5 8 BY MEADOW AND STREAM. 



that methinks I may promise to grant it before it is 

 asked." 



Ven. " Why, sir, it is, that from henceforth you 

 would allow me to call you master, and that really I 

 may be your scholar ; for you are such a companion, 

 and have so quickly caught, and so excellently cooked 

 this fish, as making me ambitious to be your scholar." 



Pise. " Give me your hand, from this time forward 

 I will be your master . . . ." 



What better testimony than this supreme act of 

 friendship could we possibly have that the chub of 

 the olden time was not merely an edible animal, but, 

 when properly cooked, a dainty dish ? 



After all, perhaps, about as much may be said 

 against the villain chub, as the French call him, as in 

 favour of "the poor despised chub," as the master 

 calls him. I am bound to confess that my little study 

 of him has not inspired me with the least desire 

 either to catch or eat him ; but the master's character 

 for kindly benevolence must not be assailed with 

 impunity. 



True it is, and it must be owned, that the particular 

 chub he was generously about to present to the milk- 

 maid was the one which he had just before spoken of 

 disrespectfully, but that was only because he thought 

 he had got hold of a trout ! " Sir, o' my word," he 

 cries, "I have hold of him. Oh! it is a great 

 logger-headed chub ; come, hang him upon that willow 

 twig, and let's be going''' Evidently he thought better 

 of it, and consigned the chub to his basket. Shortly 

 afterwards he encountered the milkmaid and her 

 mother. " Look yonder ! On my word, yonder 



