THE BOY 187 



likes to give his naked soles a taste of the soil for a 

 few days when he has seen the necessary seventeen 

 butterflies. 



Furthermore, we do not claim for him, nor does 

 he for himself, that he can catch more fish than 

 the scientific angler; but how he loves to go a- 

 fishin', and how he enjoys it all, from the prepara- 

 tive beginning to the very end ! What happiness is 

 his in the cutting of the pole in the always-pleas- 

 ant woods, where many a sapling is critically 

 scanned and many a one laid low before the right 

 and foreordained one is found; and in the buying 

 of the ten-cent line and half dozen beautiful blue 

 fish-hooks, selected with much deliberation from 

 the tempting array in the showcase of the country 

 store. How continually is he full of anticipation of 

 sport from the moment he begins digging his bait; 

 each big worm unearthed and going into the leaky 

 coffee-pot promises a fish, and as he hurries across 

 the fields to the stream he cannot stop even to 

 look for a bird's nest, though sparrow, bobolink, 

 and meadow lark start from almost at his feet. 

 Nor hardly can he halt to disentangle his hook and 

 line from the fence or bush they are seen to catch 

 in, for he knows the fish are waiting for him. Then 

 out of breath beside the stream he impales a lively 

 worm, spits on it, not so much for luck as in def- 

 erence to time-honored usage, gets his line straight 

 out behind him, and sends it with a whiz and a re- 



