EPISODES 321 



At Mauch Chunk, where we both spent the night, Mr. 

 White, the civil engineer, visited me, and looked at the 

 drawings which I had made in the Great Pine Forest. 

 The news he gave me of my sons, then in Kentucky, made 

 me still more anxious to move in their direction ; and long 

 before daybreak, I shook hands with the good man of the for- 

 est, and found myself moving towards the capital of Penn- 

 sylvania,^ having as my sole companion a sharp, frosty 

 breeze. Left to my thoughts, I felt amazed that such a 

 place as the Great Pine Forest should be so little known 

 to the Philadelphians, scarcely any of whom could direct 

 me towards it. How much it is to be regretted, thought 

 I, that the many young gentlemen who are there, so much 

 at a loss how to employ their leisure days, should not visit 

 these wild retreats, valuable as they are to the student of 

 nature. How differently would they feel, if, instead of 

 spending weeks in smoothing a useless bow, and walking 

 out in full dress, intent on displaying the make of their 

 legs, to some rendezvous where they may enjoy their 

 wines, they were to occupy themselves in contemplating 

 the rich profusion which nature has poured around them, 

 or even in procuring some desiderated specimen for their 

 Peale's Museum, once so valuable, and so finely arranged ! 

 But, alas, no ! they are none of them aware of the richness 

 of the Great Pine Swamp, nor are they likely to share the 

 hospitality to be found there. 



THE LOST ONE 



A "live-oaker" employed on the St. John's River, in 



East Florida, left his cabin, situated on the banks of that 



stream, and, with his axe on his shoulder, proceeded 



towards the swamp in which he had several times before 



plied his trade of felling and squaring the giant trees 



1 Then Philadelphia. 

 VOL. II. — 21 



