ONTARIO'S GREAT PLAY GROUND. 



FRANK YEIGH. 



Nature has been truly prodigal in her 

 good gifts to Canada. From the pictur- 

 esque hills and vales of Cape Breton, a 

 replica of Highland scenery; from the game 

 haunted forests of New Brunswick and the 

 untrodden wilds of Northern Quebec, to 

 the snow-clad peaks of British Columbia, 

 each of the Provinces of the Dominion is 

 a land of scenic beauty. Ontario is especial- 

 ly rich in her heritage of natural scenery, 

 from the island fringed shores of Lake 

 Huron to the upper waters of the Ottawa. 

 Within these limits lies a vast playground 

 for the tired children of the earth. So 

 extensive and intricate indeed is its net- 

 work of waterways that probably no man 

 has ever more than touched a corner or 

 penetrated far beyond its borders. Even 

 the roving Algonquin or Huron of former 

 days perchance knew little of the wonder- 



The front door of this wonderland of 

 Northern Ontario admits to the Muskoka 

 lakes. A hundred miles North from To- 

 ronto the railway will bring the traveler 

 to Lake Muskoka itself and to a trim little 

 steamer that is at its service. The trans- 

 ition from a hot train on a hot summer's 

 day to the ozone-filled air of the North is 

 as welcome as it is sudden, and the course 

 of the vessel as it winds in and out of a 

 maze of islands and channels, seems to 

 involve a constant boxing of the compass. 

 Then follow scenes of delight as the trio 

 of lakes — Muskoka, Rosseau and Joseph, 

 "the 3 Graces" — are explored. They alone 

 constitute a steamer route of over 50 miles 

 of surpassing beauty. Muskoka is con- 

 nected with Rosseau by the dark and nar- 

 row Indian river; Rosseau and Joseph are 

 dotted with the cosy cottages of other 



MOONLIGHT ON LAKE JOSEPH, MUSKOKA. 



land all about him except along the few 

 watery pathways over which his bark canoe 

 glided like a spirit of silence. To-day, it 

 is a land awaiting the invasion of the 20th 

 century white man ; awaiting him with 

 health for his ills, with rest for his throb- 

 bing nerves, with youth for his premature 

 age, and with a fresh addition of gray mat- 

 ter for his poor overworked brain. It is, 

 in fact, a great Nature sanitarium, a para- 

 dise of lake and stream, of forest and isl- 

 and, where, far from the haunts of men, 



"We stand in the heart of things, 

 The woods are round us heaped and dim," 



and Mother Earth lies ready to reveal her 

 secrets. 



happy summer idlers. Islands abound, 

 from a tiny one-tree speck of earth or a 

 bare cone of rock to a 1,000 acre isle 

 stranded mid-lake in beautiful Rosseau. 

 Each turn of the prow of steamer or canoe 

 reveals a new vista, and no 2 views are 

 alike, as the perspective changes with each 

 passing hour. The lakes have a life of 

 their own under a blue sky or a canopy of 

 summer clouds ; they wear another aspect 

 when the glow of sunset diffuses itself over 

 land and lake, mirrowing each islet in the 

 glassy waters. There is still another aspect 

 created by a harvest moon, when an inde- 

 scribable peace broods over the fair scene, 

 contrasted later by the frown of a thunder 

 cloud or the tempest of a squall. Thus the 



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