THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 161 



To change the subject : In the river bed below the 

 farm, there is lodged a huge boulder, some five yards 

 square, which when under water is, as the Irishman 

 said, a sign to the traveller that he must not attempt 

 that ford. It is a splendid balcony this hot weather, 

 whereon one can lie wandering in dream-land, soothed, 

 too, as Maecenas, by the murmur of the flowing stream. 



The other day we saw a splash from the shore ; so 

 getting into the boat, we ascended the rock upon the 

 upper side, and creeping quietly to the edge, on look- 

 ing over we saw beneath us a glorious salmon of 

 about ten pounds weight, resting on his oars, upon 

 the look out for spoil. Dash ! flop 1 and having se- 

 cured the prey, with a quick, brief curve in the 

 flashing water, he was returning to his post when his 

 quick eye marked us, and with a glance of light through 

 the wave he was gone ! 



What a blessed gift is Sabbath repose ! For the 

 fashionable idler it is an idea diflicult to realize; rather 

 in fact, ennuyd, tired, tiresome, he wanders from club 

 to club, acquaintance to acquaintance, to the stables, 

 to dinner, to early bed. The right welcome bright 

 enjoyment it really is, fully to appreciate, take a 

 mastership in a school for six months. Teach boys 

 from half-past six a.m. to ten p.m., with rare intervals, 

 when the small deer have their play, and are really 

 more troublesome than while under lesson drill, owing 

 to the scrapes they will get into, their noise, their 

 pugnaciousness, their dirt-pie delight. Eh ! what it 

 was then, to sleep the extra two sweet hours un- 

 startled by that dreadful bell! But why particularly 

 I dilate upon Sabbath repose here is that one enjoys 

 it so thoroughly of a summer evening at one parti- 



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