience, then you can 

 understand something of my feelings as I met the 

 demon, Bum, in this sanctuary of nature. 



"Tell me, ye winged winds that round my pathway soar. 

 Do ye not know some spot, where sorrow comes no more ?" 



•where man cannot bring his evil passions and 

 habits, which are the real source of all sorrow and 

 misery. The search of countless mortals for many 

 ages has not discovered it, and nature with all 

 her voices, answers, "No !" But there is a place 

 in the wide universe of God where the poisonous 

 serpent does not lurk, and where perverted appe- 

 tites and hideous passions are unknown. 



The other members of the party — one of which 

 •was the old man's daughter — had not yet returned 

 from fishing, and as we had no desire to cultivate 

 their acquaintance, our stay in this vicinity was 

 of short duration. 



Before leaving the camp, we learned, from the 

 man's broken conversation, that on the Fourth 

 of July — a fortnight previous — the same party had 

 come to this place to celebrate, after their own 

 fashion, the anniversary of our national Indepen- 

 dence. By this fact, we inferred that they were 

 yet loyal in their sentiments, which was some- 

 thing to their credit. The old man seemed very 

 much astonished that we had not taken any game, 

 when the woods were so full of it. We did not 

 inform him that it was not our object to destroy 

 innocent lives, but to enjoy the charms of the 

 •wild-wood, for we knew he would neither under- 

 stand or appreciate our motives in coming hither. 



Leaving the slaves of King Alcohol in the un- 

 disturbed enjoyment of their short-lived, corrod- 

 ing pleasures, we commenced our return home- 

 ward, with feelings of sadness that so many mil- 

 lions of our fellow-creatures are bound down to a 

 level lower than that of the brutes, with fetters 

 stronger than iron, and from which they are des- 

 tined never to escape. 



We followed for about three-fourths of a mile, 

 the road which had been so carefully cleared of 

 bushes by the fishing (perhaps I should say drink- 

 ing) party, and this was not more than half the 

 length of the road from which they had removed 

 the hindrances to a safe and easy passage for 

 their liorse and his cortege. If all who use intox- 

 icating liquors would take as much pains to con- 

 ceal their drunken sprees as did these poor peo- 

 ple, our eyes would not so frequently behold the 

 human form reeling and plunging about, like a 

 ship without a rudder amid the waves of the sea. 



On our way home, we passed through a portion 

 of the woods, where stood, some twelve or fifteen 

 years ago, a few acres of the primeval forest. I 

 can well remember with what astonishment, and 

 almost awe, I have gazed upon the lofty and ven- 

 erable trees. Some of the black and yellow 

 birches — which now have scarcely time, before 

 they are felled, to attain the size of hop-poles — 

 were large enough for board logs, and tall as the 

 mast of a ship ! 



Two young men of my acquaintance once had 

 an amusing adventure in this ancient forest. 

 They were out one evening after "coons," and 

 having, as they thought, "ran one up a tree," one 

 of them, gun in hand, climbed up to scrape an ac- 

 quaintance with his lordship. Some of the limbs 

 of the tree — which was oak — were as large as 

 whole trees in our present forests, and on one of 

 these, our hero soon thought he saw the coon. 

 He could even see — as he informed his eager 

 listener below — the hairs bristle up on the ani- 

 mal's back, between him and the moon ! He im- 

 mediately opened his battery of powder and shot 

 upon poor cooney, and listened to hear him fall ; 

 but nothing moved — not even a hair ! Again and 

 again the old woods rang with the sound of his 

 rifle, but the coon moved not, nor even winced 

 under "the galling fire of the enemy." At last 

 our friend came to the conclusion that the animal 

 was dead, but had become lodged on the limb. 

 As he did not dare, at night, to venture out upon 

 the naked limb to the place where the coon was 

 lodged, he concluded to descend from the tree, go 

 home, and the next morning come back for his 

 game. Daylight revealed to our astonished hunt- 

 ers the mortifying fact, that the coon was nothing 

 but a great black ivart ! Since this adventure, 

 the writer has assisted in capturing several coons, 

 but never was so completely sold as the heroes of 

 our story. 



When this wood was demolished, a steam saw- 

 mill was erected on the ground, to convert the 

 pine and oak logs into lumber. Since the remo- 

 val of the parent stock, the young wood has 

 grown with remarkable rapidity — a circumstance 

 which is very common in this part of New Eng- 

 land. 



Before reaching home, we passed through a 

 beautiful archway — formed by the overhanging 

 branches of the red and white maples, which here 

 grow on both sides of the road. Where the arch 

 was most perfect, it was nearly ten rods in length ; 

 and as the branches were thickly interlaced at the 

 top and sides, the twilight was quite deep, while 

 passing through it. Nothing was wanting to com- 

 plete the delusion, that we were walking through 

 some dim cathedral aisle, but the thrilling har- 

 monies of the lofty organ. We had music, how- 

 ever, of another kind ; the wood thrushes filled 



