woodsmen
urged their little canoe swiftly along.

By degrees the light of day increased, and Jasper awakened Heywood in
order that he might behold the beautiful scenery through which they
passed. They were now approaching the upper end of the lake, in which
there were innumerable islands of every shape and size--some of them not
more than a few yards in length, while some were two or three hundred
yards across, but all were clothed with the most beautiful green foliage
and shrubbery. As the pale yellow of the eastern sky began to grow red,
ducks and gulls bestirred themselves. Early risers among them first
began to chirp, and scream, and whistle their morning song,--for there
are lazy ones among the birds, just as there are among men. Sometimes,
when the canoe rounded a point of rocks a flock of geese were found
floating peacefully among the sedges, sound asleep, with their heads
under their wings. These would leap into the air and fly off in great
alarm, with much difficulty and tremendous splutter, reminding one of
the proverb, "The more haste the less speed." At other times they would
come upon a flock of ducks so suddenly, that they had no time to take
wing, so they dived instead, and thus got out of the way.

Then the yellow hue of sunrise came, a good while before the sun himself
rose. The last of the bright stars were put out by the flood of light,
and multitudes of little birds on shore began to chirp their morning
song; and who can say that this was not a hymn of praise to God, when,
in the Holy Bible itself, in the 150th Psalm, we find it written, "Let
everything that hath breath praise the Lord."

At last the sun burst forth in all his golden glory. Water, earth, and
sky glowed as if they had been set on fire. What a blessed influence
the sun has upon this world! It resembles the countenance of a loving
father beaming in upon his family, driving away clouds, and diffusing
warmth and joy.

The birds were now all astir together, insomuch that the air seemed
alive with them. There are small white gulls, with red legs and red
beaks, in those large inland lakes, just as there are on the ocean.
These began to utter their sweet wild cries so powerfully that they
almost drowned the noise of all the rest. Yet the united chorus of the
whole was not harsh. It was softened and mellowed by distance, and fell
on the ears of the two hunters as pleasantly as the finest music does in
the ears of men trained t