i2 4 BY MEADOW AND STREAM. 



will either perish miserably in the struggles of the 

 crowded net or die of old age and starvation, like the 

 long, lean stragglers which are sometimes found in the 

 shallow pools, or be devoured by a larger fish, or torn 

 to pieces by a seal or an otter. Compared with any 

 of these miserable deaths, the fate of a salmon that is 

 hooked in a clear stream, and, after a glorious fight, 

 receives the happy despatch at the moment when he 

 touches the shore, is a sort of Etithanasia. And, since 

 fish was made to be man's food, the angler who brings 

 him to the table of destiny in the cleanest, quickest, 

 kindest way is, in fact, his benefactor. " 



A specious bit of irony, which was evidently written 

 with his tongue in his cheek. 



The next essay is called "Apenrosen and Goat's 

 Milk," and is devoted mostly to mountain climbing. 

 I must refrain from large quotation tempting though 

 it be but here are a couple of the inscriptions which 

 he found on the heavy crosses with pointed roofs 

 which lined the road to the Gross- Venediger ; crosses 

 which mark the place where a human life has been 

 lost, or where some poor peasant has been delivered 

 from some great peril. They tell of the danger that 

 lurks on the steep slopes of grass, where the mowers 

 had to go down with ropes round their waists ; and in 

 the forests, where the great trees fall and crush men like 

 flies. Some of the inscriptions are humorous enough. 

 Here is one translated from the quaint German : 



" Here lies Elias Queer, 



Killed in his sixtieth year ; 



Scarce had he seen the light of day 



When a waggon wheel crushed his life away." 



