and so I have endeavoured to worship garrisonsfashion but never could raise within me the solemn feelings and true affection that I feel when alone with God in the forest. There I seem to stand face to face, with my Master; all around me is fresh and beautiful, as it came from his hand and there is no nicety, or doctrine, to chill the feelings. o, po the woods are the true temple, after all, for there the thoughts are free to mount higher even than the clouds." "You speak the truth, Master Pathfinder," said Cap, “ and a truth that all who live much in solitude know. What, for instance, is the reason that sea-faring men, in general, are so religious and conscientious in all they do, but the fact that they are so often alone with Providence, and have so little to do with the wickedness of the land. Many and many is the time, that I have stood my watch, under the equator perhaps, or in the Southern Ocean, when the nights are lighted up with the fires of heaven; and that is the time, I can tell you, my hearties, to bring a man to his bearings, in the way of his sins. I have rattled down mine, again and again, under such circumstances, until the shrouds and lanyards of conscience have fairly creaked with the strain. I agree with you, Master Pathfinder, therefore, in saying if you want a truly religious man, go to. sea, or go into the woods." 66 Uncle, I thought seamen had little credit, generally, for their respect for religion." "All d―d slander, girl! Ask your sea-faring man what his real, private opinion is of your landsmen, parsons and all, and you will hear the other side of the question. I know no class of men who have been so belied as sea-faring men, in this particular; and it is all because they do not stay at home to defend themselves, and pay the clergy. They haven't as much doctrine, perhaps, as some ashore, but as for all the essentials of Christianity, the seaman beats the landsman, hand-over-hand. "I will not answer for all this, Master Cap," returned Pathfinder, "but I dare say some of it may be true. I want no thunder and lightning to remind me of my God, nor am I as apt to bethink on most of all his goodness, in trouble and tribulations, as on a calm, solemn, quiet day, in a forest, when his voice is heard in the creaking of a dead branch, or my ears at least, as it is How is it with you, Eau i. the song of a bird, as much in ever heard in uproar and gales. douce; you face the tempests as well as Master Cap, and ought to know something of the feelings of storms?" "I fear that I am too young and too inexperienced, to be able to say much on such a subject," modestly answered Jasper. "But you have your feelings!" said Mabel, quickly. “You cannot-no one can live among such scenes without feeling how much they ought to trust in God!" "I shall not belie my training so much as to say I do not sometimes think of these things, but I fear it is not as often, or as much as I ought." "Fresh water!" resumed Cap, pithily; "you are not to expect too much of the young man, Mabel. I think they call you, sometimes, by a name which would insinuate all this. Eau-de-vie, is it not?" "Eau-douce," quietly replied Jasper, who from sailing on the lake had acquired a knowledge of French, as well as of several of the Indian dialects. "It is a name the Iroquois have given me to distinguish me from some of my companions who once sailed upon the sea, and are fond of filling the ears of the natives, with stories of their great salt-water lakes." "And why shouldn't they! I dare say they do the savages no harm. They may not civilize them, but they will not make them greater barbarians than they are. Ay—ay— Eau-deuce, that must mean the white brandy, which is no great matter after all, and may well enough be called the deuce, for deuced stuff it is!" "The signification of Eau-douce is sweet-water, or water that can be drunk, and it is the manner in which the French express fresh-water," rejoined Jasper, a little nettled at the distinction made by Cap, although the latter was the uncle of Mabel. "And how the devil do they make water out of Eau-indeuce, when it means brandy in Eau-de-vie? This may be the French used hereaway, but it is not that they use in Burdux and other French ports; besides, among seamen Eau always means brandy, and Eau-de-vie, brandy of a high proof. think nothing of your ignorance, young man, for it is natural to your situation, and cannot be helped. If you will return with me, and make a v'y'ge or two, on the Atlantic, it wil serve you a good turn the remainder of your days, and Mabel, there, and all the other young women, near the coast, will think all the better of you, should you live to be as old as one of the trees in this forest." 