The person to whom I allude, resided in the township of Emily, and had been all the summer working at his trade in the village of Bowmanville, to earn money sufficient to pay for his land, which he had succeeded by the fall in doing.  As the cold weather had set in, he determined to return home, and chop all the winter on his farm.  He knew that by crossing the township of Darlington and Manvers in an oblique direction, twenty-five or six miles in length, he could reach his own house in half the time, the distance by the road being more than double that by which he proposed to travel.  He therefore determined to try the short way, although he was well aware that the last eight or ten miles of his road was through the Bush, with not even a blazed line to guide him.  He was, however, young and active, and moreover considered himself a good backwoodsman.  He started one fine frosty morning early in December, expecting he should be able to reach his own house sometime before sundown.

For the first ten or twelve miles he got on pretty well, as he had a sleigh-track to follow, and as long as the sun shone out he made a good course.  Unfortunately for him, a snow-storm came on and obscured his only guide.  He, however, struggled on manfully through cedar-swamps and over ridges, with the snow half-way up to his knees, till the approach of darkness compelled him to look out for some place to shelter him from the storm, where he might best pass the weary hours of the coming night.

He selected a dry spot beneath some spreading cedars, and busied himself as long as daylight lasted in collecting as much fire-wood as would last till the morning.  He then gathered a quantity of hemlock-brush for his bed, and by breaking off some large limbs from the surrounding evergreens, succeeded at last in forming a temporary shelter.  For a long time he despaired of getting a fire, till he at length found some dry cedar-bark, which he finally succeeded in igniting with a piece of punk,* which every backwoodsman carries with him for that purpose.  Though the poor fellow had only taken with him provisions for a day’s journey, he made a hearty supper, merely reserving a portion for his breakfast, not suspecting that he should fail in reaching his destination.  He fully expected he should see the sun in the morning, which would enable him to correct this course; for he knew that he was in the township of Manvers, and not more than seven or eight miles from his own home.

[* A substance obtained from the sugar-maple, similar to German tinder.]

Wearied with his day’s journey, he slept the greater part of the night, although awakened occasionally by the cold.  At such times he would heap fresh fuel on the fire, and again compose himself to sleep.