THOMPSON GOES A-FISHING. 53 



a good lunch, for we shall be gone all daj^, — and don't for- 

 get the lemons for this cokl-water-man's drink. " 



As we strolled along towards the boat, — Thompson and 

 I. — Thompson said, "I didn't want any of those boys to go 

 with me to-day. They are all fish-mad. They are 

 glorious fellows, but they liave been bitten by trout, and 

 nothing satisfies them but killing trout again. Now, I love 

 fishing dearly. There is no sport like it for me. But there 

 is a vast deal in fishing besides catching fish, and that is 

 what I want to get to-day. I want to explore this lake, — 

 to enjoy this scenery a little, — as well as to fish. They 

 Avouldn't be willing to do that, — it would be just fish! fish! 

 fish! all day with them, and if a fellow ventured a little 

 sentiment, there 'd be no end of banter. But you are new 

 to the woods — no trout has ever bitten you yet, although 

 your day is pretty sure to come if you repeat this kind of a 

 trip a few times, — and I have seen you looking off on the 

 lake and the mountains, in the morning and at sunset, in 

 such a sort of way, that I have judged that you enjoyed 

 these things enough to go a-fishing on my plan. So, I have 

 iisked you to go with me. " 



"Yes, " said I, "this is all new and very delightful to 

 me. On this trip I mean to catch the forest if I don't catch 

 many trout. I can't be content to go away with only a dim 

 memory of what, when I stop to look at it and feel it, 

 impresses me more deeply than anything else in nature 

 ever did. " 



"Agreed, then," replied Thompson, "that for to-day, 

 Ave shall fish as lazily, and talk as sentimentally, and keep 



