THE COUNTRY DOCTOR 193 



He comes home weary and worn at night, but 

 drops in at the shoemaker's and refreshes himself 

 with a half hour's chat of reminiscent or pro- 

 spective shooting or fishing. He finds the musty- 

 atmosphere of the cobbler's den congenial, and his 

 visits are so frequent that the neighbors have 

 ceased to ask him if the shoemaker is ailing. The 

 mending of bodies and the mending of soles, not- 

 withstanding their dissimilarity, seems to bring 

 the practitioners of the two arts into an affinity 

 which leads both to field sports and scientific pur- 

 suits more than any other professors and crafts- 

 men. 



When at last a day arrives that leaves the doctor 

 free to practice the lighter arts of recreation, with 

 what zest for them and entire abandonment of 

 weightier duties he enters upon them. The facul- 

 ties sharpened in his regular profession are keen in 

 the pursuit of these, and sensitive to every touch 

 of nature. He enjoys to the utmost her beauties, 

 discovers her secrets, and acquaints himself with 

 the lives of her children, the wood folk and water 

 folk whom he loves, that have grown dearer 

 through continual longing and rare opportunity. 



Far apart in the years of his professional life he 

 breaks the links of the lengthening chain, and es- 

 capes into the great woods beyond the recall by 

 night-bell, messenger, or telegram. His comrades 

 tell how he revels in his brief season of liberty, 



