Terms, Five Doilsn a Ye 

 Ten Cents a Copy. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, OCT. 1, 1874. 



j Volume 3, IVuniher S. 



1 17 Chatham St. (Cityllall Sor.) 



THE SINGING LESSON. 



A NIGHTINGALE made a mfttafco; 

 She sang a few notes out of tune; 

 Her heart was ready to break. 



And she. hid herself from the moon, 

 And wrung her claws, poor thing, 

 But was far too proud to speak; 

 She tucked her head under her wing. 

 And pretended to be asleep. 



A lark, arm-in-arm with athrnsh, 



Came sauntering up to the place; 

 The nightingale felt herself blush, 



Thongn feathers hid her face: 

 She knew they had heard her song, 



She felt them snicker and sneer; 

 She thought this life was too long, 



Aid wished she could ski]) a year 



"O nightingale!" cooed a dove 



"O nightingale! what's the use? 

 You bird of beanty and love, 



Why behave like agooijer 

 Don't skulk away from our sight, 



Like a common, contemptible fowl: 

 You bird of joy and delight, 



Why behave like an owl? 



"Only think of all yon have done; 



Only think of all you can do; 

 A false note is realty fun 



From such a bird as you! 

 Lift up yonr prond little crest; 



Open your musical beak; 

 Other birds bave to do their best, 



You need only to speak," 



The nightingale shyly took 



Her head from nnder her wing, 

 And, giving the dove a look, 



Straightway began to sing. 

 There was never a bird could pass; 



The night was divinely calm ; 

 And the people stood ou the grass 



To hear that wonderful psalm! 



The nightingale did not care, 



She only sang to the skies; 

 Her song ascended there, 



And there she fixed her eyes. 

 The people that stood below 



She knew but little about; 

 And this story's amoral, I know, 



If you'll try to find it out! JEi 



ft Jiffttskokii ![nnd. 



I PROMISED a few facts respecting the Muskoka country, 

 which lies a hundred miles to the northward of Toron- 

 to, in Canada, and stretches away to Georgian Bay. Until 

 recently it was a wilderness, but within five years or so, 

 numerous towns and hamlets have sprung up, many sum- 

 mer hotels have been opened at attractive points, and set- 

 tlers have poured in with a rapidity equal to the settlement 

 of many parts of our own Western country. A railroad 

 lias penetrated into its heart, steamboats ply upon its larger 

 lakes, and some excellent highways traverse its length and 

 breadth. It is emphatically a country of forests, lakes and 

 rivers. The lakes vary greatly in size; the larger ones 

 thirty or forty miles in length, and the smaller ones mere 

 ponds, but clear and deep, and all abounding in salmon 

 trout, perch, black bass, &c. The principle rivers are the 

 Muskoka, with its two branches, both heading in lakes, and 

 broken by many falls; the noble Magnetewan, the Severn, 

 Moon River, Sharpe's Creek, South River, and the Kashe- 

 shebogamog. Large trout abound in the South branch of 

 the Muskoka, which is broken by thirteen falls. This 

 stream is some ten rods wide and uniformly deep, with 

 forests impinging upon the margin, in which deer are very 

 numerous. There are but few ruffed grouse here and but 

 little small game. In the North Muskoka, there are no trout. 

 In the Magnetewan, which empties into Georgian Bay, the 

 speckled trout reach five pounds in weight, black bass 

 eight pounds, aud pickerel fourteen pounds. This river 

 traverses the finest deer country in Canada, Grouse are 

 also numerous, and ducks in their seaspu. In Moon River 



are monster muskalonge, or maskinonge. This si ream is 

 the outlet of Lake Muskoka. On the Severn, between the 

 towns of Bracebridge and Gravenhurst, is a fine ruffed 

 grouse district. The whole country is now so accessible 

 that the sportsman can easily visit the principal hunting 

 aud fishing grounds in the space of a single mouth. At 

 the most frequented places, boats, canoes, dogs, and guides 

 can be procured. A canoe with guide will cost $3 per 

 day. Provisions and wagons can be obtained at the larger 

 towns, but it is advisable for the sportsman to bring his 

 own camp kit and tent. Heavy clothing is requisite at all 

 times of the year, although the mid-svmmer days are often 

 very hot. On September 3d I sweltered at mid-day, and 

 suffered from the chill of a frosty night. For a successful 

 and enjoyable trip, I should recommend a complete tour of 

 the lakes upon which the several steamers ply, with stop- 

 pages at each, making the very comfortable hotels head- 

 quarters, and taking excursions to the adjacent hunting 

 and fishing grounds; camping a week on the South Musko- 

 ka, and ten days on the Magnetewan. 



