12 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



but now they seem almost unreal in the peace of 

 my mountain home. 



In these quiet surroundings I cast my dry-fly 

 on the waters, and as I play the elusive trout 

 I smile, recalling the excitements of other days 

 when I ran buffaloes with Comanches, hunted 

 grizzlies with Shoshones, crocodiles and mana- 

 tees with Seminoles, cruising and camping 

 among other creatures and peoples of the wild. 



Time which dulls all other memories illumi- 

 nates the faces of the many friends I have made 

 and hold in close fellowship, whether they look 

 upon me from the spirit world, gather by my 

 fireside, or wander with me along the streams 

 of the Happy Valley. It is from such friends 

 that the call came for this story. 



Where shall I begin? Shall it be when my 

 youthful feet first pressed the pavement of that 

 wonderland of Wall Street? Or shall I com- 

 mence where my education began, according to 

 Dr. Holmes, some centuries before I was born 

 and tell of an unbroken line of ministers of the 

 gospel and of their pay in whippings, jail sen- 



