The Autocrat of the Eddy. 47 



thickly, arched their branches overhead 

 and shaded the pool. In this bower he 

 found his lovely wife patiently waiting for 

 him, and although he would pay her 

 pretty close attention for a few days and 

 pretend to be interested, he would soon 

 wander about and flirt with the little girl 

 trout, who went wild over his beauty but 

 who had never seen the old villain at 

 home in his eddy. 



Two or three years ago, however, a 

 heavy ice floe coming down in the spring 

 freshet knocked a new hole in the dam, 

 and whenever the water is high enough in 

 early October, the trout runs up through 

 the hole, and goes to see a wife that he 

 met under the lily-pads in still water in 

 the pond. She is larger even than he is, 

 and lazier, and not nearly so attractive 

 as the down-stream wife. Her eggs too 

 are dull yellow, while the down-stream 

 wife's eggs are bright straw color, and why 

 it is that he enjoys the pond trout's com- 

 pany no one can tell ; but there's no 

 accounting for tastes. 



The old trout is not very deeply affected 



