MY FIR8T TROtTT! RAIN AND ROADS. 27 



trout. Three times came the flash, the thrill and the exult- 

 ation, and three little trout I proudly bore to my companions 

 under the wood-shed; and lightly did I heed the laughter 

 and derisive comments which my tingerlings excited,— for, 

 in the flush of my new experience I was in a state to see 

 visions and dream dreams. In many an experience since 

 that hour, by f(M-est stream and pool. I have seen the full 

 vision and realized the dream, then infantile and wingless, 

 but never again did the felicity quite repeat itself of catch- 

 ing myfr.ot trout. 



We had designed.— that is, the C^aptain had designed for 

 us,— to go up West Canada Creek lo 'VStillwater," fifteen 

 or twenty miles further, the entire distance to be travelled 

 on foot with packs on our backs, through a trackless forest. 

 The heavy rain had made the travelling exceedingly diffi- 

 cult, and raised and roiled the water sufiiciently to destroy 

 all hope of taking fish in the streams for days to come. The 

 council of war around the snuidge decided to change the 

 plan of the campaign, and advance, with Wilkinson's 

 baggage and supply ti-ain of one wagon, to Jock's Lake 

 ( Transparent Lake, on the maps ), nine and a quarter miles 

 distant and northerly. 



A town road had been cut out, years before, under the delu- 

 sion that at some time or other this region would be occupied 

 l)y settlers and the forest tamed. But natiu-e never designed 

 the mountains and rocks and scanty soil for farms. She bolted 

 and barred and locked up these sacred precincts against the 

 plow and reaper,— and threw away the key. The forest of 

 the Adirondacks blesses its worshipers who come with 



