1907
August
Lake Umbagog
  Like most lakes of similar character and
surroundings Umbagog is swept at every season by violent
storms. It is the birth place of many of those which
rise so suddenly and loudly in midsummer. At the
close of a sultry afternoon in July or August one may
watch the scattered clouds hurrying together from various
directions as to an appointed rendezvous. With almost
incredible quickness they unite into one dark and portentous
mass covering a square mile or more of sky. Its front,
inky black in places in others lurid with green and
coppery lights,,looks as solid and impervious as that of
a mountain wall. Above it the sky is still clear and blue,
below and beyond it may be seen distant mountains
bathed in sunshine. For a brief time it appears to hang
motionless in the heavens but at length it advances
majestically across the lake tearing up the darkened water with
furious gusts of wind and sending zig-zag shafts of
lightning deep into the brooding forest while the
accompanying peals of thunder crash and echo on every hand.
I have known all this to happen within the space
of twenty minutes. After the cloud has passed off
to the eastward the sun comes out again to shine
on mountains veiled in silvery mist and in the now
placid and (?) lake. It is at just such times
that the lake appears most winning and that the
birds sing most freely and generally in the dripping
forest.
A summer storm