"C WINTER TALKS ON SUMMER PASTIMES. 27 



who loves to go a-fishing. ["Bravo!" "Well put/' with 

 approving smiles and affirmative head-nods from all of us.] 

 Now, you see, 1 know what I am talking about. I was ten 

 years old before I killed a trout. If my early education 

 had not been neglected I would have begun fishing at five. 

 The loss of those five years have always been a source of re- 

 gret to me, and 1 more than once questioned my father's kind- 

 ness because, with all his own love for, and appreciation of, 

 the sport, 'he kept his only son, myself, at home' during 

 these five years, while he himself made his weekly excur- 

 sions to the trout streams in our immediate neighborhood. 

 I am told that during those five lost years I was delicate, 

 morose, flippant and querulous. No wonder. My inhcr* 

 ited angling blood was in rebellion against the cruel restraint 

 imposed upon me. But with a carte blanche at ten to fish 

 when and where I pleased, the whole mental and moral 

 structure of my being was changed, and I became ductile, 

 obedient and happy ; and 1 have been fairly good and very 

 happy ever since, but never so happy as when I have had a 

 'lodge in some vast wilderness/ through which course melo- 

 dious trout brooks or roaring salmon rivers." [Applause.] 



When fresh cigars were lit and the blazing fire replenished, 

 our venerable friend was reminded that he had not yet told 

 us about the pleasant time he had in his bark shanty at the 

 foot of Big Tupper thirty years ago. 



"Thank you for the reminder. Well, you see, no matter 

 how fond one becomes of the woods in general, or how 

 happy he may be wherever there are plenty fish and 

 pleasant scenery, he will get a special fondness for some 

 special spot, and will never deem his outing complete with- 

 out paying it a visit. I always had several such pet places, 

 and Cole's Point, at the loot of Big Tupper, was one of 

 them. I came to like the spot not alone because of its pleas- 

 ant surroundings although that counted for something 

 but also because, within easy distance, there were some of 

 the best casting places, during the early season, to be found 

 anywhere in the woods, notably the Point itself, Peter's 

 Rock and Lothrop's chopping. My acquaintance with these 



