ALONG THE WATERWAYS 35 



the ears to* hear. He is watching day by day, week 

 by week, year by year, the procession that follows 

 the waterways flower, fern, beast and bird, and 

 sometimes man, from the greening of the first grass - 

 blade that tells of the dawn of Spring, until the 

 footprints of mink and skunk in the snow alone 

 point to where the stream lies ice -covered. To 

 these humble followers the voice speaks through 

 their necessity, and guides them to the warm, 

 thinly -crusted spring-hole where they may drink. 



Time o' Year uses his fishing-rod as a natural 

 shield to ward off questioning, a commonly under- 

 stood excuse for days spent with nature, in what 

 otherwise would be called idleness. Have not many 

 men, naturalists and moralists both, in all time, 

 tried, like this childlike man, to hide their nature - 

 ward and spiritual longings, held too sacred for 

 casual handling, behind a slender fishing-rod ? 



Was it the love of fish -catching, or the voice, 

 that led Walton from the linen-draper's, or, some 

 say, the ironmonger's shop, to follow the water- 

 ways ? Sportsmen still argue that he did not rank 

 as a fisherman pure and simple, for to him a reel 

 was a confusing implement, and he lacked the skill 

 to fish up-stream. 



Did he absorb from the daintily cooked trout 



