A BOOK OF FISHING STORIES 



a feeling of " fitness," of being made of nothing but healtli 

 and strength so perfect, that Hfe need have no other end but 

 to enjoy them. It is as though till that moment one had 

 breathed with only a part of his lungs, and as though now 

 for the first time the whole lungs were filling with air. The 

 pure act of breathing at such times seems glorious. People 

 talk of being a child of nature, and moments such as these are 

 the times when it is possible to feel so ; to know the full joy 

 of animal life — to desire nothing beyond. There are times 

 when I have stood still for joy of it all, on my way through the 

 wild freedom of a Highland moor, and felt the wind, and 

 looked upon the mountains and water and light and sky, till 

 I felt conscious only of the strength of a mighty current of 

 life, which swept away all consciousness of self, and made me 

 a part of all that I beheld. 



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