DAYS ON THE NEPIGON. 



golden hail/' all marvelously contrasted and 

 shading off into the deep rich brown of the 

 back, and gleaming like the rays of a prism. 

 From stem to stern, from the basement to the 

 ridge-pole of his anatomy "a thing of beauty 

 and a joy forever," off or on. "Solomon in all 

 his glory was not arrayed like one of these." 

 But one cannot successfully paint the lily, nor 

 gild refined gold. The stream from source 

 to finish contained no finer; and the tackle, 

 could it have spoken, would have confessed 

 that it had been in a fight. Surely this is 

 worth living for, you exclaim; and you can 

 well believe "it is better to do the idlest thing 

 in the world than to sit idle for half an hour." 

 Handle him with fellow feeling, for he has 

 contributed to your pleasure, and it would be 

 an act of reciprocity to contribute to his com- 

 fort and pleasure by rewarding him immedi- 

 ately he is landed with a consoling dislocation 

 of the neck that instantly reconciles him to 

 his fate. Don't forget the humane disloca- 

 tion that soothing deliverance from a cruel, 

 lingering death. Keep him in the shade, free 

 6s 



