LIVING WITH A LAKE. 



ONE of the necessities of a complete life is to 

 have had intimate and varied relations 

 with water in all its scenic forms. Man can 

 never feel that he knows nature until he has dwelt 

 near to every natural division of water long enough 

 to become thoroughly sensible of its influence, its 

 changing phases, its distinctive effect. One need not 

 subscribe to the old saying of the nature-lover, 

 " Water is best." But one must at least know how 

 good water really is, in its ministry through the eye 

 to the spirit, ere he can be said to have passed even 

 the novitiate's degree in nature lore. 



I have had all the joy and enlargement which come 

 from intercourse, if one may so speak, with all the 

 chief forms of aquatic scenery and surroundings. I 

 have known the charm of rivers ; and pictures of the 

 industrious Merrimac and of the leisurely Mystic and 

 of the classic Charles still rise to gladden many a re- 

 trospective thought. I have rich recollections of the 

 sea, in every aspect, under every sort of a sky, beat- 

 ing or rippling upon all sorts of coasts. Countless 

 brooks of blessed memory make music in my soul to- 

 day, as sweet as when I heard with ear of sense the 



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