=The Trossachs of America.=--Capt. Wm. R. Lord, author of "Reminiscences of a Sailor," in a recent article contributed to a Scottish paper, has happily called Lake George and its surroundings "The Trossachs of America." In writing of the autumn season he says: "Its similarity to the Trossachs of Scotland impresses one most vividly as seen at this season; the mountains are clothed in a garb, the prevailing color of which is purple, reminding me of a previous visit through the Scottish Highlands when the heather was in full bloom. I at that time felt it to be impossible that any other place on the face of the globe could equal the magnificently imposing grandeur of the 'Trossachs.' I must, however, freely admit that in its power of changing beauty this region of America fully equals, if it does not surpass it. Deeds of 'derring-do,' enacted in these mountain fastnesses in days gone by, still add to make the comparison more close. Our path at times seemed to be literally strewn with roses, for the different colored leaves that carpeted our way conveyed that thought. The depth and variegated beauty of coloring that marks this season of decaying foliage, would enrapture the heart of an artist. In my vocation I have had occasion to visit the four quarters of the globe, but never have I seen tints so strikingly beautiful." * * * The early fragments of our Colonial poetry and Revolutionary ballads are chanted in the midst of such profound silence and loneliness that they sound spectrally to our ears. _Bayard Taylor._ * * * =Lake George=, called by the French "Lac St. Sacrament," was discovered by Father Jacques, who passed through it in 1646, on his way to the Iroquois, by whom he was afterward tortured and burned. It is thirty-six miles long by three miles broad. Its elevation is two hundred and forty-three feet above the sea. The waters are of remarkable transparency; romantic islands dot its surface, and elegant villas line its shores. Fort William Henry and Ticonderoga, situated at either end of the lake, were the salients respectively of the two most powerful nations upon the globe. France and England sent great armies, which crossed each other's track upon the ocean, the one entering the St. Lawrence, the other the harbor of New York. Their respective colonies sent their thousands to swell the number of trained troops, while tribes of red men from the south and the north were marshalled by civilized genius to meet in hostile array upon these waters, around the walls of the forts, and at the base of the hills. In 1755, General Johnston reached Lake St. Sacrament, to which he gave the name of Lake George, "not only in honor of his Majesty, but to assert his undoubted dominion here." * * *