FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



of rod and reel, besides a very large and com- 

 fortable grip in which is stored all the necessi- 

 ties for the occasion. These passengers do not 

 seem to be very talkative, and it v^ould be very 

 hard indeed for anybody to gain from them 

 just what their point of destination is, but their 

 smiling countenances and their light-heartedness 

 convince one at once that they are bound for 

 that pleasure of sports which relieves the mind 

 and destroys for the time being all appearances 

 of old age. 



My first experience in trout fishing was years 

 ago when a boy in Connecticut, where the trout 

 that we took were small, very seldom measur- 

 ing more than six inches in length, and were 

 considered at that time very good-sized trout. 

 Those trout I took from brooks which were 

 shallow and rushed down through the hills, in 

 many places so shallow that it seemed almost 

 impossible for even a small trout to survive, 

 and finally reaching the river, but never, under 

 any other conditions, reaching the salt water. 

 My experience in Barnstable County was just 

 the opposite : all the brooks and rivers, small 

 and large, reach the salt water, usually by 

 direct connection; whereas in Connecticut they 

 emptied into large rivers and of course reach- 



136 



