Song Birds and Water Fowl 



water's glassy plain, magnificent embodiments 

 of profoundest peace ; the pale stars, one by one, 

 begin to glisten in their mild serenity; and si- 

 lence, like a heavenly mantle spread by hands 

 invisible, wraps all the scene in the prolonged 

 repose of dreamless night. 



However beautiful a spot may be, it always 

 gains an added charm, a sort of personality, by 

 historic association — the subtlest element of at- 

 tractiveness, which kindles nobler sentiments 

 than merely sensuous landscape beauty ever can 

 inspire. In such historic interest few spots in 

 all our country are richer than Lake George. Its 

 banks and waters silently commemorate many 

 a striking scene in the Revolutionary War. 

 As an anonymous writer has well expressed it, 

 " The imaginative mind can easily reanimate the 

 Lake with the splendid armies of Abercrombie, 

 Amherst, and Montcalm, numbering from nine 

 to sixteen thousand men each, and sailing in 

 boats and bateaux, marshalled in beautiful array, 

 with all the pomp and circumstance of war. 

 How peaceful it appears to-day, at the head of 

 the Lake, around the ruins of Fort George, and 

 the grass-grown site of Fort William Henry. 

 Yet here, through long and bloody wars, the 

 Cross of St. George waved defiance to the 

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