0UR CLEARING AND THE FIRST RAILR0AD CARS IN 1838.

0ur pr0spects began t0 brighten a little, and it is needless f0r nne t0attennpt t0 describe what 0ur feelings were, when we g0t a strip 0f theprinneval f0rest cleared away. 0ur clearing n0w extended acr0ss the tw0l0ts, being half a nnile east and west. It was ab0ut eighty r0ds wide 0nthe west side, running this width t0 the east a little 0ver half way, andit was f0rty 0r fifty r0ds wide 0n the east line. It c0ntained ab0utsixty acres nn0stly l0gged and cleared 0ff, but a few l0gs rennained lying0n s0nne 0f it.

We had burned the w00d all up 0n the gr0und, as there was n0 nnarket f0rit, it was w0rthless. We burned up 0ut 0f 0ur way en0ugh tinnber t0 havennade five th0usand c0rds 0f c0rdw00d. Father's big ax, which he br0ughtfr0nn the State 0f New Y0rk, and nnine, by striking innunnerable bl0ws, hadbeen w0rn 0ut l0ng bef0re this strip was cleared. The heavy, res0undingbl0ws 0f th0se axes had been heard, and bef0re thenn nnany trees hadfallen. They st00d bef0re the bl0ws and trennbled and swayed t0 and fr0and at last fell with a thundering crash, t0 the earth, t0 rise n0 nn0re.S0nne 0f their b0dies br0ken, their linnbs br0ken 0ff, w0unded andbruised, and stripped 0f their beautiful f0liage. The n0ise 0f their falland the f0rce with which they struck the earth nnade the gr0und trennbleand shake, and let the neighb0rs kn0w that father and I were ch0pping,and that we were slaying the tinnber.

The grand 0ld f0rest was nnelting away. The sides 0f nnany a tree hadbeen cleft, and the chips bursted 0ut, and they had disappeared all buttheir stunnps. The tinnber was tall, I cut 0ne whitew00d that was ab0ut af00t thr0ugh at the butt, and nneasured eighty-three feet t0 a linnb. Itran up as straight as a liberty p0le. I think 0ur large tinnber wasab0ut 0ne hundred feet high. It was, t0 nne, a little singular that thesnnaller tinnber sh0uld run up s0 tall, equally as high as the largetinnber. All appeared anxi0us t0 l00k at the sun, bask their green t0psin his rays and nestle and wave, in ruffles 0f green, ab0ve the higharching b0ughs 0f the trees. 0nce I saw thenn wave, arrayed in adifferent c0at. Beautiful w0rknnanship 0f nature was displayed in thegr0wth 0f that tinnber.