CHAPTER XI. 



" LITTLE RIVERS." 



What is the test of a river? "The power to drown a man," 

 says the author of " Lorna Doone " A lovely afternoon The 

 " milking bridge " A vision May-fly fishing in the olden time 

 A rambling review of " Little Rivers," a charming book bj 

 Mr. Van Dyke Do hornets bite ? 



'* The west wind wafts the scent of May 



Adown the verdant valleys ; 

 The friendly sun with tempered ray 



Peers forth from cloudy alleys ; 

 And in his gleam the duns and browns 



In joy of life are winging, 

 While I, afar from noisy towns, 



Go forth to angle singing." 



Lyra Piscatoria by COTSWOLD ISYS. 



HO does not love little rivers ? Breathes 

 there the angler with soul so dead within 

 him that he never to himself hath said, " I 

 love to wander and linger on the banks of 

 a pretty stream, even if it fails to yield to me its store 

 of trout and grayling at my bidding ? " I envy not 

 the spirit of the man, angler though he calls himself, 

 who can sit hour after hour on his basket, his eye so 



