DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 37 



in which there were depths that held fish innumer- 

 able, from which w^e half filled our little creel. 



For our last day we w^ere on the moor, where the 

 Barle is but a trickle and there is little chance of 

 fish; but we were on the moor, whose fascination has 

 always held me true to my first love of Nature. It 

 was here, on her broad bosom, that I often breathed 

 my boyish troubles with a perfect faith that she would 

 understand. She was to me a second mother, whose 

 arms stretched from everywhere for me. She was 

 in the hills and in the dales and wafted back to me 

 gentle, soothing breezes, until I have laid m^e down 

 and slept with a vow upon my lips that I would try 

 to be the little man my mother wished. 



It was thus we spent our first three weeks of married 

 life, each day of which struck a blow to rivet the 

 bonds the Church had bound us in. That youthful, 

 joyous time remained with us a sweet, and sometimes 

 a laugh-provoking, memory to be marshalled out to 

 scare away cares and troubles, and from it I chose to 

 write the guidance asked for by my son. 



