The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1862-07-22
COMMUNICATIONS.
[From our Regular Correspondent
Letter from the BackwoOds of Maine,

No. 5-From Kineo 10 Kdtdhdin.
To the Editors of the Press
As we sailed from the west shore of Mud
Pond, we left "Old Donnel" standing near his
own canoe. He held his ragged wooden cap
In his hand and presented most ludicrous
appearance.
sIsn't it strange" said one of our guides,
"that Dirty Donner should dress and look as
he does! He is comfortably well off, and is
well educated, but he will wear those old rags
and go about, with no care for anybody"
Who is he, and where did he come from?
were questions instantly asked.
"Oh, / didn't know till last winter, when |
had just come in from Caucomgomoc, where
I'd been hunting" continued the guide; Il
didn't know anything about him, except that
he was a lazy, dirty, ragged vagabond. One
night, after we'd got back from our hunt, we
found old Donner at 'Suncook and we got
him little over the bay and then we pumped
him. He was unwilling to say much at first,
but pretty soon he got warmed up and let on.
And such talk never heard in or out of the
woods. He didn't swear d-n, all the time
he was talking about the old Parish in Scot
land, where he was brought up. He was
schoolmaster there, and got in love with one
of his scholars. She was the daughter of
pretty wealthy man, and he was better off
still. But the old folks were against his hav-
ing Of her, and he couldn't get her, and he took
to drinkin', and came over here, and that's all
remember. Some say she followed him."
Poor old Donald! Your story is the same
as we have read in old books, and in the nov
els Of to-day. A broken life from crushed
hopes. Your rags and your seclusion are ex-
planned.
"In his historyis good, long Ledger story"
said Quip. "Cobb, Sylvanus Junior, ring for
the muse of light literature: here is material
enough in Old Donald for thirty "To be con-
tinueds."
As we drew our birches over into the outlet,
there was Old Donald watching still. Home
less and uncared for, and who is to blame p
The broken faith!
THAT old fellow" said onr guide, as we
sailed down the stream into Chamberlain, 'has
the lakes. He could get several hundred dol
lars for them now, but he won't sell them, for
he is keeping them against he gets too old to
take care of himself. Once he went up to
Boston with lot of furs, and sold them to one
Of the best furriers, but he came home as
drunk as ever and didn't have cent. He says
he'll never 60 out into the States again because
the boys are so unmannerly. But guess it is
because he saw SO many women-folks. Women
kind of take hold of old fellows, especially
when they get snubbed in early courtin'"
The guide is philosophical, truly. After
few more strokes of the paddle, we came on
the waters of Chamberlain Lake, or Apmoog-
enagamook, in the Indian. The barbarous
word has great significance. 1t means "the
water having an outlet on the side." Telos
Lake, southeast from us, used to be the south
eastern limit of st. John water; but @cut'
has now been made In such way that the
present limit Of the water is the Middle of
Chamberlain Lake.
1t was discovered that Telos was higher than
Webster Lake, and Penobscot enterprise seeing
this, bull: canal from one lake to the other
and allowed the water from Chamberlain to
pass through Telos into the East branch of the
river Penobscot But the water in Chamber
lain does not all run through the lower mouth
On the contrary, it presents the anomaly of
lake feeding two rivers = the one running
North, and the other finding its way South
So that couple of drops water, taking leave
Of each other in the middle of the lake. NAV
pursue different journies, one of them going
into the Bay of Fundy, the other into the Bay
of Penobscot. Imagine them meeting after
such journey; by some chance meeting as
neghborly drops in rainbow. We have heard
of "babbling brooks" and ''laughing waters"
so that if drops also could talk, these two
would have strange story to.tell. Practically
this diversion of Alleguash water into the Pc
nobscot, gave to Bangor great amount of
timber, which had previously gone into the
deal market of st. John city. The construc-
tion of the canal was costly, but very re-
munerative enterprise, and reflects great cred
itupon the proprietors and executors of the
work. BY making dam of the foot of
Churchill Lake, and one at Eagle Lake, as
well as having lock at Chamberlain, they
were able to take logs from the lower point
and thus secure them for our market. Two or
three years ago, the dam at the foot of Church
i'll gave way, and has thus temporarily sus-
pended numbering operations in that vicinity