A SUMMER VOYAGE 3 



sons who spend their lives in the open air, — to 

 soldiers, hunters, fishers, laborers, and to artists 

 and poets of the right sort. How full of it, to 

 choose an illustrious example, was such a man as 

 Walter Scott! 



But no such person came in answer to my prayer, 

 so I set out alone. 



It was fit that I put my boat into the water at 

 Arkville, but it may seem a little incongruous that 

 I should launch her into Dry Brook ; yet Dry Brook 

 is here a fine large trout stream, and I soon found 

 its waters were wet enough for all practical pur- 

 poses. The Delaware is only one mile distant, and 

 I chose this as the easiest road from the station 

 to it. A young farmer helped me carry the boat to 

 the water, but did not stay to see me off; only 

 some calves feeding alongshore witnessed my em- 

 barkation. It would have been a godsend to boys, 

 but there were no boys about. I stuck on a rift 

 before I had gone ten yards, and saw with misgiv- 

 ing the paint transferred from the bottom of my 

 little scow to the tops of the stones thus early in 

 the journey. But I was soon making fair headway, 

 and taking trout for my dinner as I floated along. 

 My first mishap was when I broke the second joint 

 of my rod on a bass, and the first serious impedi- 

 ment to my progress was when I encountered the 

 trunk of a prostrate elm bridging the stream within 

 a few inches of the surface. My rod mended and 

 the elm cleared, I anticipated better sailing when 

 I should reach the Delaware itself; but I found on 



