WINTER TALKS ON SUMMER PASTIMES. 75 



haste were passed by unnoticed, now attract my attention 

 and excite my admiration. Whether this is because we be- 

 come more observant as we advance in years, or because 

 our tastes, like our virtues and our vices, grow by what 

 they feed upon, I cannot say. But this I know, that 1 look 

 forward to no phase of the pastime with more glowing an- 

 ticipation than to these delightful rambles." 



"I notice," said one of our coterie, "that you speak of 

 yourself and friend in a way that leaves the impression that 

 you two make up your entire party in these annual excur- 

 sions. Is that so?" 



"Yes, not because we are unsociable or exclusive, but 

 because we have both been taught by experience that the 

 fewer cogs the less friction. I have known the start of a 

 party of five or six delayed for a week because some one of 

 the number was not quite ready; and not infrequently the 

 equanimity of a whole camp is disturbed because some one 

 wishes to go when others do not, or to stay when others 

 wish to 'fold up their tents, like the Arabs, and silent steal 

 away.' In a crowd, some are night birds, who never care 

 to 'go home 'till morning,' or to bed either, while others 

 deem sleep and regular hours as necessary to comfort in the 

 woods as at home. Both classes may enjoy themselves 

 equally well, but, though they may not say so, each in their 

 hearts wish "tother dear charmers away.' It is best, there- 

 fore, when it can be done, that only those whose tempera- 

 ments and home habits are similar should camp together, 

 that as little as possible should interpose to mar the pleasure 

 of these forest visits. My first experiences were in crowds. 

 Later on, the number of my angling companions was 

 gradually curtailed, until, during recent years, two of us, 

 whose ideas of comfort and of times and seasons are always 

 in harmony, constitute a 'party* as happy and contented as 

 'two drops of water blended into one.' " 



"But," said my questioner, "how do you manage to pass 

 the evenings? You must get talked out after a while, with 

 only two of you to contribute to the common stock/' 



"That would bo true if my friend was like some fellows I 



