OCTOBER 101 



those wading' in rapid streams in mountain for- 

 ests, where the roaring of cataracts is heard in- 

 stead of the rumble and clang of street traffic. 

 Some of the fishermen along the docks of the Chi- 

 cago parks are romantic figures, and their occa- 

 sional camp-fires on the sands near some aristo- 

 cratic hotel bring a strange sense of wildness into 

 the artificiality of the great metropolis. To the 

 layman this present season is not commonly asso- 

 ciated with the sport or labor of fishing. He thinks 

 more habitually of early spring expeditions, long 

 summer days by river or by lake lily-beds, perhaps 

 of lines or spears searching beneath December ice. 

 A friend wrote from Clear Lake on the fifth of this 

 month : ' ' Great numbers of fish are caught daily, 

 mostly perch. We caught a large number this 

 morning and sixty-two this afternoon, including 

 two small pickerel. ' ' 



Along the trolley path to the Fort now^ are bare 

 vineyards, the dull scarlet of raspberry bushes, 

 and loose heaps of freshly cut kaffir corn. This 

 grain and alfalfa are among the comparatively new 

 arrivals in our state. In this central section in 

 days long past, there were great fields of wheat, 

 lye, and barley — many more than one is likely to 

 find today. The town lad often tried his hand, to 

 the amusement of his country cousin, at weaving 

 straw bands and binding the w^heat into bundles, 

 on some liot summer day — processes wdiich in 



