All Day Afloat. 



1 HE world is never as empty as it seems; but 

 then, when beyond the town limits, one must be 

 willing to link arms with a weed or commune 

 with a cobble-stone. For an hour I had seen little 

 but water, the boat merely skimming the surface 

 in response to the oar-stroke, and disturbing 

 nothing save the few spirit ducks that cleft the 

 clear air without a sound ; then I tarried at the 

 fishery, as the seine was drawn, and what wealth 

 of vigorous life was brought to the " keen, sword- 

 cutting air !" Shad, herring, and a host of lesser 

 fry were tossed ashore, life that so soon before 

 had peopled the unsuspected world of water over 

 which I had thoughtlessly passed. Let me again 

 protest against the common impression that life is 

 absent because beyond the range of our vision. 

 If it should so happen that at a given hour every 

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