66 Nay, nay," interrupted the single-hearted and generous guide, "Jasper wants not for friends in this region, I can assure you; and though seeing the world, according to his habits, may do him good, as well as another, we shall think none the worse of him if he never quits us. Eau-douce or Eau-de-vie, he is a brave, true-hearted youth, and I always sleep as sound when he is on the watch as if I was up and stirring myself; ay, and for that matter, sounder too. The serjeant's daughter, here, doesn't believe it necessary for the lad to go to sea, in order to make a man of him, or one who is worthy to be respected and esteemed." Mabel made no reply to this appeal, and she even looked towards the western shore, although the darkness rendered the natural movement unnecessary to conceal her face. But Jasper felt that there was a necessity for his saying something; the pride of youth and manhood revolting at the idea of his being in a condition not to command the respect of his fellows, or the smiles of his equals of the other sex. Still he was unwilling to utter aught that might be considered harsh, to the uncle of Mabel; and his self-command was, perhaps, more creditable than his modesty and spirit. "I pretend not to things I don't possess," he said, “and lay no claim to any knowledge of the ocean, or of naviga tion. We steer by the stars and the compass on these lakes, running from head-land to head-land, and, having little need of figures and calculations, make no use of them. But, we have our claims, notwithstanding, as I have often heard from those who have passed years on the ocean. In the first place, we have always the land aboard, and much of the time on a lee-shore, and that I have frequently heard makes hardy sailors. Our gales are sudden and severe, and we are com pelled to run for our ports at all hours—” "You have your leads," interrupted Cap. 66 They are of little use, and are seldom cast "I have heard of such things, but confess I never saw one. 66 Oh! deuce, with a vengeance. A trader, and no deep sea! Why, boy, you cannot pretend to be any thing of a mariner. Who the devil ever heard of a seaman without his deep-sea ?" "I do not pretend to any particular skill, Master Cap-" "Except in shooting falls, Jasper; except in shooting falls and rifts," said Pathfinder, coming to the rescue; "in which business, even you, Master Cap, must allow he has some handiness. In my judgment, every man is to be esteemed or condemned according to his gifts, and if Master Cap is useless in running the Oswego falls, I try to remember that he is useful when out of sight of land; and if Jasper be useless when out of sight of land, I do not forget that he has a true eye and steady hand when running the falls." "But Jasper is not useless-would not be useless, when out of sight of land," said Mabel, with a spirit and energy that caused her clear sweet voice to be startling, amid the solemn stillness of that extraordinary scene. "No one can be useless there, who can do so much here, is what I mean; though I dare say, he is not as well acquainted with ships as my uncle." 66 66 Ay, bolster each other up in your ignorance," returned Cap, with a sneer; we seamen are so much out-numbered when ashore, that it is seldom we get our dues; but when you want to be defended, or trade is to be carried on, there is outcry enough for us.” "But, uncle, landsmen do not come to attack our coasts; so that seamen only meet seamen.' "So much for ignorance!-Where are all the enemies that have landed in this country, French and English; let me inquire, niece?" "Sure enough, where are they!" ejaculated Pathfinder. "None can tell better than we who dwell in the woods, Master Cap. I have often followed their line of march by bones bleaching in the rain, and have found their trail by graves, years after they and their pride had vanished together. Generals and privates, they lay scattered throughout the land, so many proofs of what men are when led on by their love of great names, and the wish to be more than their fellows" "I must say, Master Pathfinder, that you sometimes utter opinions that are a little remarkable, for a man who lives by the rifle; seldom snuffing the air but he smells gunpowder, or turning out of his berth but to bear down on an enemy.' "If you think I pass my days in warfare against my kind, you know neither me, nor my history. The man that lives. in the woods, and on the frontiers, must take the chances of he things among which he dwells. For this I am not accountable, being but an humble and powerless hunter, and scout, and guide. My real calling is to hunt for the army, on its marches, and in times of peace; although I am more especially engaged in the service of one officer, who is now absent in the settlements, where I never follow him. Nono-bloodshed and warfare are not my real gifts, but peace and mercy. Still, I must face the enemy as well as another, and as for a Mingo, I look upon him, as man looks on a snake-a creatur' to be put beneath the heel, whenever a fitting occasion offers." 66 Well, well—I have mistaken your calling, which I had thought as regularly warlike as that of a ship's gunner. There is my brother-in-law, now; he has been a soldier since he was sixteen, and he looks upon his trade as every way as respectable as that of a sea-faring man, which is a point 1 hardly think it worth while to dispute with him." 66 My father has been taught to believe that it is honourable to carry arms," said Mabel, "for his father was a soldier before him." "Yes, yes"-resumed the guide--"most of the serjeant's gifts are martial, and he looks at most things in this world over the barrel of his musket. One of his notions now, is to refer a king's piece to a regular double-sighted, long-barreled ifle! Such conceits will come over men, from long habit; and prejudice is perhaps the commonest failing of human natur'." "Ashore, I grant you," said Cap. "I never return from a v'y'ge, bu. I make the very same remark. Now, the last time I came in, I found scarcely a man in all York, who would think of matters and things in general as I thought about them myself. Every man I met appeared to have bowsed all his idees up into the wind's eye, and when he did fall off a little from his one-sided notions, it was commonly |