Ice had already
formed in vessels.
We lodged here this Sunday night in a comfortable bed-room, apparently the
best one; and all that I noticed unusual in the night--for I still kept
taking notes, like a spy in the camp--was the creaking of the thin split
boards, when any of our neighbors stirred.
Such were the first rude beginnings of a town. They spoke of the
practicability of a winter-road to the Moosehead carry, which would not
cost much, and would connect them with steam and staging and all the busy
world. I almost doubted if the lake would be there,--the self-same lake,--
preserve its form and identity, when the shores should be cleared and
settled; as if these lakes and streams which explorers report never
awaited the advent of the citizen.
The sight of one of these frontier-houses, built of these great logs,
whose inhabitants have unflinchingly maintained their ground many summers
and winters in the wilderness, reminds me of famous forts, like
Ticonderoga, or Crown Point, which have sustained memorable sieges. They
are especially winter-quarters, and at this season this one had a
partially deserted look, as if the siege were raised a little, the snow-
banks being melted from before it, and its garrison accordingly reduced. I
think of their daily food as rations,--it is called "supplies"; a Bible
and a great coat are munitions of war, and a single man seen about the
premises is a sentinel on duty.
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