WINTER ANGLING. 255 



in nature's aspects, and the delightful sense of unre- 

 straint that comes only of fresh air, of wholesome ex- 

 ercise, of angling. 



"May 20th. — * * * The streams hereabout lack 

 two important elements which are the charm of my 

 favorite kill, to wit, picturesqueness and the pos- 

 sibility of large trout — large, I mean, for our mountain 

 brooks where still found au nature!. I went over the 

 other day to Briglit's Run. I don't know exactly 

 where it is, and I consider it (next to Briglit's disease 

 of the kidneys) the very worst thing Bright has devel- 

 oped. It is a stream such as might properly empty 

 into the Dismal Swamp, and find itself quite at home 

 there. It is totally devoid of romantic beauty — and 

 nearly so of trout. I never worked so hard in my life 

 for twenty-two little ones, that put me to the blush as 

 I put them in the basket. I was perpetually in a row 

 with the overhanging thickets and the underlying logs, 

 and my thoughts were a monologue of exclamation 

 points. I would not angle in Briglit's turgid waters 

 again for all the trout the most minute analysis might 

 discover in them. 



' ' Yesterday I had a much more agreeable day without 

 a seven-mile ride on a pesky buck-board. I went quite 

 alone, up the Buckhill as far as the Fall. This is a 

 pleasant stream full of Nature — and sawdust — with 

 here and there a speckled trout and here and there a 

 black snake. (By special permission of Mr. Tennyson.) 

 There really are now and then cool little nooks which 



