THE BOY AND THE BROOK 



A, may I go fishing? " 



That the boy should use the 

 homely " Ma," rather than 

 " Mamma," makes it clear that he 

 is not of our generation, although 

 his generous crop of freckles 

 looks familiar, and his blue jumper, coming 

 down to the knees, and that battered straw hat, 

 are sometimes duplicated in our own day. It 

 is fifty years across which we look, even if he does 

 stand out so clearly. The question is one that he 

 asks daily, if not oftener, from the time when the 

 pussy-willows begin to swell in the spring-time, to 

 the season for comforters and woollen mittens in 

 the late fall. 



Hark ! Do you hear the voice that is calling the 

 boy? It comes distinctly across the long stretch 

 of years, and is as sweet and compelling now as 



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