A TRESPASS AND A TROUT 



ET the reader picture to 

 himself a stream limpid 

 as crystal, with a gravelly 

 bed, a swift current, and 

 many a twist and curve 

 as it flows through 

 lush meadows, budding 

 woods, rushy bottoms 

 and magnificently 

 timbered park lands, on 

 its way to the sea. Or 

 let him read Tennyson's 

 beautiful poem, " The Brook," and unless he be utterly 

 soulless he will see this little river flowing at his very 

 feet. 



Rising near the outskirts of a small Midland town, 

 the river turns the ponderous wheels of no fewer than 

 four old-time grist mills ere it has run two miles from 

 its bubbhng source among the chalk hills, while great 

 quantities of deliciously crisp watercresses, both brown 

 and green, are grown in its cool, clear depths and find a 

 ready sale in the markets of Liverpool and Manchester. 

 The tenants of the watercress beds pay a rental of £50 

 per acre to the riparian owners ; but, as I have not 

 the good fortune to own even one square inch of these 

 7 