Perhaps I can make the tour and route intelligible to in- 

 tending vititors by taking them with me from the point of 

 departure. To those leaving the States, Toronto is the 

 first objective point, reached from New York by the Erie 

 and Central railroad, via Niagara Palls and Suspension 

 Bridge, and from the West by Lake Shore and Great West- 

 ern. The great bugbear to strangers is "crossing the line." 

 At Clifton, we encountered his much-dreaded Eminence, 

 the Customs Iuspector — one Mr. McGrath — whose stature 

 reaches six feet and more or less inches. His face is fa- 

 miliar to those who have travelled this route for many 

 years past, and many wayfarers have had occasion to ac- 

 knowledge his friendly offices, especially if they be ladies 

 or nervous old women. His gallantry and his considera- 

 tion are only exceeded by his volubility on the fish ques- 

 tion. On all sporting matters he is enthusiastic. Gentle- 

 men of the rod and gun are his especial favorites. It may 

 readily be imagined, ' then, that when we presented our- 

 selves, with our luggage, for inspection, his sympathies 

 were at once touched. Locks and straps remained sacred. 



"So you are sportsmen, you say?" chuckled Mac. "Faith, 

 I never trouble sportsmen. Sure, I'm a sportsman my- 

 self. Is it for salmon you're going? Many's the beautiful 

 big salmon I've taken from under the bridge on the Liffey 

 at Dublin. You should have seen the fly I hooked them 

 with — one of my own pattern, with a brown body, and a 

 blue wing, and a red tail, with a bit of hog's fur for a hac- 

 kle! That's the fly that will take the salmon. What's that 

 you say? not going for salmon? well — uo matter — success 

 to you, whatever you do, and may you have plenty of luck ! 

 Now here are the checks for your luggage and there is the 

 cars, and you'll have plenty of time for dinner." 



Here, surely is a model that Custom House officers should 

 be fashioned from. After all, there's "nothing like fish." 



"By the way," we said, detaining him to hand him a 

 copy of Fobbst and Stream " Here is a paper perhaps 

 you may be pleased to read. It tells all about angling and 

 gunning, and sports generally." 



"Let me see it. Oh I I know that paper very well. Sure 

 and I read it every week. Begorra! the beggars have sent 

 me a bill for the same, and I have it in me pocket now, 

 and its not paid yet. A good paper it is, too. Now I must 

 go. Good morning, and a pleasant journey to you!" 



The remembrance of this episode amused us till we 

 reached Toronto. After a comfortable night at the Rossiu 

 House, where much information as to game and game lo- 

 calities was obtained from the proprietors, who are thorough 

 sportsmen, we took passage on the Northern Railway for 

 its terminus at Washego, distant 100 miles. This is the 

 expeditious course to the back settlements, but with a few 

 days to spare, the tourist should leave the train at Belle 

 Ewart, and there take the very elegant and comfortably ap- 

 pointed steamboat, the "Lady of the Lakes," up through 

 Lake Simcoe, into Lake Couchiching, which two bodies of 

 water are connected by a navigable channel. Near Starva- 

 tion Island at the head of Simcoe, and two miles from the 

 inlel, is a famous place for black bass. The steamboat 



crosses, the railroad here through a drawbridge, 

 and presently lands at the Couchiching Hotel, which is lo- 

 cated at the point of a peninsula or tongue of laud, about 

 a mile in length, the whole of which belongs to the hotel 

 company, artistically laid out in woodland, lawn, and gar- 

 den, and embellished with rustic fences, arbors, summer 

 houses, and kindred attractions. The Canadians are justly 

 proud of this summer resort, which compares most advan- 

 tageously with any in the States. Indeed it is much patron - 

 ized by people from the other side. The main building 

 accommodates about 200 guests. The'estahlishment in its 

 entirety is owned wholly or in part by the railroad com- 

 pany, and both hotel and railroad are managed and equip- 

 ped in the most creditable manner. Fred. Cumberland, 

 Esq., of Toronto, is the leading spirit of each. 



