

XV 



CONCERNING A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 

 THE MUSCALONGE 



is the record of a 

 scoffer downed, a scep- 

 tic converted. To hold 

 one end of a line while 

 a small wriggling thing 

 is struggling stupidly 

 to get away at the other end, and 

 further complicated by wetness and 

 sliminess and sun-burnt nose, had 

 never appealed to me as either amus- 

 ing or worth the doing. To be 

 sure I knew that some persons prefer 

 syncopated music to classic, yellow 

 journalism to conservative, it being 

 largely a matter of education in 



