y years after marriage!

Our drive brought us to the shore of Lake Canesus, and a lovely scene it
was; the banks were in many places timbered to the water's edge by the
virgin forest, now radiant with the rich autumnal tints; the afternoon
sun shone forth in all its glory from a cloudless sky, on a ripp'less
lake, which, like a burnished mirror, reflected with all the
truthfulness of nature the gorgeous scene above; and as you gazed on the
azure abyss below, it kept receding and receding till the wearied sight
of the creature was lost in the fathomless depths of the work of his
Almighty Creator. Who has not for the moment imagined that he could
realise the infinity of space, as, when gazing at some bright star, he
strives to measure the distance of the blue curtain spread behind,
which, ever receding, so mocks the efforts of the ambitious eye, that
its powers become bewildered in the unfathomable depths of immensity;
but I am not sure whether such feelings do not come home to one more
powerfully when the eye gazes on the same object through the medium of
reflection;--for, as with the bounties of the Creator, so with the
wonders of His creation--man is too prone to undervalue them in
proportion to the frequency with which they are spread before him; and
thus the deep azure vault, so often seen in the firmament above, is less
likely to attract his attention and engage his meditations, than when
the same glorious scene lies mirrored beneath his feet.

This charming lake has comparatively little cultivation on its borders;
two or three cottages, and a few cattle grazing, are the only signs that
man is asserting his dominion over the wilderness. One of these
cottages belongs to a member of the Wadsworth family, who owns some
extent of land in the neighbourhood, and who has built a nice little
boat for sailing about in the summer season. I may as well mention in
this place, that the roofing generally used for cottages is a wooden
tile called "shingle," which is very cheap--twelve-and-sixpence
purchasing enough to cover a thousand feet.

While driving about in this neighbourhood, I saw, for the first time,
what is termed a "plank-road,"--a system which has been introduced into
the United States from Canada. The method of construction is very
simple, consisting of two stringers of oak two inches square, across
which are laid three-inch planks eight feet long, and generally of
hemlock or pine. No spiking of the planks into the