The pleasant town of Orillia occupies a hillside two miles 

 distant, accross the bay which the peninsula forms. From 

 thence a steamer runs to Washego at the head of Couchi- 

 ching Lake. This lake is fflled with islands, around which 

 the fishing for bass is flue. Guides and boats can be ob- 

 tained at the hotel or at the Indian village of Rama, three 

 miles above. At Washego one must take stage and travel 

 fourteen miles to Gravenhurst on Lake Muskoka, but 

 there is a good plank road, aud the change is not alto- 

 gether disagreeable. In two years the stages will be super- 

 seded by the continuation of the railroad. 



From Gravenhurst the route is all by water through lakes 

 Muskoka, Rosseau, and Joseph — all connecting — and the 

 whole may be said to be under the solo charge of A. P. 

 Cockburn, Esq., a member of the Domiuion Parliament, 

 who has been mainly instrumental in opening up this 

 region. Intending visitors will receive all required infor- 

 mation by addressing him at Toronto. After a few miles 

 run through picturesque islets, the steamer turns abruptly 

 into the river Muskoka, which it ascends seven miles to the 

 thriving village of Bracebridge— where a beautiful cascade 

 prevents further navigation. After a brief stop it returns 

 to the lake and continues its voyage through the chain be- 

 fore mentioned. Bracebridge is the starting point for the 

 Sonth Muskoka and for Trading Lake, sixteen miles dis- 

 tant, both splendid deer and trout districts, with guides, 

 boats, and dogs at both places. It is necessary, however, 

 to haul a boat over to the former, some ten miles. Next 

 year the road will be passable. Mr. Higgins, of Queens 

 Hotel, Bracebridge, will be of service in securing guides 

 and conveyance. At the head of Lake Rosseau is a fine 

 hotel that will accommodate sixty guests, kept by Mr. 

 Pratt, a New Yorker. Every convenience there. At the 

 head of Joseph Lake is a very comfortable hotel kept by 

 Mr. Frascr, and quite romantically situated. There is a road 

 from there to Parry Sound and Georgian Bay. From 

 Rosseau there is an excellent mail road to the Magnetewan, 

 thirty-three miles distant, and extending as many mote 

 miles to Lake Nippissiug. Telegraph communication Be- 

 tween all these points, which arc designated here merely 

 as places of rest and departure, accessible to the most, fee- 

 ble and comfortable in all respects for the wives of spi iTI 

 men. There is no end to minor objective points which can 

 be reached by steamboat, skiff, or wagon — Gull Lake, neat 

 Gravenhurst, at the beginning of the interior route, witlt 

 fair fishing for salmon trout, speckled trout, pickerel aud 

 bass, and some deer and ducks; Moon River, twenty miles 

 northwest from Gravenhurst, with a beautiful fall, and 

 very good fishing for the fish above mentioned, and mask- 

 inonge; Perch Lake, Silver Lake, Pickerel Lake, and 

 Terry's Lake, all near the head of Muskoka Lake, and well 

 stocked with fish; Sharpe's Crcok, near Bracebridge, with 

 speckled trout; a chain of lakes, readied by sixteen miles 

 staging from Bracebridge, called Fairy Vernon, Fox. and 

 Peninsula lakes, with the Lake of Bays, reached by a por- 

 tage of three-fourths of a mile; aud best of all, the waters 

 edjacent to and including the famous Magnetewan, all of 

 which teem with deer, ducks and fish of various kinds. Of 

 these are Aumick Lake, Seeli Lake, While Lake, and 

 Doe Lake, the last little visited but highly spoken of. 



1 have =implv designator fliesc lakes, 90 tlial tlie sports- 



