84 FLY-FISHING IN MAINE LAKES. 



shedding a few tears? well done! Not tears, 

 merely a little dust in your eyes, is it? Well, I 

 wouldn't have ridiculed them, were they of joy at 

 pleasures past, or a passing fear of what may come 

 hereafter ; but better, much better the former, and 

 I know you too well to believe it could be the 

 latter." 



From the first person singular to the first person 

 plural j and which of us shall hold the umbrella, is 

 now the subject of anxious debate ; for although 



"As yet the early rising sun 

 Has not attained his noon," 



and there is little fear of his deepening the tints of 

 ruddy brown upon our faces, yet a covering such 

 as this gives a subdued tone to the pretty farm 

 scenes about us, and enables us to gaze with a 

 clearer vision upon the far-off hills, which, like 

 mighty barriers, seem to hem us in on every side. 

 Naturally in this discussion the madam gracefully 

 withdrew, and hid herself under another covering, 

 that of her sex, woman's rights being for the 

 moment forgotten. It remained, therefore, for the 

 question to be decided between Charlie and myself; 

 which was settled somewhat summarily by the 

 Deacon, who remarked that " he guessed the little 

 fellow couldn't hold it against the wind anyhow : " 



