SPRINGER'S FOREST LIFE AND FOREST TREES.*
when a og turns across a narrow rapid or above a fall, And, acting as a dam, prevents the logs behind it from passing.
"Thousands upon thousands form one dense breast-work, against and through which a boiling leaping river rushes with terrible force. Who that is unaccustomed, to such scenes, on viewing that pile of massive logs, now i
densely packed, cross-piled, and interwoven n every conceivable position in a deep chasm with overhanging cliffs, with a mighty column of rushing water, which like the heavy pressure upon an arch confines the whole more closely, would decide otherwise than that the mass must lie in its present position, either to decay or be moved by some extraordinary convulsion. Tens of thousands of dollars' worth lie in this wild and unpromising position. The property involved, together with the exploits of daring and feats of skill to be performed in breaking that jam,' invest the whole with a degree of in- terest not common to the ordinary pursuits of life and but little realized by many who are even familiar with the terms lumber and river-driving. In some cases many obstructing logs are to be removed singly. Days and weeks sometimes arc thus expended before the channel is cleared. In other eases a single point only is to be touched, and the whole jam is in motion. To hit upon the most vulnerable point is the first object ; the best means of effecting it next claims attention • then the consummation brings into requisition all the physical force, activity, and courage of the men, more especially those engaged at the dangerous points. "From the neighbouring precipice, overhanging the scene of operation, a man is suspended by a rope round his body, and lowered near to the spot where a breach is to be made, which is always selected at the lower edge of the jam. The point may be treacherous, and yield to a feeble touch, or it may require much strength to move it. In the latter case, the operator fastens a long rope to a log, the end of which is taken down stream by a portion of the crew, who are to give a long pull and strong pull when all is ready. He then commences prying while they are pulling. If the jam starts, or any part of it, or if there be even an indication of its starting, he is drawn suddenly up by those stationed above; and in their excitement and apprehensions for his safety, this is frequently done with such haste as to subject him to bruises and scratches upon the sharp-pointed ledges or bushes in the way. It may be thought best to cut off the key-log, or that which appears to be the principal barrier. Accordingly, he is let down on to the jam; and as the place to be operated upon may in some cases be a little re- moved from the shore, he either walks to the place with the rope attached to his body, or, untying it, leaves it where he can readily grasp it in time to be drawn from his perilous position. Often, where the pressure is direct, a few blows only are given with the axe, when the log snaps in an instant with a loud report, followed suddenly by the violent motion of the 'jam' ; and ere our bold river-driver is jerked half way to the top of the cliff, scores of logs, in wildest confusion, rush beneath his feet, while he yet dangles in air above the rushing tumbling mass. If that rope, on which life and hope hang thus suspended, should part, worn by the sharp point of some jutting rock, death certain and quick would be inevitable."
However, it is not all work in the woods. There are the even- ing's song and story, the occasional hunt by the lumberers, and sometimes, when taken by surprise, the hunt of the lumberer by the beast. There are incidents full of peril by land, water and ice, and Mr. Springer adds some digressive topics relating to 'floods or to forests on fire. The more businesslike portion of the matter is
• Forest Life and Forest Trees ; comprising Winter Camp-Life among the Log- gers, and Wild-Wood Adventure. With Descriptions of Lumbering Operations on the various Rivers of Maine and New Brunswick. By John 8. Springer. Published by Rarper and Brother', New York ; imported by Sampson Low. This volume contains a lumberer's reminiscences of his old pur- suit, long after he had left it for a more civilized and sedentary em- ployment, with the facility with which an American changes his e. A main object of the author is to raise the repute of his old vocation by describing the hardships, dangers, and enjoyments of the lumberer. There is no literary art in the book, but some ama- teur-looking attempts at it. The -volume, however, is fresh and informing. We are carried up into the autumnal and wintry wild woods of Maine, of which State the author is a native : we are shown the preparations for a winter's campaign against the trees of the forest,—how exploring parties go out to reconnoitre the ground, or rather the pines that grow upon it, while others get ready the winter provender—the teams of oxen, the waggons, and the implements of their trade. When all this is settled, they start or the wilderness, which is to be their
home ome rom
the fall of autumn till late in our spring : they make or 1 force a road through unexplored tracts, cross water on rafts ' TISITING M RELATIONS.* or on the ice, and exhibit in the management of their caravan of waggons the readiness and resources of a quartermaster - tion of ,a series of books which have the air of " a school," in the with an army. When they reach their selected station,
painter s sense. Indeed, but for their number and the variety of their subjects, they might be supposed to emanate from one mind, and have built their log-house, the work begins of felling trees their characteristics have so much in common. Varied scholar- attended and dragging them to the banks of the stream; both labours ship, knowledge of the world without much apparent regard for attended with necessary danger, probably aggravated by that of risk.
bravado which distinguishes men whose vocation is full what is called "society," and a careful style founded on the prose writers of past generations, but easy, na-tural, and perfectly free The task of felling trees and lowering them, sometimes from moun-
from the mannerism which attends upon imitation, are traits that thin precipices, and drawing them through the woods by means of more or less distinguish the whole. Where the subject requires oxen, is not the most dangerous part of the trade. The risk and difficulty begin when the weather breaks and the collected " logs " , it, they have a quiet strength of depiction, quite opposite to the artificial mode of the day, which fixes attention as much upon the have to be floated down the tributary streams and the main rivers, te This must be done dining a short time ; for the smaller rivers and the upper parts of the larger are, on account of shallows, only genial available for floating during the full water caused by the melting snows. There is at all times the difficulty of rapids and falls, wit the danger of releasing what is technically called a "jam"; that is,
told in a plain solid manner. The incidents and tales are of a mixed kind; now resembling the description of the lumbeier's life, now displaying attempts at fine writing. As the author has received assistance from brother lumberers, and quotes from brother authors anything that illustrates his purpose, it is probable that the ama- teur-looking attempts at art may not be his own.
The volume will be found interesting from its pictures of hard- ship. exertion, skill, and adventure, in a country little known to the English reader even from books. It has also an interest of a deeper kind. It is impossible to look at the willing labouis of these men, and to consider them as only a portion of the rural population of the United States, without seeing what a raw mate- rial they possess for war or enterprise. It is the tendency of a dense population and a high civilization to dwarf the physical powers and energies of men in two ways,—by congregating large numbers of men in cities, and engaging them in pursuits which if not absolutely injurious to health are destructive to hardihood ; and by removing from the face of a country those natural obstacles which call forth energy and readiness of resource. In England, the working agriculturist is the most helpless of men out of his routine, from his having nothing to contend with : the "navvies," miners, and mariners, are almost the only classes trained to en- durance and great physical exertion in their regular business, ex- cept the Navy and perhaps the Army, as special vocations. This physical deterioration of a people will not remedy- itself; possibly it may not admit of remedy, any more than the advancing age of an individual. However, it is a matter worth consideration, that the truth and its conclusions may at least be known.
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