lcome to me. When about nine years of age, I accompanied my brothers
to the Sugar bush one afternoon in spring; and during a long continued
run of the sap from the maple trees it was often necessary to keep the
sugar kettles boiling through the night to prevent waste. On the
afternoon in question, my brothers intended remaining over night in the
bush, and I obtained permission to stay with them, thinking it would be
something funny to sleep in a shanty in the woods. The sugar-bush was
about two miles from our dwelling, and I was much elated by the prospect
of being allowed to assist in the labors of sugar-making. My brothers
laughingly remarked that I would probably have enough of the woods, and
be willing to return home when night came, but I thought otherwise.
During the afternoon I assisted in tending the huge fires, and the
singing of the birds, and the chippering of the squirrels as they hopped
in the branches of the tall trees, delighted me, and the hours passed
swiftly by, till the sun went down behind the trees and the shades of
evening began to gather about us. As the darkness increased, I began to
think the sugar-bush not the most desirable place in the world, in which
to pass the night, and all the stories I had ever heard of bears,
wolves, and other wild animals rushed across my mind, and filled me with
terror. I would have given the world, had it been at my disposal, to
have been safely at home; and it was only the dread of being laughed at,
which prevented me from begging my brothers to take me there. And when
darkness had entirely settled over the earth, and the night-owls set up
their discordant screams, my fears reached a climax. I had never before
listened to their hideous noise, and had not the slightest idea of what
it was. I had often heard old hunters speak of a wild animal, called the
catamount, which they allowed had been seen in the Canadian forests
during the early settlement of the country. I had heard this animal
described as being of large size, and possessing such strength and
agility, as enabled then to spring from the boughs of one tree to those
of another without touching the ground, and at such times their savage
cries were such as to fill the heart of the boldest hunter with terror.
I shall never forget the laugh which my grown-up brothers enjoyed at my
expense, when trembling with terror, I enquired if they thought a
catamount was not approaching among the tree-tops. "Do not be alarmed,"