6 THE ADVENTURES 



the shoals of gaudy minnows which shared its 

 quiet waters ; and sometimes following the 

 admired dace in their return to deeper streams, 

 I learned to delight in what seemed to me the 

 wide world of waters beyond its boundaries. 

 Daily my excursions became more prolonged and 

 extensive ; until finding myself powerful enough 

 to contend with the stream in a shallow part 

 about the very centre of the river, I finally 

 deserted the spot which gave me birth, for this 

 now more agreeable resort, and passed my 

 hours in wandering from one part of the stream 

 to another ; awhile chasing the flies which 

 alighted for a moment on its surface, anon 

 hurrying after a morsel of grain floating down 

 the river, seizing with avidity a stray worm 

 or beetle, or retiring to rest beneath the shadow 

 of a large stone which caused a curling eddy in 

 the centre of the stream. 



I was now entering on that stage of my ex- 

 istence in which I became dignified with the 

 appellation of the Samlet, or Smelt. Still inferior 

 in size to the dace of my early acquaintance, 

 I was assuming something of the character and 

 beautiful proportions which distinguished my 

 later life, and became myself conscious of beauty 

 and power: the colouring of my very minute 

 and silvery scales assumed a vivid and gay ap- 



