Camp and Trail
A Story of the Maine Woods
by Isabel Hornibrook
TO
J.L.H.
Preface
In adding another to the list of stories bearing on that subject of perennialinterest to boys, adventures in camp and on trail among the woods and lakes ofNorthern Maine, one thought has been the inspiration that led me on.
It is this: To prove to high-mettled lads, American, and English as well, thatforest quarters, to be the most jovial quarters on earth, need not be made ashambles. Sensation may reach its finest pitch, excitement be an unfailingfillip, and fun the leaven which leavens the camping-trip from start to finish,even though the triumph of killing for triumph’s sake be left out of theplay-bill.
“There is a higher sport in preservation than indestruction,” says a veteran hunter, whose forest experiences anddescriptions have in part enriched this story. I commend the opinion toboy-readers, trusting that they may become “queer specimensportsmen,” after the pattern of Cyrus Garst; and find a moreentrancing excitement in studying the live wild things of the forestthan in gloating over a dying tremor, or examining a senseless mass ofhorn, hide, and hoofs, after the life-spring which worked the mechanismhas been stilled forever.
One other desire has trodden on the heels of the first: That Young England andYoung America may be inspired with a wish to understand each other better, totake each other frankly and simply for the manhood in each; and that thusmisconception and prejudice may disappear like mists of an old-day dream.
ISABEL HORNIBROOK.