BROWN WATERS 



girth, works out an equation, undis- 

 tressed by cube-roots, and at last con- 

 fides to his pipe the awaited word, 

 "That . . . is the . . . largest trout 

 . . . I ever saw." 



God bless all kind uncles who take 

 small boys fishing ! I suspect that their 

 own young hearts once thumped with 

 delight at such invitations, and that 

 they do but repay debts to an earlier 

 generation. It is not a small thing to a 

 lad that he feels himself at the whim of 

 his elders. They suppose him not to 

 "understand" the whys and wherefores 

 of things, but in truth he does under- 

 stand, and very well indeed, that he is 

 often invited to content himself with 

 mere shifts and evasions. Slights to 

 his intelligence must he endure, for 

 convention denies him the right of equal 

 speech. It would be too dreadfully sub- 

 versive of authority were he permitted 

 free utterance to his discontent. Sup- 

 pose that he should venture to brighten 



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