6 THE JONATHAN PAPERS 



The conductor looked us both over. We 

 were evidently not a bridal couple, and we 

 did n t look quite like criminals he gave us 

 up. 



When we saw a bit of country that looked 

 attractive, we got off. That was something I 

 had always wanted to do. All my life I have 

 had to go to definite places, and my memory 

 is full of tantalizing glimpses of the charming 

 spots I have passed on the road and could 

 never stop to explore. This time we really did 

 it. We left the little railway station, sitting 

 plain and useful beside the track, went up the 

 road past a few farmhouses, over a fence and 

 across a soft ploughed field, and down to the 

 little river, willow-bordered, shallow, golden- 

 brown, with here and there a deep pool under 

 an overhanging hemlock or a shelving, fretted, 

 bush-tangled bank. 



We sat down in the sun on a willow log 

 and put our rods together. Does anything 

 sound prettier than the whir and click of the 

 reel as one pulls out the line for the first time 

 on an April day? We sat and looked at the 

 world for a little, and let the wind, with just 

 the faint chill of the vanishing snows still in 



